Projects:The Royal Game of Ur tournaments
| Exact name | The Royal Game of Ur tournaments |
|---|---|
| Generated Design (experiment here) | |
| Description | The Royal Game of Ur sessions |
| Has website | |
| Persons working on | Ankhaneko
Edit specify you're working on this project on your user page, here... and then on "edit with form" at the top. |
| Self-organized sessions | |
| Tags | boardgame, historical, tournament |
| Located at village | Village:tilde.industries & friends |
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Organised sessions to experience the spirit of playing the Royal Game of Ur, also known as Twenty Squares on-site. This board game remained the most popular one throughout history until a few thousand years ago. We will provide history knowledge-bites, a warm introduction and having a lot of fun.
Betting is possible (as the game was used for originally), but strictly only in beverages or hugs. If you enjoyed the game and would like a copy for yourself, there will be a few sets available for purchase! You can also pre-order a set in advance, for that please contact me!
"The world’s first successful board game that was played for 3,000 years before it disappeared." - Irving Finkel
The Royal Game of Ur was played by both the wealthy and the common folk, it was a popular way to spend time with or to decide the fate of goods, slaves and livestock by gambling and betting. One of the archaeological relics were found right next to a clay tablet which explained the rules of the particular edition of the game it came with. Throughout Mesopotamia, several versions of this game has been excavated, each seemingly having more or less symbolism ingrained into the design of the tiles. It reinforces the assumption that this game eventually gained superstitious meanings as well, which was important to the players.
This boardgame has been excavated by Sir Charles Leonard Woolley, and later got deciphered by Dr. Irving Finkel, the curator of the British Museum as Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the Department of the Middle East, specialised in cuneiform inscriptions on tablets of clay from ancient Mesopotamia.
If you want to see in advance how this game might have been played (as well as the rules we will mainly use at our sessions), check out this fun video featuring Tom Scott and Irving Finkel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZskjLq040I
For even more rules and information on the game, the book "Ancient Board Games" by Irving Finkel is a great resource for board game and history enthusiasts, covering The Royal Game of Ur as well.
For more practical information, check out this website: https://sites.google.com/site/boardandpieces/list-of-games/the-royal-game-of-ur