senet

Senet


 * Other Names:**

//Senat, Men//

"Game of Passing"
 * Meaning of Name:**


 * Hieroglyphics:**



A game from predynastic Egypt, //Senet// may be the oldest board game in the world, dating to 3500 B.C.E. More than 40 //Senet// boards have been discovered, some in very good condition with pawns, sticks, and dice knucklebones still intact. By the time of the New Kingdom, it had become a kind of talisman for the journey of the dead. Because of the element of luck in the game, it was believed that a successful player was under the protection of the gods.

Some tombs show the deceased playing //Senet// against an invisible opponent (thought to be his Ka), in order to reach the afterlife safely. Consequently, //Senet// boards were often placed in the grave alongside other useful objects for the dangerous journey through the Duat, and the game is referred to in the Book of the Dead.

The //Senet// gameboard is a grid of thirty squares (Egyptian //peru//, "houses"), arranged in three rows of ten. A //Senet// game has two sets of pawns (at least five of each and, in some sets, up to ten,) in different colors and shapes. The pieces were moved in accordance to the fall of sticks or dice thrown by the players.

The original rules of //Senet// are not known. No record of the rules on papyrus or tomb walls have ever been discovered. Scholars have made several guesses, and some think that //Senet// may be one of the ancestors of Backgammon. Four //Senet// boards were found in the tomb of Tutankhamen.

Magical Objects