Royal Game of Ur

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.

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

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.

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.

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.