5 board games played in ancient worlds, from India’s Chaturanga to The Royal Game of Ur

One of the most engaging attractions at this year’s Serendipity Arts Festival, held in Panjim, Goa, earlier this month, was an interactive project titled “The Games People Play”.

Conceived by WEFT Foundation, an organisation involved in art exhibitions and curations, the exhibit celebrated India’s ancient board games not as relics of the past, but as living traditions of play, strategy and social exchange. Visitors were invited to play games such as Chaupar, believed to be the source of inspiration for modern-day Ludo, Nav-Kakdi, an alignment game that requires tactical foresight, and the chase game Wagh Bakri.

Reimagined through contemporary craft practices and scenography (when a scene is depicted in reality through staging, lights, etc.) and created using traditional materials and techniques, the project highlighted how design, storytelling and community interaction were central to games in the past.

Not limiting itself to India, the exhibit also opened a wider conversation about games from ancient cultures across the world, in a testament to their universal and timeless appeal, and how they spread through trade and military campaigns. Here is a selection of some of the most popular ancient games.

Lord Krishna and Radha playing chaturanga. (Wikimedia Commons)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has previously detailed that board games are well-represented in archaeological material. Its website notes, “In Egypt, scenes depicting players exist on tomb walls and papyri (ancient writing material made out of plant stems).”

Archaeological evidence suggests that a board game with a resemblance to Chess was played at the time of the Indus Valley Civilisation, which dates back to around 3300 BCE at its earliest stage, in the city of Lothal (Gujarat).

However, the earliest known predecessor of modern chess is considered to be Chaturanga, which was widely played in the 6th century CE during the reign of the Gupta Empire that spanned large parts of present-day north India. The Sanskrit term, meaning “four limbs”, denoted the four divisions of the army — infantry, cavalry, chariots and war elephants.

Played on a square uncheckered board, some of the boxes had special markings, whose meanings are not known today. The movement of the pieces mostly resembled modern-day chess. White moved first, and the aim was to checkmate the opponent’s king.

During the mid-sixth century, Indian traders and merchants are believed to have taken the game to Persia’s Sasanian Empire, where it transformed into Shatranj or Chess, with some modified rules. By the 12th century, the game was popular across Europe.

Hounds and jackals board, ivory. (Wikimedia Commons

Originating around 2000 BCE, the game is believed to have been a favourite among the ancient Egyptian kings or the Pharaohs, including Tutankhamun, who is believed to have become king at the age of eight or nine. A game for two players, the board had two sets of 29 holes with five pieces each, which either had a jackal or a dog head.

The exact rules are unknown, but historians believe that the aim was to start at one point on the board and reach the top, because that hole was slightly bigger than the rest. The route likely started in the middle of the board, and players would roll knucklebones. Modern-day Snakes and Ladders likely shares some similarities with its gameplay.

A Mehen board, on which pieces could be placed. (Wikimedia Commons)

Named after the snake deity in ancient Egypt, Mehen was played from around 3000 BCE to 2300 BCE. Its circular board is in the shape of a coiled snake whose body, divided into rectangular segments, is wrapped around Ra, the Sun God.

While details of the rules are unknown, the multiplayer game used lion-shaped figurines and limestone marble-like balls. It is also assumed that the goal was to get the balls to the center of the board and back, with the lion pieces used to block the opponent’s pieces.

One of the oldest board games known to date, its popularity dwindled with the decline of Egypt’s Old Kingdom, which was marked by several cultural milestones, such as the building of the Pyramids.

Like with several other Egyptian games, there were spiritual connotations here, too. According to the Met, “In Old Kingdom religious documents known as the Pyramid Texts, inscriptions suggest a belief that attainment of the afterlife was achievable by successfully passing through the Mehen game board.”

One of the five gameboards found by Sir Leonard Woolley in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, now held in the British Museum. (Wikimedia Commons)

Dating back to 2600 BCE to 2400 BCE, the Royal Game of Ur was rediscovered by British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley during his excavations of the Royal Cemetery of Ur in Mesopotamia between 1922 and 1934.

He found five boards of the two-player strategy game. Each game featured two rectangular boxes — one containing three rows of four boxes each, and the other containing three rows of two boxes each — joined by a “narrow bridge” of two boxes.

Each player had five or seven button-shaped pieces. Moving with a die, they had to reach the square at the end of the board. On their way were squares where symbols indicated a safe zone, and some combat squares from where players could have been forced to return to the start.

The game seemed to be popular till the Middle Ages in Central Asia. In India, its variation was introduced by the Jewish people who had migrated from ancient Babylonia to Kochi.

Senet gaming board inscribed for Amenhotep III with separate sliding drawer, 1390–1353 BCE. (Wikimedia Commons)

While the earliest representation of Senet, dating 2620 BCE, was found in the Egyptian tomb complex of Mastaba of Hesy-Re, fragments of boards that might have been Senet were found in burials in Egypt from 3100 BCE.

Though the game was popular with the commoners as well as the royalty — including young Tutankhamun and Queen Nefertari, wife of Ramesses II — some historians note that the game perhaps originated in the Levant in West Asia before it travelled to Egypt.

Constructed using wood, ivory and other materials, the Senet board had a grid of 30 squares, arranged in three rows of ten, with the squares on one end more decorated than the others. The boards indicated the direction of movement for the pawns. The number of places to move was determined by throwing two-sided sticks. Over the years, the game also acquired spiritual meanings and was associated with the journey into the afterlife.