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The Royal Game of Ur

c. 2600 BCE

One of the oldest known board games

Estimated Games · Verified 2026-11-01 · WWV-HS-CU-001

Sir Leonard Woolley's team found game boards in royal graves at Ur in the 1920s. The game was played in Mesopotamia and beyond for centuries.

The exact rules are reconstructed from later texts.

Sources

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