Ancient games: Senet

Senet was a game which was played by the ancient Egyptians. people are not sure how the game is meant to be played exactly but they can be deduced by experts who studied this board and worked out how the game could have been played back in the Egyptian times.

A Senet board consisted of three rows which all had ten squares set in a rectangle. In one corner the square which assumed is the last square has a single stroke. The square which is next to the final one in the row has two strokes, the one next to that has three strokes. Senet is assumed to be a two player game with both players starting with five pieces. how many squares which the players move are determined by the dice which are thrown, the dice which are used in Senet are different compered to most board games which use dice.

A square can only be occupied by one piece at a time. If a player can't move a pieces in their go the turn is passed down to the other player. If a players piece lands on a opposing players piece, the opposing piece has to be moved back to the square that the attacking piece came from. The House of Happiness which is a square on the board cannot be passed over. Every piece must land on it before continuing to the next squares. The House of water which is an other square on the board is to be avoided, when a players piece lands on this square, the piece has to be returned to the House of Rebirth. Pieces can only move on the final three squares by throwing the number which are on the square.The first player to get all their pieces off the board wins the game.

J. A Storer. (). Senet. [Available online]: http://www.cs.brandeis.edu/~storer/JimPuzzles/ZPAGES/zzzSenet.html. 

[Accessed 6th March 2015]

Senet. (). The Rules of Senet. [Available online]:

 http://www.mastersgames.com/rules/senet-rules.htm.

[Accessed 6th March 2015]