Imagine if we figured out how to revive entire bloodlines all the way down to the common ancestor from a single blood sample and the inventor of this game finds that his/her game is still alive.
@@lordcanti6674 Good question. The legal implications of this scenario are staggering. Imagine being being a person who live in an ancient civilization and you were brought back to life only to find your hut that your family lived in for generations was turned into a shop that sells Rick and Morty toys. Or anything along those lines.
Imagine that-there are gods and kings from your time whose names, or entire existences, have been lost to history, while a simple board game has survived for over twice the length of time since Jesus was born! In fact, _when_ Jesus was born, this game was older to him than Jesus is to us!!
I love this game and everytime I try to make friends discover it so I can play with them, I use this video to explain the rules clearly and fast ! Thanks for an amazingly straightforward and well-made explanation video !
Cool thing is that it can be adapted so blind people can play it. You can also rework your board and pieces so people with disabilities, like cerebral palsy for instance, Can play it. I'm thinking about trying to 3Dprint an accessible version of the game. If I ever do, I'll like my model for free in here.
There is one, The international society of UR. But they use very boring looking boards and a modified non-historic rulesets and only go to prestigious universities.
Very well done video: short, to the point, very informative. Will make a game like this. I do wonder what the 5 dots on the pieces and board represent? Thank you.
Thank you for commenting! I too wondered about the dots. Since there are so few original examples of the game, it's impossible to judge how consistent the decoration were.
Another way to make a board is to use a custom image (or the one linked in this clip,. on one of those custom mouse pad sites such as Vista print or whatnot. The advantage to that is you can roll it up for convenient storage/portability. Nice review!
You can set up the game with only a chess+checkers set. Use 20 of the checkers pieces to make the board and the last 4 can be your "dice". 7 pawns for each side's pieces complete the game
Good idea on using D6, D4 are a pain to pick up. I think I'll make a design for wood laser-cutting as a faceplate and stick that on a plank of wood. It would be great to have a little drawer on one side to store the dice and pebbles.
You're right, but it made the game more fun for our grandchildren. They enjoyed the game more when they got a piece home, turned it over and saw a happy face as their reward. Thanks for the comment!
Thank you for commenting! Sadly, I've switched over from lilies to snapdragons. They bloom much longer, are more attractive to hummingbirds, (another of my interests), don't require redigging every year and are evergreeen, so the garden beds look good year 'round. This Spring I'm planting a variety that produces flowers that are open instead of the normal ones that are closed. Sorry. Good luck with your bed!
I was just thinking about making this game by myself. The dices were an obstacle because I didn`t know how many white spots were on one dice. I`m so grateful for your video :) Thanks a lot❤
Great video! Thanks for this! One point I would make is that it wasn't clear to me the full movement track for each player. It would be nice to add where the pieces enter and exit and the exact track of movement around the board. I had an idea after watching this video, but I had to go look that up elsewhere to be sure.
I see your point. I show the movement onto, around, and off the board 1 minute and 5 seconds into the video, but I run through it too fast and with far too little explanation. Thanks for pointing this out and for the comment!
@@paulsitko7988 You can try out the game at royalgameofuronline.com to see how the "path" works. In fact, you can try alternative (more complex) versions too.
Nice board! In my family, we've not been playing long, but we like to play with an additional dynamic; when a piece is taken, it flips over, becoming a 'weak' piece. Weak pieces can only take other weak pieces. This adds a whole new dimension to the game. Extending this (and this is the rule I prefer, as it's possibly more in keeping with the spirit of the game), another variant can be that each time a piece is taken it flips, meaning that a weak piece can once again become a strong piece, making aggressors think more deeply about their tactics. I
You are very welcome! If you'd like a large-sized image of the playfield to print out, the following link will take you to an image of it on my webpage about the game: www.waynesthisandthat.com/images/game%20of%20ur.jpg
I just got a copy of the game from amazon and the rules are nothing like what you said. I guess that's a common problem with these ancient games that don't have preserved rule books. You find different versions of how you're supposed to play it. Even liar's dice had some people debating on the correct rules and that was from colonial times. The only ancient game I've seen with consistently agreed upon rules was the egyptian game senet
I took my rules from Dr. Finkel, the man who first deciphered them. Here's a video he made: ruclips.net/video/WZskjLq040I/видео.html Thanks for commenting!
@@wayneschmidt490 I appreciate that. It's strange though. The actual rules are like backgammon while the set of rules I have say place 6 pieces on the board and then players take turns moving them in a way to get 4 on matching images and you win if your opponent can't make a legal move
I draw out the board on a piece of paper, and we use 7 pennies vs 7 times as our tokens and flip 4 quarters as the "dice." (The only requirement is that the different coins not be easy to confuse with each other, so copper pennies and silvery domes, while similar in size, are really easy to differentiate.)
I only draw the 20 squares and the 5 rosette squares. The rest of the pattern is decoration, as far as we can tell, though as Irving Finkel points out, he did some educated guessing about the rules. His reconstruction is definitely entertaining, though!
You're not picky at all. That was a narration mistake I made. Thank you for pointing it out. I'll add a clarification in the description. Thank you! And thanks for the comment!
The British Museum stated that if you are on the middle rosette (save square) and your oponent stand on it, the oponent jump over your piece (and that square) to the next square.
The dice have to be binary, in other words there's an equal chance of throwing either a white or black point on top. With the tetrahedral dice, two points are white and two are black. When one is thrown, there's a 50/50 chance that either a white or black point will be pointing upward. Painting three faces white and three black on a six-sided cube die, each die still has a 50/50 chance of a white or black face pointing upward. If four sides were black and two white, then the probably of throwing a black face would be 4/2. It would skew the odds to favor black faces.
I've got some buddies coming over for a shroom trip, I'm gonna make them listen to Peter Pringle and play game of Ur and see if we can "project" or whatever into the past LOL.
I'm assuming that the alternative painted cube dice won't give same results as the original. The cube dice has 2 white planes and 4 black planes, while the tetrahedron dice has 2 white and 2 black corners, resulting in 1:2 against 1:1 white to black ratio.
Apologies. You're right, I haven't noticed it while watching. If so, then it is a very practical alternative. I really liked the pieces with the smiley face side. Thanks for the printable image, now have a modern laminated paper game board :) Speaking of dice alternatives, I came up with a version using just one cube dice. 1 to 4 dots = 1 to 4 moves, 5 dots = 0 moves and 6 dots = throw again. What are your thought on this alternative?
Your one-dice scoring idea sounds interesting. I'll give it a try! It could change the dynamics of play, but that might make the game more interesting. Thanks!
Also. Then. Id believe flipping the pieces would represent how each piece can be used. Particular to each square as well. Maybe the stars are for flipping pieces. N you score points. By occupying the symbols as they match the piece. Then you have an objective to acquire the other person’s pieces. N that means you win. So first to a certain amount of points. Or capturing the pieces means you win. Many ways it could be played.
I haven't found any references that say anything about the symbols meaning anything, other than the star or flower symbols making squares where you get an extra turn.
There are plenty theories about this, some alternate game rules use them for very complex gameplay. You can read about it here: royalgameofuronline.com
Wait, but if we use d4 - there only 4 possible variants(1, 2, 3 and 4), but if we use 4d2 there 5 possible variants(4 black, 1 white, 2 white, 3 white and 4 white), so basicaly you should use 3d2(3 black, 1 white, 2 white and 3 white)
Ok. I think i get it. Its not a game of race. Its a game of chess/checkers. Plain stones can only move in squares where there arent 5 spot. 5 spot stones only move in squares with 5 spots. The dice show moves. And the pyramids show what directions of moves i suspect. But. The stars are teleporters. You take a plain stone. Flip it at the two strange corners after teleporting. That lets you move around the board. 4-5 spotted die can be on those squares with 4 at one time. N plane spotted stones have to jump to acquire a 5 spotted stone. While a 5 spotted stone can be next to the plain stone. To acquire it. But it will subsequently flip over to a plain stone. Where it needs to get back to the flipping zone. The objective then is to take all their stones. To start you can place as many stones or as little on the board at once. I also wonder. If the brown lines. Arent used as well. Until you move to land on certain squares. So that would work kind of like go then to block moves n such. The goal then to get to the 4 dotted squares. The three bars meaning it takes a 3 to jump the 5 spotted squares n such. Cause that would be an interesting game. .
Fun video! I wish I was a DIY guy, lol. Can't really craft or make stuff from wood and such. I'd love to make a fully homemade board and pieces, but that's beyond me. xD With that said, luckily for me, one doesn't HAVE to paint the 6-sided dice. Players can simply agree to count Evens as "1" and Odds as "0" (or vice-versa). Combine that with just drawing the playing field on a piece of paper and using coins as player pieces and you've got a REALLY low budget version of the game. :D
Will this do? www.waynesthisandthat.com/images/game%20of%20ur.jpg It's from my website ( www.waynesthisandthat.com ) which parallels my RUclips channel. I don't sell or advertise anything so you don't have to worry about pop-ups. Good Luck!
But i dont think im entirely correct. I suspect it has a point system n a capture system to win too. With some rules to how many moves must be completed. Or shapes to be completed to flip pieces n remove the others.
Wow. Thank you so much! I'm thinking, to just be super extra, I'll lightly glue your design to wood, but then use my Dremel to carve a 3D version of the pattern into the wood, sand it, and then paint it.
Hi! Thanks for commenting! The carved surface sounds great. You might want to avoid carving too deeply or the player pieces might have trouble staying on the board. Also, unless you're jumping a piece, they are usually slid over the surface. Any surface carvings might make that difficult. But, it would make a great looking board! If you want a larger, higher resolution image of the playfield, I posted a close-up image of it on my website. Here's a link to that image: www.waynesthisandthat.com/images/game%20of%20ur.jpg Good luck and please let me know how it turns out!
I wonder how to cut stone. I'd like to make a board out of granite or maybe local quartzite that way someone else can my game in the dirt 500 years from now.
I recommend going to a marble kitchen counter top shop and ask them. I know there are special blades you can get for electric saws that will cut tile. I assume they'd work for stone as well. Good luck!
Thank you for commenting! If the six-sided dice had not been repainted with three sides white and three sides black, which now renders them binary dice just like the pyramid dice, you would be correct. But as pointed out 1:25 into the video, they were painted, so I believe the odds of throwing a zero through four are the same. If you could explain why it isn't the same, I would appreciate reading about it. If I've mede a mistake I need to change it. I checked out your channel. Did you build that play castle yourself? Even if it was from a kit, that's some great work. I loved it when your daughter had you look to make sure there wasn't a spider in the tunnel slide. Thanks for na fun video to watch!
Wayne Schmidt Wayne, I apologise, I completely missed the point about making them binary! I believe you are right about it evening the bias to zero. I will delete my comment. Yes, built it myself, thank you!
Thanks. A friend has a makeshift cardboard board with riverstones. I'm making one three times better out of wood, and another friend is making one six times better, out of leather, backed by wood. . This will assist in making mine that little bit nicer.
To put "five thousand years" (i.e. 3,000BC) into perspective: - When Jesus was born, this game would have been older to him than Jesus is to us today. - This game is older than the Great Pyramid of Giza. - At around the same time, Stonehenge was built, North African people started farming for the first time, and North American people started making pottery for the first time. - Woolly Mammoths were still alive. - It is 1,000 years older than the city of Babylon.
Amazon sells them. www.amazon.com/s?k=royal+game+of+ur&crid=3DQ0CIWRJH48U&sprefix=royal+game+%2Caps%2C157&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_11 Or you can copy the image from the video, print it out and make your own.
It appears then. That each square’s symbols represent types of moves that can be made. Say you have 4 blocks on that symbol with 4- 5 die. N roll a 4. You can subsequently move all four to the other 4 single die squares. But you have to move 1 or 4 pieces. 4 moves. Some squares represent jumps. Some represent geometric move limitations I think the stars represent teleporters. N on them you can move anywhere freely after. Its way more complex and tactile when you see the game as that. Suggesting its definitely not a game of “race”. Its more like chess and checkers combined. Personally. I thought it was a game of sliders. You slide them pieces from one side. To land on the two back squares to win. . But this makes more sense. How you win? Who knows. I think the entire game is still lose
The following video shows the archeologist who first translated the rules for the Game of Ur: ruclips.net/video/WZskjLq040I/видео.html You can skip his preamble about the game and go directly to 3:45 for how to play. He doesn't mention anything about teleport squares or having more than one piece on a square at a time.
@@wayneschmidt490 i did. I had the same issue with shogi. I started making better rules. This game has too much going on for it to be a single race game. I derived a way it could be a chess/checkers sort of game. With points n captures to win. That would make it ridiculously strategic and complex. But ive played over 5,000 games a chess. So. I get bored of simplicity. I find it hard to believe a game popular for 3,000 years was the same boring race over and over
@@treatb09 Now I get it! I misunderstood your first comment as stating the original rules were different than what archeological evidence states. Now I understand that you were suggesting new improved rules. I checked out your channel and some of your videos got me thinking. I particularly enjoyed the one about Thanos. I never understood how he could think eliminating half the beings in the universe would have any significant effect. In very short order we'd just breed ourselves back into the same problem of overpopulation. My thoughts ran more toward asking why instead of randomly selecting people he didn't select for intelligence or some other virtue that would have a greater chance of solving the problem instead of just applying a temporary bandage. Your point that he would have better employed his power to change the universe went further. Along this line, you might enjoy an extremely short story (3-minute read) I wrote, though if you are offended by the concept of human evolution you may not like it. It's called "The Great Cow Empire." waynesthisandthat.com/the%20great%20cow%20empire.html
Here's video about the man who deciphered the rules. The explanation of how the rules were discovered start 2 minutes into the video. Enjoy! ruclips.net/video/WZskjLq040I/видео.html
Hnefatafl board game from viking, this one are good too, Can you make a web page for our players to print? The exchange rate of Malaysian money is too low and the transportation fee is high 😢
That happens sometimes with RUclips. A few years ago I published a video about how to feed Venus flytrap plants and for some strange reason RUclips started recommending it to everyone. It went viral and got almost 2 million views in just a few months. I received complaints about it because it was turning up in people's searches about subjects that had nothing to do with it. Sorry it got in your way. I promise, it wasn't my doing.
The odds of getting a white or black face in either the six sided dice with three black and three white is the same as using tetrahedral dice with two white and 2 black tips: 50/50. So the statistics will be the same. I've compared play with both and can't detect any difference in play, other than the six sided dice are a lot easier to use. Thanks for commenting!
"Up until the final turn, it's impossible to tell which player will win". This makes the game sound like it's completely luck of the draw with no reward for skill. How can a game be fun if the dice basically play the game for you? Nevertheless, I ended up ordering a copy from Amazon anyways to give it a try since I collect historical board games.
I didn't express what I intended to say correctly. Thanks for bringing this up. I meant to say that by employing good strategies, it's possible for a player who's far behind to catch up and win. It's similar to "Shut The Box." ruclips.net/video/TVF2WC_iVGo/видео.html The luck of the throw dominates the game, but by understanding the odds associated with the different ways to count scores one player can have a great advantage to one who doesn't. Thanks for commenting!
The other symbols on the board are kind of confusing. I do know the star symbols allows for an extra roll but don't the other symbols do something? I mean there's a bunch of different symbols, my guess, there's different levels of play and each symbol has a different effect or no effect depending on the level i.e. master, noob
Here's a video by the expert who deciphered how to play the game: ruclips.net/video/WZskjLq040I/видео.html He never mentions anything about the symbols except the star ones you mentioned so I don't think they stand for anything. There have been so few of these games found that no one knows how standard the decorations were. They guy who made the one in the video may have just dressed the squares up to make it look better.
I rewatched his video of how to play it and you're right, at one point he says something about a simplified version. I interpreted that as referring to strategy, not actual game play rules. I could be wrong. I tried getting on the British Museum website for the complete rules but couldn't find anything there other than what he mentioned in the video. Wikipedia didn't have anything additional either. There are several websites that list various rule sets, but these appear to be gaming experts using game theory to develop rules rather than rules derived from the original clay tablet translation. I'm lost. If you find anything definite please mention it here. Thank you!
This video: ruclips.net/video/WZskjLq040I/видео.html Explains how to play. Skip the first 3 & 1/2 minutes of history to jump right into game play. Thanks for commenting!
Yes! Here's a video about it by Dr. Finkle, the man who translated the ancient tablet that explained how it's played: ruclips.net/video/WZskjLq040I/видео.html Thanks for commenting!
You're right! Originally, they would have been larger, rough stones that would be easy to pick up. Today's small, glossy smooth D4s are almost impossible to pick up. That's why I changed to using regular dice painted black and white.
This is messiest explanation i've ever heard. You didn't explain where players start and how they place the pawns, which ARE LITERALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT RULES, NOTHING MAKES SENSE WITHOUT IT. If you can't explain a game so basic, it means you can't even understand it. You're just a seller.
@@wayneschmidt490 Was a joke about the "safe squares" (campus safe spaces). Admittedly, and in retrospect, it would've been more appropriate as an internal joke. Oh well... Have a nice day :)
Sorry. The website that hosted the picture for the link had to be taken down. You should be able to enlarge the video to full screen, pause it when the board face isn't covered with anything and do a screen capture to get an image. Then resize it for printing.
![Deciphering the world's oldest rule book | Irving Finkel | Curator's Corner S1 Ep1 [PILOT]](/img/1.gif)
Just saw this in the British museum with my son. Thanks for the video!
You're welcome and thanks for commenting!
not surprised they take everything 💀
Imagine if we figured out how to revive entire bloodlines all the way down to the common ancestor from a single blood sample and the inventor of this game finds that his/her game is still alive.
Can he/she claim copyrights? 😂
@@lordcanti6674 Good question. The legal implications of this scenario are staggering.
Imagine being being a person who live in an ancient civilization and you were brought back to life only to find your hut that your family lived in for generations was turned into a shop that sells Rick and Morty toys.
Or anything along those lines.
Imagine that-there are gods and kings from your time whose names, or entire existences, have been lost to history, while a simple board game has survived for over twice the length of time since Jesus was born! In fact, _when_ Jesus was born, this game was older to him than Jesus is to us!!
And to make it kinda funny, that we are playing the game wrong somehow!
@@ob2kenobi388and he likely grew up playing it
I love this game and everytime I try to make friends discover it so I can play with them, I use this video to explain the rules clearly and fast ! Thanks for an amazingly straightforward and well-made explanation video !
You're welcome , and thanks for commenting!
@@wayneschmidt490 ruclips.net/video/Klef1Y5r77A/видео.html
This video doesn't even explain the basics, much less clearly.
impressive, for years i thought this was a sort of chess game, mostly due to the "royal" name, but it sounds super fun
All our family enjoy it. Thanks for commenting!
Hey, Nate!
I have a hypothosis that this game is the precurser to Parcheesi and backgammon wich have sommilar mechanics but are more complicated
It really is fun!
Well, this'll be my weekend project. Thanks for the JPEG, that simplifies things immensely. Great video.
Thanks for the comment and good luck building your board!
Cool thing is that it can be adapted so blind people can play it.
You can also rework your board and pieces so people with disabilities, like cerebral palsy for instance, Can play it. I'm thinking about trying to 3Dprint an accessible version of the game.
If I ever do, I'll like my model for free in here.
I never thought of that. Great idea!
So this is the game that I see in fgo babylonia episode 5, Gilgamesh is playing this with kids on the street
I want the Game of Ur championships. Like, imagine a championship game called "The Game of Ur champiURnship"
There is one, The international society of UR. But they use very boring looking boards and a modified non-historic rulesets and only go to prestigious universities.
Very well done video: short, to the point, very informative.
Will make a game like this.
I do wonder what the 5 dots on the pieces and board represent?
Thank you.
Thank you for commenting! I too wondered about the dots. Since there are so few original examples of the game, it's impossible to judge how consistent the decoration were.
Another way to make a board is to use a custom image (or the one linked in this clip,. on one of those custom mouse pad sites such as Vista print or whatnot. The advantage to that is you can roll it up for convenient storage/portability. Nice review!
Great idea! Thanks! And thanks for the comment!
You can set up the game with only a chess+checkers set. Use 20 of the checkers pieces to make the board and the last 4 can be your "dice". 7 pawns for each side's pieces complete the game
Good idea on using D6, D4 are a pain to pick up. I think I'll make a design for wood laser-cutting as a faceplate and stick that on a plank of wood. It would be great to have a little drawer on one side to store the dice and pebbles.
The drawer idea is great. When you're done I hope you'll make a video about it. Thanks for commenting!
A copy of the Royal game of Ur that is thousands of years old actually had a drawer to put all the pieces in. You had the same idea as ancient people
"I like them face down. The happy faces are not traditional"
*Sad ancient Mediterranean noises
You're right, but it made the game more fun for our grandchildren. They enjoyed the game more when they got a piece home, turned it over and saw a happy face as their reward. Thanks for the comment!
So its basically backgammon with a twist...or rather backgammon is ur with a twist!
Right! While researching Ur I read several references that suggested backgammon evolved out of it. Thanks for writing!
Please share your lily garden this year!! This is my second year growing lilies! I hope one day they will be as beautiful as yours
Thank you for commenting! Sadly, I've switched over from lilies to snapdragons. They bloom much longer, are more attractive to hummingbirds, (another of my interests), don't require redigging every year and are evergreeen, so the garden beds look good year 'round. This Spring I'm planting a variety that produces flowers that are open instead of the normal ones that are closed. Sorry. Good luck with your bed!
I had the commercial board game. So far it had the simplest and most enjoyable rule set that I've seen so far and there are many versions.
I was just thinking about making this game by myself. The dices were an obstacle because I didn`t know how many white spots were on one dice. I`m so grateful for your video :)
Thanks a lot❤
You're very welcome! And thanks for commenting!
Just take a standand set of dice and blacken out 3 sides on each one.
I feel like this is where the game “Sorry” got it’s idea from, or backgammon…. Super cool thank you 🙏🏼 for teaching
I've played this game many times with my friends, and it is a TON of fun!!
Great video! Thanks for this! One point I would make is that it wasn't clear to me the full movement track for each player. It would be nice to add where the pieces enter and exit and the exact track of movement around the board. I had an idea after watching this video, but I had to go look that up elsewhere to be sure.
I see your point. I show the movement onto, around, and off the board 1 minute and 5 seconds into the video, but I run through it too fast and with far too little explanation. Thanks for pointing this out and for the comment!
@@wayneschmidt490 Still an excellent video. Very clear and very engaging
@@paulsitko7988 You can try out the game at royalgameofuronline.com to see how the "path" works. In fact, you can try alternative (more complex) versions too.
Nice board! In my family, we've not been playing long, but we like to play with an additional dynamic; when a piece is taken, it flips over, becoming a 'weak' piece. Weak pieces can only take other weak pieces. This adds a whole new dimension to the game. Extending this (and this is the rule I prefer, as it's possibly more in keeping with the spirit of the game), another variant can be that each time a piece is taken it flips, meaning that a weak piece can once again become a strong piece, making aggressors think more deeply about their tactics.
I
TGhose are interesting ideas. Next time I play, I'll give them a try. Thank you!
Thank you so much. I have been a 6th grade teacher whose favorite history unit is Mesopotamia.
You are very welcome! If you'd like a large-sized image of the playfield to print out, the following link will take you to an image of it on my webpage about the game:
www.waynesthisandthat.com/images/game%20of%20ur.jpg
This is prime content right here, thanks for the great, short vid!
I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the comment!
I just got a copy of the game from amazon and the rules are nothing like what you said. I guess that's a common problem with these ancient games that don't have preserved rule books. You find different versions of how you're supposed to play it. Even liar's dice had some people debating on the correct rules and that was from colonial times. The only ancient game I've seen with consistently agreed upon rules was the egyptian game senet
I took my rules from Dr. Finkel, the man who first deciphered them. Here's a video he made:
ruclips.net/video/WZskjLq040I/видео.html
Thanks for commenting!
@@wayneschmidt490 I appreciate that. It's strange though. The actual rules are like backgammon while the set of rules I have say place 6 pieces on the board and then players take turns moving them in a way to get 4 on matching images and you win if your opponent can't make a legal move
I draw out the board on a piece of paper, and we use 7 pennies vs 7 times as our tokens and flip 4 quarters as the "dice." (The only requirement is that the different coins not be easy to confuse with each other, so copper pennies and silvery domes, while similar in size, are really easy to differentiate.)
I only draw the 20 squares and the 5 rosette squares. The rest of the pattern is decoration, as far as we can tell, though as Irving Finkel points out, he did some educated guessing about the rules. His reconstruction is definitely entertaining, though!
sorry if I'm a bit picky but 3:15 "rolling a 2 is six time more likely than a 1 or 4" you meant 0 or 4, is that correct?
You're not picky at all. That was a narration mistake I made. Thank you for pointing it out. I'll add a clarification in the description. Thank you! And thanks for the comment!
The British Museum stated that if you are on the middle rosette (save square) and your oponent stand on it, the oponent jump over your piece (and that square) to the next square.
I think painting 4 sides black and 2 sides white would give you more accurate representation of the pyramid style dice.
The dice have to be binary, in other words there's an equal chance of throwing either a white or black point on top. With the tetrahedral dice, two points are white and two are black. When one is thrown, there's a 50/50 chance that either a white or black point will be pointing upward. Painting three faces white and three black on a six-sided cube die, each die still has a 50/50 chance of a white or black face pointing upward. If four sides were black and two white, then the probably of throwing a black face would be 4/2. It would skew the odds to favor black faces.
I've got some buddies coming over for a shroom trip, I'm gonna make them listen to Peter Pringle and play game of Ur and see if we can "project" or whatever into the past LOL.
How’d it go
I'm assuming that the alternative painted cube dice won't give same results as the original. The cube dice has 2 white planes and 4 black planes, while the tetrahedron dice has 2 white and 2 black corners, resulting in 1:2 against 1:1 white to black ratio.
The video didn't show it but I painted the cubed dice with 3 black sides and three white sides so the 1:1 ration should still be in effect.
Apologies. You're right, I haven't noticed it while watching.
If so, then it is a very practical alternative.
I really liked the pieces with the smiley face side. Thanks for the printable image, now have a modern laminated paper game board :)
Speaking of dice alternatives, I came up with a version using just one cube dice. 1 to 4 dots = 1 to 4 moves, 5 dots = 0 moves and 6 dots = throw again. What are your thought on this alternative?
Your one-dice scoring idea sounds interesting. I'll give it a try! It could change the dynamics of play, but that might make the game more interesting. Thanks!
Also. Then. Id believe flipping the pieces would represent how each piece can be used. Particular to each square as well.
Maybe the stars are for flipping pieces. N you score points. By occupying the symbols as they match the piece. Then you have an objective to acquire the other person’s pieces. N that means you win. So first to a certain amount of points. Or capturing the pieces means you win.
Many ways it could be played.
You can thank guardians of the museum for my knowledge of this.
What does the other symbols mean? I don't think they're there just for decorative reasons.
I haven't found any references that say anything about the symbols meaning anything, other than the star or flower symbols making squares where you get an extra turn.
There are plenty theories about this, some alternate game rules use them for very complex gameplay. You can read about it here: royalgameofuronline.com
@@drago939393 Thanks for the link! I'll check it out.
Lucy’s thoughtful ass husband brought me here😍
Wait, but if we use d4 - there only 4 possible variants(1, 2, 3 and 4), but if we use 4d2 there 5 possible variants(4 black, 1 white, 2 white, 3 white and 4 white), so basicaly you should use 3d2(3 black, 1 white, 2 white and 3 white)
I'm not a dice expert, so I'm afraid I don't understand how you designated your dice. What do d4, 4d2 and 3d2 dice look like?
thaaaaanks came her from RI w/ tome scott. making that. on a chunk of cardboard, dollar store dice, and 7 each of pennies and nickels.
Its 2:55 am and i am watching this instead of sleeping
Ok. I think i get it. Its not a game of race. Its a game of chess/checkers. Plain stones can only move in squares where there arent 5 spot. 5 spot stones only move in squares with 5 spots. The dice show moves. And the pyramids show what directions of moves i suspect. But. The stars are teleporters. You take a plain stone. Flip it at the two strange corners after teleporting. That lets you move around the board. 4-5 spotted die can be on those squares with 4 at one time. N plane spotted stones have to jump to acquire a 5 spotted stone. While a 5 spotted stone can be next to the plain stone. To acquire it. But it will subsequently flip over to a plain stone. Where it needs to get back to the flipping zone.
The objective then is to take all their stones.
To start you can place as many stones or as little on the board at once.
I also wonder. If the brown lines. Arent used as well. Until you move to land on certain squares.
So that would work kind of like go then to block moves n such. The goal then to get to the 4 dotted squares. The three bars meaning it takes a 3 to jump the 5 spotted squares n such.
Cause that would be an interesting game.
.
Fun video! I wish I was a DIY guy, lol. Can't really craft or make stuff from wood and such. I'd love to make a fully homemade board and pieces, but that's beyond me. xD
With that said, luckily for me, one doesn't HAVE to paint the 6-sided dice. Players can simply agree to count Evens as "1" and Odds as "0" (or vice-versa).
Combine that with just drawing the playing field on a piece of paper and using coins as player pieces and you've got a REALLY low budget version of the game. :D
Great idea! Thanks for the comment!
Did I miss the dimensions of the lumber used for this? Thanks for the video. Im a STEM teacher and going to have my kids design and do this.
Anyone?
chess getting released for them is like how fortnite got hyped up in like 2017
I'm sorry, but I don't understand what "chess getting released from them" means.
@@wayneschmidt490 bro can read ancient runes but not the english alphabet
I guess not. What does 'chess' have to do with the game of UR? @@spectre8_fulcrum
the game died coz chess was the new hype. 3000 hears playing the same game must be boring@@wayneschmidt490
i've wanted to make one of these for a while but didn't have a good shot of the board
Will this do?
www.waynesthisandthat.com/images/game%20of%20ur.jpg
It's from my website
( www.waynesthisandthat.com ) which parallels my RUclips channel. I don't sell or advertise anything so you don't have to worry about pop-ups. Good Luck!
Really well put together video! I'm going to make one.
Thank you! Everyone in our family enjoys playing it.
But i dont think im entirely correct. I suspect it has a point system n a capture system to win too. With some rules to how many moves must be completed. Or shapes to be completed to flip pieces n remove the others.
Wow. Thank you so much! I'm thinking, to just be super extra, I'll lightly glue your design to wood, but then use my Dremel to carve a 3D version of the pattern into the wood, sand it, and then paint it.
Hi! Thanks for commenting! The carved surface sounds great. You might want to avoid carving too deeply or the player pieces might have trouble staying on the board. Also, unless you're jumping a piece, they are usually slid over the surface. Any surface carvings might make that difficult. But, it would make a great looking board! If you want a larger, higher resolution image of the playfield, I posted a close-up image of it on my website. Here's a link to that image:
www.waynesthisandthat.com/images/game%20of%20ur.jpg
Good luck and please let me know how it turns out!
@@wayneschmidt490 That all makes a lot of sense. I’ll have to keep it to light impressions then.
Hi
I am from north iraq
And i didnt know this was Existed
Looks fun to game
It is! Thanks for the comment!
Correction: At 3:19 Rolling a 2 is 6 times more likely than rolling a 0 or a 4 (not a 1 or a 4).
Ouch! I must have misspoken. Your are correct. Thank you for bringing that up. And thanks for commenting!
@@wayneschmidt490 Well you didn't misspeak. It's the clarifying text below that is wrong. And no problem. :)
I wonder how to cut stone. I'd like to make a board out of granite or maybe local quartzite that way someone else can my game in the dirt 500 years from now.
I recommend going to a marble kitchen counter top shop and ask them. I know there are special blades you can get for electric saws that will cut tile. I assume they'd work for stone as well. Good luck!
By using altered 6 sided die, you are radically altering the odds of throwing a zero through 4.
Thank you for commenting! If the six-sided dice had not been repainted with three sides white and three sides black, which now renders them binary dice just like the pyramid dice, you would be correct. But as pointed out 1:25 into the video, they were painted, so I believe the odds of throwing a zero through four are the same. If you could explain why it isn't the same, I would appreciate reading about it. If I've mede a mistake I need to change it.
I checked out your channel. Did you build that play castle yourself? Even if it was from a kit, that's some great work. I loved it when your daughter had you look to make sure there wasn't a spider in the tunnel slide. Thanks for na fun video to watch!
Wayne Schmidt Wayne, I apologise, I completely missed the point about making them binary! I believe you are right about it evening the bias to zero. I will delete my comment. Yes, built it myself, thank you!
Thanks. A friend has a makeshift cardboard board with riverstones. I'm making one three times better out of wood, and another friend is making one six times better, out of leather, backed by wood. . This will assist in making mine that little bit nicer.
This is getting to sound like Game-Of-Ur-Wars, where you guys compete to see who can make the fanciest board. 🙂 I like it!
To put "five thousand years" (i.e. 3,000BC) into perspective:
- When Jesus was born, this game would have been older to him than Jesus is to us today.
- This game is older than the Great Pyramid of Giza.
- At around the same time, Stonehenge was built, North African people started farming for the first time, and North American people started making pottery for the first time.
- Woolly Mammoths were still alive.
- It is 1,000 years older than the city of Babylon.
where can i buy that?
Amazon sells them.
www.amazon.com/s?k=royal+game+of+ur&crid=3DQ0CIWRJH48U&sprefix=royal+game+%2Caps%2C157&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_11
Or you can copy the image from the video, print it out and make your own.
dude, thanks for that jpeg. totally going to my local lumbar yards and seeing about picking up some scrap wood
You're welcome, and thanks for the comment! Good luck with making your game.
It appears then. That each square’s symbols represent types of moves that can be made. Say you have 4 blocks on that symbol with 4- 5 die. N roll a 4. You can subsequently move all four to the other 4 single die squares. But you have to move 1 or 4 pieces. 4 moves.
Some squares represent jumps. Some represent geometric move limitations
I think the stars represent teleporters. N on them you can move anywhere freely after.
Its way more complex and tactile when you see the game as that. Suggesting its definitely not a game of “race”. Its more like chess and checkers combined.
Personally. I thought it was a game of sliders. You slide them pieces from one side. To land on the two back squares to win. .
But this makes more sense. How you win? Who knows. I think the entire game is still lose
The following video shows the archeologist who first translated the rules for the Game of Ur:
ruclips.net/video/WZskjLq040I/видео.html
You can skip his preamble about the game and go directly to 3:45 for how to play. He doesn't mention anything about teleport squares or having more than one piece on a square at a time.
@@wayneschmidt490 i did. I had the same issue with shogi. I started making better rules.
This game has too much going on for it to be a single race game. I derived a way it could be a chess/checkers sort of game. With points n captures to win. That would make it ridiculously strategic and complex.
But ive played over 5,000 games a chess. So. I get bored of simplicity.
I find it hard to believe a game popular for 3,000 years was the same boring race over and over
@@treatb09 Now I get it! I misunderstood your first comment as stating the original rules were different than what archeological evidence states. Now I understand that you were suggesting new improved rules.
I checked out your channel and some of your videos got me thinking. I particularly enjoyed the one about Thanos. I never understood how he could think eliminating half the beings in the universe would have any significant effect. In very short order we'd just breed ourselves back into the same problem of overpopulation. My thoughts ran more toward asking why instead of randomly selecting people he didn't select for intelligence or some other virtue that would have a greater chance of solving the problem instead of just applying a temporary bandage. Your point that he would have better employed his power to change the universe went further.
Along this line, you might enjoy an extremely short story (3-minute read) I wrote, though if you are offended by the concept of human evolution you may not like it. It's called "The Great Cow Empire."
waynesthisandthat.com/the%20great%20cow%20empire.html
This specific piece looks a pretty new here
It is. I made it myself. Four minutes into the video I explain how. Thanks for writing!
I never expected that i would ship two medieval period people together 😅
for dices you can also use 4 coins and hold then in your and throw them at once :D
oooor you can use 1d4 dice
Great ideas! Thanks!
Brilliantly explained.
Thank you!
You're very welcome! Thanks for the comment!
How did they figure out the rules if the game is from so long ago?
Here's video about the man who deciphered the rules. The explanation of how the rules were discovered start 2 minutes into the video. Enjoy!
ruclips.net/video/WZskjLq040I/видео.html
thank you , it was easy to learn (:
You'r e welcome! Thanks for commenting!
WHO ELSE KNOWS THIS FROM TRADELANDS (its upstairs in the pub on nova balreska) (also if u dont know the game this comment makes no sense so sry
Your post was a little cryptic, but thanks for commenting anyway.
Huh so this is what 1-d chess looks like! I assume this was what the comments from that anime clip was talking about.
Sorry, I don't know what anime clip you were talking about, but thanks for the comment!
Hnefatafl board game from viking, this one are good too, Can you make a web page for our players to print? The exchange rate of Malaysian money is too low and the transportation fee is high 😢
If you mean a webpage for the UR game, here it is:
www.waynesthisandthat.com/images/game%20of%20ur.jpg
Thank for commenting!
It is reminiscent to senet, an ancient Egyptian game.
Yes, but senet is much more complicated. Thanks for commenting!
I'm here because of the movie "Screamers".
What does your comment have to do with the Royal Game Of Ur?
@@wayneschmidt490 At the beginning of this movie, there was a scene in which two soldiers are playing the game of Ur.
@@reflectingsoul Ah! Very interesting. Thank you!
Also similar to backgammon and mancala
Very good to iraq
Good video. But I didn’t hear you mention you can bring more than one piece at a time on the board at a time which makes it interesting
You're right! That completely slipped by me. Thank you for bringing it up!
Found out about this game of ur from rinworld.
THAT'S CALLED A D4 WAYNE
how do i went from Horror games to a chess game....
I'm sorry but I don't understand what you are trying to say. Thanks for commenting anyway!
Wayne Schmidt i was watching horror games videos, then somehow i got to this video, which have nothing to do with horror games.
That happens sometimes with RUclips. A few years ago I published a video about how to feed Venus flytrap plants and for some strange reason RUclips started recommending it to everyone. It went viral and got almost 2 million views in just a few months. I received complaints about it because it was turning up in people's searches about subjects that had nothing to do with it. Sorry it got in your way. I promise, it wasn't my doing.
Thanks a lot Great game!
Thank you!
Then theres me using a piece of paper and a pencil (with a ruler) just drawing squares lol
Hey! Whatever works is good!
Or, you could copy the following image and print it out:
www.waynesthisandthat.com/images/game%20of%20ur.jpg
I dont think you should use the six sided dice it will be different odds on the different numbers coming up
The odds of getting a white or black face in either the six sided dice with three black and three white is the same as using tetrahedral dice with two white and 2 black tips: 50/50. So the statistics will be the same. I've compared play with both and can't detect any difference in play, other than the six sided dice are a lot easier to use. Thanks for commenting!
@@wayneschmidt490 then you can use coins
@@zeyadal-sayhood6653 Great idea! Thank you!
"Up until the final turn, it's impossible to tell which player will win". This makes the game sound like it's completely luck of the draw with no reward for skill. How can a game be fun if the dice basically play the game for you? Nevertheless, I ended up ordering a copy from Amazon anyways to give it a try since I collect historical board games.
I didn't express what I intended to say correctly. Thanks for bringing this up. I meant to say that by employing good strategies, it's possible for a player who's far behind to catch up and win. It's similar to "Shut The Box."
ruclips.net/video/TVF2WC_iVGo/видео.html
The luck of the throw dominates the game, but by understanding the odds associated with the different ways to count scores one player can have a great advantage to one who doesn't.
Thanks for commenting!
Whoiyyyhhh!!
Okay. That's an cybertext I've never seen. What's it mean?
Almost reminds me of sorry.
Тоже от папуаса?
Возможно, он мигрировал туда за многие века, в которые в него играли, но его происхождение ближе к Месопотамии.
Thanks!
You're welcome, and thanks for commenting!
Thank you so muchhhh
You are very welcome, and thanks for the comment!
UR
What are you trying to tell me? That the Ur should be spelled UR?
3:21 the correct is "here he knows".
The other symbols on the board are kind of confusing. I do know the star symbols allows for an extra roll but don't the other symbols do something? I mean there's a bunch of different symbols, my guess, there's different levels of play and each symbol has a different effect or no effect depending on the level i.e. master, noob
Here's a video by the expert who deciphered how to play the game:
ruclips.net/video/WZskjLq040I/видео.html
He never mentions anything about the symbols except the star ones you mentioned so I don't think they stand for anything. There have been so few of these games found that no one knows how standard the decorations were. They guy who made the one in the video may have just dressed the squares up to make it look better.
@@wayneschmidt490 Didn't he say it was stripped down to the bare minimum
I rewatched his video of how to play it and you're right, at one point he says something about a simplified version. I interpreted that as referring to strategy, not actual game play rules. I could be wrong. I tried getting on the British Museum website for the complete rules but couldn't find anything there other than what he mentioned in the video. Wikipedia didn't have anything additional either. There are several websites that list various rule sets, but these appear to be gaming experts using game theory to develop rules rather than rules derived from the original clay tablet translation. I'm lost. If you find anything definite please mention it here. Thank you!
@@wayneschmidt490 Irving Finkel had a paper on it on academia
That's great idea. I'll try looking for an on-line copy of it. Thank you!
The happy faces are not traditional :P
You are correct, but they make the game a lot more fun, especially for our grandchildren.
Why so many dice?
I assume the number of dice evolved over the centuries the game was played to provide the best gaming experience.
But how do you play
This video:
ruclips.net/video/WZskjLq040I/видео.html
Explains how to play. Skip the first 3 & 1/2 minutes of history to jump right into game play. Thanks for commenting!
Looks cool...but the link doesn't work. :(
Opps! Sorry. That link was to my old text-based website, which after 25 years I cancelled just last week.
Wait.. this is a real thing?
Yes! Here's a video about it by Dr. Finkle, the man who translated the ancient tablet that explained how it's played:
ruclips.net/video/WZskjLq040I/видео.html
Thanks for commenting!
Dude can't pick up a D4
You're right! Originally, they would have been larger, rough stones that would be easy to pick up. Today's small, glossy smooth D4s are almost impossible to pick up. That's why I changed to using regular dice painted black and white.
Ur Uruk =IRAK
انها حضارتنا
Google نظر شما را به این ترجمه ترجمه کرد: "آنها حضور شما هستند." این یعنی چی؟ به هر حال ممنون که نظر دادید!
This is messiest explanation i've ever heard. You didn't explain where players start and how they place the pawns, which ARE LITERALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT RULES, NOTHING MAKES SENSE WITHOUT IT. If you can't explain a game so basic, it means you can't even understand it. You're just a seller.
Perhaps this video:
ruclips.net/video/WZskjLq040I/видео.html
By the man who translated the original rules would be more helpful to you.
She knows where to move his piece? Aren't we going over board being silly with language now?
Who is the 'she' you're talking about? And to what 'silly language' are you referring?
@@wayneschmidt490 Was a joke about the "safe squares" (campus safe spaces). Admittedly, and in retrospect, it would've been more appropriate as an internal joke. Oh well... Have a nice day :)
Gotcha. Thanks.
Hi! Great video! Could you send me the image by email? the link doesn't work. thanks
Sorry. The website that hosted the picture for the link had to be taken down. You should be able to enlarge the video to full screen, pause it when the board face isn't covered with anything and do a screen capture to get an image. Then resize it for printing.
Hi, the link www.waynesthisandthat.com/images/game%20of%20ur.jpg does not work...
I apologize for that. I had to close down the website that image was on because of problems with the server.
@@wayneschmidt490 Do you think you'll bring your website back? It was a treasure trove of useful info.