The royal game of Ur had left its rules on a tablet

An antique board can be beautiful and remain unusable if no one knows its rules. The royal game of Ur offers a rare opportunity to overcome this frustration. Very ancient Mesopotamian plateaus have survived, but a much later document has made it possible to better understand how one played in this tradition.

A cuneiform tablet dated 177 BCE gives indications for the game of twenty squares. She contributed to the deciphering work of curator Irving Finkel. The British Museum describes a race between two players, while some squares could also be used for divinatory practices. The written object therefore reveals several uses of the plateau.

Be careful, however, with the shortcut: the tablet is not contemporary with the oldest specimens discovered in Ur. The game has evolved over the centuries. Reconstructing a playable version doesn’t mean you get back exactly every part of every era. The real pleasure remains: material traces and a text make it possible to put back pawns in motion.