History Senet was the overwhelmingly favorite game of the Ancient Egyptians. The popularity of Egyptian Senet spread far beyond the Nile and it became widely played in the Roman Empire. Senet was preceded by the Royal Game of Ur, called so because the original name is lost to us. Senet was being played by at least 2400 BC, as indicated by Egyptian wall paintings from the Fifth Dynasty. However, a fragment of a pre- dynastic board uncovered near Abydos may date to almost 4000 BC. Of course, the original rules of Senet are not known. No record of the rules on papyrus or tomb wall has ever been discovered. The Game Board The game board is composed of 30 squares: 3 rows of 10 squares each. If we number each square, the board can be represented like this: The path of the pawns probably followed a reversed S across the board. The first player to get all of their pieces off the board wins the game. The pawns were called ‘Lau, which means dancers The pawns came in many shapes including pyramids, or cones and barrels.Special Squares Squares 15 and 26 to 30 have symbols on them. The special squares have the following effects on play: 2 House of Rebirth, the return square for pawns reaching square 27 A House of Happiness, a mandatory square for all the pawns House of Water, can be reached by pawns located on squares 28 to 30 Ww which moved back when their throws did not allow them to exit the board. They have to restart from square 15 House of the Three Truths, a pawn may only leave when a 3 is thrown ZB "OF the Re-Arour, a pawn may only leave when a 2 is throw « Throw the four sticks. The number of sticks facing up (yellow) tells you how many spaces to move ahead. If all sticks face down (all red) you move 6 spaces. + If you throw a |, 4, or 6, you get an extra turn. Mm we KRGame Rules * You can't land on one of your own pieces. « If you land on the other player's piece, jes switch places with them. However, you can't switch with them if they have two or more pieces in a row. « If the other player has three or more pieces in a row, you can't pass them. + You can't get a piece off the board, if you still have a piece on the first row.