Hounds & Jackals
Hounds and Jackals is an ancient Egyptian board game of the Pharaohs. It is one of the oldest board games in the world having been found in tombs dated at 3000 and 4000 years old. Only a few examples of the game have ever been found but historians have been able to determine the rules to a good extent.
Now offered to you in replica, a container that doubles as a display item in the form of a Sphinx. Remove the top half of the Sphinx to expose a colourful game board. Lift the game board out to uncover its first hidden chamber. You will find a secret scroll with hieroglyphic writing, translated into an instruction booklet with easy to follow directions and diagrams which makes this an entertaining and easy to play board game. The scroll is used to seal and protect the secret inner chambers. You will learn the secret of how to interpret the dice. Enter the chamber at the bottom of the sphinx to discover the playing pieces.
The game is a simple race game - controlled by the roll of the dice, you must move to the top of the board to the cobra's eye. Learn to avoid penalties and seek rewards. The idea is to win a race to capture one of your opponent's pieces, capture them all and win the game.
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Ancient Egyptian Hounds and Jackals |
£24.26 | £27.90 | 1 + transit time | ||
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The Origin of the Game of Ur
Boards found in Ancient Sumeria, in the royal tombs at Ur (~2500BC), Mesopotamia made during this period seem to be some sort of race game. The ancient Sumerian name of the game is not known although it is often referred to as the Royal Game of Ur.
The rules of the game as it was played around 2500BC are not know at all but the same boards were still in use a century or two before the birth of Christ and archeologists have discovered the rules for the game played at that time on some cuneiform tablet dated at 177/176BC. The early games show a variety of patterns on the board but the consistent factor is that five rosettes always appear. Game historians have argued and conjectured as to how the game might have been played. Some boards that have been found only feature the rosettes and all boards seem to feature rosettes in similar patterns leading most people to suppose that only the rosettes are significant. But, as can be seen from the pictures, others boards have different symbols within the squares.
You can learn more about the History of the Royal Game of Ur from The Online Guide to Traditional Games.