What are the basic rules of Royal Game of Ur?

Roll the four dice - each die shows 1 point on two corners, counting marked corners facing up gives 0-4. Move one piece forward by the number of spaces shown. Pieces enter the board and race along a track, passing through the middle section shared with your opponent.

Spelregels Koninklijk Spel van Ur - Zo speel je het

Doel

Be the first to move all seven of your pieces from start to finish along the track on the board.

Overzicht

The Royal Game of Ur is one of the oldest known board games, dating to ancient Mesopotamia around 2600 BCE. It's a race game for two players combining luck and strategy, played with tetrahedral dice and seven pieces per player.

Opzet

The board has a distinctive H-shape with 20 squares arranged in tracks. Each player has 7 pieces starting off the board. Four tetrahedral dice (or two-sided dice equivalent) are used, giving results of 0-4.

Hoe te spelen

Roll the four dice - each die shows 1 point on two corners, counting marked corners facing up gives 0-4.
Move one piece forward by the number of spaces shown.
Pieces enter the board and race along a track, passing through the middle section shared with your opponent.
Landing on a rosette (flower symbol) grants an extra roll and protects the piece from capture while there.
Landing on an opponent's piece on a non-rosette space captures it - the captured piece must start over.
Exact count is needed to bear off (move a piece off the board after completing the track).
Rolling zero means you lose your turn.
You may not land on your own pieces; if no legal move exists, you pass.

Het spel winnen

First player to bear off all seven pieces wins. The race combines safe play on rosettes with aggressive capturing and blocking strategies.

Strategietips

Rosettes are safe squares - land on them when possible for protection and extra rolls.

The central rosette is especially valuable since both players' pieces pass through it.

Consider whether to move advanced pieces or bring new ones onto the board.

Blocking opponent's pieces in the shared middle section can be advantageous.

Don't spread your pieces too thin - they become vulnerable to capture.

Balance between safe advancement and aggressive capturing based on board position.

Geschiedenis

Discovered in the Royal Tombs of Ur (modern Iraq) by Leonard Woolley in the 1920s, game boards and rules were deciphered with help from a Babylonian clay tablet describing the game.