British museum trip

On the 22nd of November (2012) we went on a long trip to the British Museum in London.

The place was rather huge and had historical objects at every turn, but being loyal to my main interest which is gaming, I had my eyes set on the ancient games that had survived long years and a couple of them may still be viewed at the museum.

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Senet

One of the games I saw was a variation of 'The Game of Twenty Squares'. This is an Egyptian variation and actually has thirty squares and is known as Senet.

The image below shows the game as it is on display in the museum.

Some versions of The Game of Twenty Squares are set atop a box with a drawer to store the dice and pieces.


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The Royal Game of Ur

Another game that I found was the Royal Game of Ur. This contained the board which is very well decorated, alongside with the several pieces needed to play the game. These can be seen in the image below.

The rules of this game had been found on a clay tablet dating from 177BC. This clay tablet is the oldest known set of game rules in the world, and is on display in the British Museum, alongside the gameboard itself.