Overview

The Royal Game of Ur is one of the oldest known board games, originating in ancient Mesopotamia around 2600-2400 BC. It is a two-player race game from the tables family, similar in concept to modern backgammon. Players race their pieces along a shared track across the distinctive H-shaped board, with the goal of bearing all pieces off the board before their opponent. The most widely played modern rules follow Irving Finkel’s reconstruction based on a cuneiform tablet from the British Museum.

Components

• 1 game board (distinctive H-shaped or 20-square layout with rosette-marked squares)
• 5 or 7 pieces per player (2 colors)
• 3 or 4 tetrahedral dice (binary dice, each die has 2 marked corners and 2 unmarked corners)

Setup

1. Place the board between the two players.
2. Each player takes their 5 (or 7) pieces and places them off the board in their starting area.
3. Determine which player goes first (roll dice; highest goes first).

Turn Structure

Players alternate turns. On each turn:

1. Roll Dice: Roll all 3 (or 4) dice. Count the number of marked corners facing up. This is your movement value (0-4 with 4 dice, 0-3 with 3 dice).
2. Move a Piece: Choose one of your pieces and move it forward along the track by the number of spaces rolled.
3. Special Actions: If you land on a rosette, you get an extra turn. If you land on an opponent’s piece (on a non-rosette space), you capture it.
4. Pass: If you roll 0, or if no legal move is available, your turn is skipped.

Actions

Enter a Piece: Move a piece from your starting area onto the first space of the board.

Advance a Piece: Move a piece already on the board forward along the track by the dice roll value.

Capture: If your piece lands on a space occupied by an opponent’s piece (and it is not a rosette space), the opponent’s piece is captured and returned to their starting area. They must re-enter it on a future turn.

Bear Off: When a piece reaches the end of the track, it is borne off (removed from play permanently). An exact roll is required to bear off.

Rosette Bonus: Landing on a rosette square grants an immediate extra turn. Rosettes are safe spaces where your piece cannot be captured.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

The first player to bear off all of their pieces from the board wins. There is no point scoring; it is a pure race.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Rosettes are safe: Pieces on rosette squares cannot be captured by opponents. Additionally, you may not land on a rosette that is already occupied by either player’s piece.
• Exact bearing off: You must roll the exact number needed to move a piece off the final space. If you cannot, you must make a different move or pass.
• No stacking: Only one piece may occupy a space at a time.
• Shared middle track: The central row of the board is shared by both players, creating conflict and capture opportunities.
• Roll of 0: If all dice show unmarked sides, the player’s turn is skipped.
• Historical variants: Different reconstructions and historical periods had varying rules; the Finkel ruleset is the most commonly played modern version.

Player Reference

Dice: Roll 3-4 binary dice. Result = number of marked corners facing up (0-4).

Rosettes: Safe squares. Land on one = extra turn. Cannot be captured here.

Capture: Land on opponent’s piece (non-rosette) to send it back to start.

Win: First to bear off all pieces.