Senet

About this board game

Senet is a two-player ancient Egyptian race game, played in about 30 minutes, in which each player moves five pawns around a 3-by-10 board and tries to bear them all off first.

Often compared to backgammon, Senet uses four sticks, black on one side and white on the other, to determine movement. Their possible results are 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6; a result of 5 is not possible. Pawns travel along the board in an S-shaped path, creating a distinctive route from the starting spaces toward the exit.

• Two players, with five pawns each
• A 3-by-10 board with an S-shaped movement path
• Four two-sided throwing sticks that produce movement values from 1 to 4 or 6
• Safe and trap spaces that affect the race
• Blocking rules that can hinder an opponent’s progress

The board includes safe spaces and trap spaces, while players can also block one another, adding interaction beyond a simple race. The goal remains direct: move every one of your pawns around the course and bear them off before your opponent does.

Dating to around 3500 BCE, Senet is one of the oldest known board games. Sets are often made from various woods and can be remarkably beautiful. However, no ancient rule set has been discovered, so modern versions are based on educated scholarly guesses, with several popular interpretations available.

Senet fell out of use for thousands of years, leaving its original gameplay uncertain. It may be related to Aseb and the Royal Game of Ur, making this enduring Egyptian game part of a much older family of board-game traditions.