How to Play the Royal Game of Ur
The Royal Game of Ur was played in Mesopotamia 4,500 years ago; boards were found in the royal tombs of Ur, and a cuneiform tablet preserves part of its rules. It plays like a sharper, shorter backgammon.
The board and the dice
- Twenty squares: two blocks of 4×3 and 2×3 joined by the middle column. Each player's path has 14 squares: four private squares, eight down the shared middle lane, then two private squares at the end.
- Five rosettes (squares 4, 8 and 14 on each path; 8 is the shared one in the middle).
- Four two-sided dice: your move is the number of marked tips, 0 to 4. Two is the most common roll.
Play
- Roll. Move one piece exactly that many squares along your path, entering from home onto square 1 and beyond.
- You may not land on your own piece.
- Landing on an enemy piece in the shared lane captures it: it goes back home.
- A piece on a rosette is safe and its owner rolls again.
- A piece leaves the board with an exact roll past square 14. Overshooting isn't allowed.
- No legal move: the turn passes.
First to bear off all seven pieces wins.
Playing on kawu
Tap Roll, then tap a piece (or your waiting stack) to move it; pieces that can move are highlighted. Hint suggests one.
Next, read the Royal Game of Ur strategy.
Frequently asked questions
Which rules does kawu use?
Irving Finkel's reconstruction from the British Museum, the most widely played set: binary dice counted 0–4, rosettes safe with an extra roll, captures only in the shared lane, exact bear-off.
Can a piece be captured on a rosette?
No. A piece on any rosette is safe. In the shared lane that means the central rosette (square 8) can be blocked by an enemy piece.
What if I roll 0?
A roll of 0 (no marked tips) means no move; the turn passes. So does a roll that no piece can use.
Last updated 2026-10-20