The Royal Game of Ur

The goal

Each side has seven counters. Be the first to move all seven along your route and off the board.

Your turn

• Roll the four dice and count the red tips. That number, from 0 to 4, is your move.
• Pick one counter and move it exactly that many squares along your route. A new counter enters from your tray, so a roll of 1 puts it on your first square.
• If you roll 0, or no counter can move the full amount, your turn passes.

Your route

Counters enter at your gate, travel four squares along your own row, cross the whole shared middle row, then come back two squares in your own row and leave by the gate.

Sun (solid line) uses the bottom row; Moon (dashed line) uses the top row. Both race along the middle row, which is where captures happen. Press Route at the top of the page to number every square along each side’s route.

Captures

• You can't land on one of your own counters.
• Landing on an opponent's counter in the middle row knocks it back to their tray, and it must start again.
• Your own row is private, so counters there are always safe.

Roses

• Landing on any rose gives you another roll straight away.
• The centre rose, ringed in gold, is a safe square. A counter on it can't be captured, so an opponent can't land there while you hold it.

Bringing counters home

A counter leaves the board one step after its last square, and it needs the exact roll. From your last square you need a 1; from the square before it you need a 2.

The other pictures

The castles, shields, crowns, trees and dots are decoration only and have no effect on play. The original board from Ur was also covered in patterned squares, and only the rosettes have a known rule.

Playing with the keyboard

• R or Space: roll the dice.
• 1, 2, 3…: move the counter with that number. Numbers appear on the counters that can move once you start using the keyboard; 1 is the one furthest along.
• Arrow keys step through the counters that can move, showing where each would land; Enter moves the one you’re on.
• A: Advise me, when playing the Squire or Knight.
• Tab reaches every button, and Esc closes a window or a guide tip.

Variants

Choose a variant with Variant before a game. Each one changes only what’s listed here; everything else follows the rules above.

• Masters’ route, after games historian James Masters. The route is 16 squares. After seven squares of the middle row, counters climb into the opponent’s far corner (squares 12 and 13), come down the end of the middle row (14), and return to their own row (15 and 16) before leaving. Counters can be captured anywhere the two routes cross, which now includes the far end. The roses on squares 12 and 16 are shared, so like the centre rose they’re safe.
• Murray’s route, after games historian H. J. R. Murray. The route is 27 squares: Masters’ route as far as square 16, then back down the whole middle row (17 to 23) and along your own row (24 to 27), leaving the board where you came in. The middle row is crossed twice, so its squares carry two numbers, such as 8/20. Roses come every fourth square, and the shared ones are safe.
• Doubling back, the route drawn on Wikipedia. The route is 20 squares. Counters enter on the corner rose of their own row (square 1) and move towards the bridge (to 4), go up the middle row (5 to 8), round the far end through their own row first (9 and 10), the end of the middle row (11) and the opponent’s row (12 and 13), then back down the whole middle row (14 to 20) and off its end. Roses come every fourth square, and the shared ones are safe.
• Quick (a house rule): five counters each instead of seven.
• Raiders (a house rule): every capture earns another roll, and no rose is safe.

These rules were reconstructed by Irving Finkel of the British Museum from a cuneiform tablet written in 177 BCE.

Odds of each roll with four tetrahedral dice:

Ur is a game of luck, but good choices add up over a game. These ideas are the same ones the King weighs on every move. Square numbers count along your route from 1 to 14; press Route to see them on the board.

Hold the centre rose

Square 8 is the strongest square on the board. Landing there gives you another roll, it can't be captured, and while you sit on it your opponent can't land there either. That blocks one of their best squares and makes their counters harder to move safely. Getting a counter onto it early and keeping it there is often worth more than racing ahead.

Set up rose landings

• The roses are on squares 4, 8 and 14. Each landing is a free extra turn.
• 2 is the most likely roll (6 in 16), so a counter two squares before a rose has the best chance of reaching it next turn.
• Entering a new counter with a 4 lands it straight on your first rose, square 4, and earns another roll.

Get through the danger zone quickly

Squares 5 to 12 (except the centre rose) are shared, and any opposing counter up to four squares behind can capture you there. How likely that is depends on the gap:

Two squares ahead of an enemy is the worst place to stop; four ahead is fairly safe. Squares 1 to 4 and 13 to 14 are your own and always safe, so a counter waiting on square 4 threatens anything that enters the middle row ahead of it.

Capture the counters that have come furthest

A capture sends a counter back to the start, so knocking off one on square 12 costs your opponent twelve squares of progress, while one on square 5 costs only five. When you have a choice, hit the most advanced counter. The same goes in reverse: protect your own far-travelled counters first.

Keep your options open

• Having two or three counters on the board means most rolls give you a useful move, so you pass fewer turns.
• Too many counters in the middle row at once leaves more of them open to capture. Spread the risk.
• Your own counters block each other, so avoid lining them up where a common roll would need to land on one.

Plan your exits

A counter needs the exact roll to leave. From square 13 that is a 2, the most likely roll; from square 14 it is a 1. Square 14 is also a rose, so landing on it earns an extra roll, but a counter parked there can be slow to get home. Don't let several counters queue at the end waiting for the same number.