How to Play Royal Game of Ur

Welcome to one of the oldest games ever discovered! The Royal Game of Ur was played over 4,000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia — long before chess or checkers existed. It was found in a royal tomb, carved into stone and played with pyramid-shaped dice. Today, you’re holding a modern version of this ancient race game, reimagined for fun and strategy. Get ready to roll, race, and relive history — just like players did millennia ago.

 

What's Included

• 1 Royal Game of Ur board.
  
• 22 playing pieces (11 light and 11 dark, including 4 spares per color).
  
• 8 tetrahedral dice (pyramid-shaped, each with two marked tips — 4 per player).

Objective

Be the first to move all 7 of your pieces from your start area, through the path, and off the board.

Game Setup

1. Place the board in the center. Each player chooses a color and takes 7 matching pieces.
   
2. Sit facing each other. The light-colored player moves left to right; the dark-colored player moves right to left.
   
3. Keep all your pieces off the board at the start.
   
4. Place your 4 dice within reach.

How to Play

Players alternate turns. Each turn has up to 3 steps:

1. ROLL THE DICE

• Roll all 4 tetrahedral dice.
  
• Count how many marked tips are face-up (each die has 2 marked tips).
  
• If you roll between 1–4, move a piece.
  
• If you roll a 0, your turn is skipped.

2. MOVE PIECE

You may:

• Enter a new piece onto the path (if roll allows).
• Or move one of your pieces already on the board forward by that number of spaces.

You cannot:

• Land on your own pieces.
• Overshoot the board’s exit.

3. SPECIAL SQUARES & EXTRA TURNS

• Landing exactly on a Rosette gives you an extra turn.
  
• There are 5 Rosette squares.
  
• Rosette squares are safe — pieces on them cannot be captured.

Capturing

• If you land exactly on an opponent’s piece, you capture it.
  
• The captured piece returns to the opponent’s start area.
  
• You get another turn.

Note: You cannot capture a piece that is on a Rosette square.

Exiting the Board

•When a piece reaches the final space, you must roll the exact number to exit.

Winning the Game

The first player to move all 7 of their pieces off the board is the winner.

Winning the Game

• Land on Rosettes to earn extra turns.
  
• Set traps for capturing while avoiding risky paths.
• Spread your pieces across the board to give yourself more movement options.

 

 

 

 

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