The oldest complete board game ever discovered was found inside the Royal tombs at the ancient Sumerian city of Ur in Mesopotamia. Ur of the Chaldees is mentioned in the Bible and the tombs were built more than 5000 years ago. The name of the game isn't known and so it has become known as 'The Royal Game of Ur'.

No-one knows how the game was played but many games historians have used various pieces of evidence to conjecture rules, most notably Irving Finkel, the inimitable British Museum games specialist who broke new ground by deciphering a cuneiform tablet with rules for the game from a later era. A set of proposed rules is included within the game. But if more ideas are needed, we at Masters Traditional Games take such matters very seriously and have published 3 variations of the simple race game in the rules section of our website.

An attractive and stylish version of the Royal Game of Ur. The board is made from solid wood of the Pinewood family, but is denser and heavier than normal Pine.

This version of the the oldest board game ever found is based on the original board displayed at the British Museum. This famous version of the game was found inside the Royal tombs at the ancient Mesopotamiam city of Ur, now Iraq.

This version of the game features a wonderfully finished board with real aesthetic beauty. The patterns, decorations and colours all compliment each other remarkably well, making the set truly distinctive and undeniably stylish. It includes solid wooden playing pieces - in light and dark wood, 4 pyramid dice and a complete set of rules.

Please note that the rules included with this game are designed to work with three pyramidal binary dice. However, we have included an extra fourth die, so the game can be played with the four dice rules.

Approx. dimensions: Board - 23 x 9 x 2.5cm, weight - 240g

Product Ref.: 00K275