The game encompassed several meanings, spanning from simple enjoyment to divination. The existing written records are insufficient to definitively decipher the exact rules of the game. Furthermore, the rules exhibited variations from one region to another and evolved throughout the centuries, if not millennia. Presently, a few rule sets are available, depicting distinct yet akin gameplay experiences. What they all share in common is their essence as a racing game, although the level of randomness and strategy varies.

In “Ur: The Royal Game,” we embraced a more strategic approach to gameplay, diminishing the role of randomness and providing players with deeper engagement. Victory is achieved by securing all four rosette tiles on the board.

To play the game, players require the iconic game board, 4 pyramidal dice, each with 2 marked tips, and 7 playing pieces per player.

The players’ pieces represent spirits engaged in a battle over heaven and earth. Each turn, every player rolls four pyramidal dice, each with two marked tips: one gold and one silver. Depending on the combination of dice roll results, the player can either summon a playing piece onto the board in a designated location or move an already-present piece on the board. Each player starts with seven pieces, and their objective is to claim all four rosettes on the field in order to achieve victory over heaven and earth.

It depends on the ruleset. Older rulesets heavily rely on luck. However, for Ur: The Royal Game, we made the deliberate choice to reduce the element of luck and place greater emphasis on strategy.

Not necessarily. It depends on the strategy.

To summon a piece on the tile of Ishtar.