5.6 on boardgamegeek

April 8, 2018 1:19 PM

Trash-talking wizard Irving Finkel and affable science youtuber Tom Scott sit down to play the 4500-year-old Royal Game of Ur.
posted by theodolite (28 comments total)

World's oldest playable board game! There are older games known, but we don't have any idea what the rules were.
posted by miyabo at 1:21 PM on April 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

That's an ancient Sumerian D4!
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:33 PM on April 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

This is fantastic and I already wanted to go live in the British Museum but now I want to live there and have Dr. Finkel adopt me.
posted by PussKillian at 1:44 PM on April 8, 2018 [5 favorites]

Excellent! Very cool - thanks.
posted by parki at 1:54 PM on April 8, 2018

What a fun video. I would also like to see the more complicated version of the rules described on the cuneiform clay tablet.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 1:55 PM on April 8, 2018

His whole business about being "poor at math" is a dodge - he plays the psychological game, and cannot be trusted.

Irving, himself, is a treasure.
posted by parki at 2:04 PM on April 8, 2018 [7 favorites]

That's fascinating, and these guys are fun to watch.
posted by zardoz at 2:04 PM on April 8, 2018

If you enjoyed that, here's Tom, Irving, and Tom's friend Matt sitting down to talk about (and demonstrate) Cuneiform and how to actually write it on clay.
posted by wanderingmind at 2:14 PM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh my god, his beard is a thing of beauty. At first it's like "let me get my scissors and snip that one hair", and then it's like "no, it's perfect as is"
posted by Gorgik at 2:19 PM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]

More from Finkel, in which he shows us the real board, and the fact that he translated the rules without knowing which game it was for. And that he's been interested in the game since he was nine.
posted by zabuni at 2:28 PM on April 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

In other Babylonian news, Ea-Nasir was a scamming businessman who we only about today because he archived all the letters complaining what he had ripped them off for. Hundreds of them, all on clay tablets. And his hoard of hate mail survived for 4,000 years.
posted by ardgedee at 2:43 PM on April 8, 2018 [31 favorites]

Admittedly, Tom Scott mildly annoys me for some completely inexplicable reason, but that was quite fun. Also, Finkel's eyebrows are now an aspiration for me when I get older.
posted by Samizdata at 2:59 PM on April 8, 2018

Fun, thanks for posting! I liked their analysis of what makes it a good game - it's both random and strategic, the rules are simple, and you don't know who's going to win until the very last moment. That's still a good guide for game design.
posted by Quietgal at 3:02 PM on April 8, 2018 [4 favorites]

There's a video from a guy who makes a folding/portable 3d printed version of the game that explains some of the more complicated versions. It seems to get quite a bit more complex. Like having to fill up the first 4 of your starting slots before you can move out into the middle battle zone. Some squares let you stack on top of your opponent and trap their piece until you move away. A roll of 0 turns into 5. Five of the seven movement tokens have pips 1-5 on the back that augment the number of points you get for knocking them off or getting them through the board. There's a bank of points (like you're playing for a fixed pile of gold nuggets or such). Some go to the end and then back in the opposite direction (so you're trying to leave through the section where your opponent starts). It all gets to be a really complicated set of house rules and more poker-ish distribution of wealth than the basic one winner version.

I have a bit of a man crush on Tom (and Matt). They seem to be jovial fun bantering goofy guys.
posted by zengargoyle at 3:16 PM on April 8, 2018 [2 favorites]

That was a charming video. As was the cuneiform one. Though in the latter, I kept getting distracted that rich people in their expensive black cars seem to be allowed to drive through pedestrian malls...I may be wrong.
posted by maxwelton at 3:26 PM on April 8, 2018

Also Finkel covering a certain set of chess pieces, the Lewis chess pieces, which a replica had an appearance in a certain movie he can't remember.
posted by zabuni at 5:06 PM on April 8, 2018

Zero-is-Five is absolutely an improvement. "Lose your turn" mechanics suck.
posted by absalom at 6:27 PM on April 8, 2018

Finkel is absolutely the man to be selling the idea of this game. The combination of his wit, expertise, intelligence, smack-talk skills, lifelong resentment of the mere existence of mathematics, and facial flora make him an utter delight. I don’t just want to play this game; I want to play this game with him.
posted by middleclasstool at 6:51 PM on April 8, 2018 [8 favorites]

I just saw this the other day it was way cooler than I thought it would be.

Recently I had the chance to play played Odin's Ravens which has a similar race around the board mechanic, but uses cards for the locations and movement (think "Candyland" but with "Loki Cards" that allow you manipulate the board in different ways). I really enjoyed it. It's not too heavy and a good filler game. Only 2 players, of course, but still. Definitely recommend checking it out if you have a chance.

I def wanna try Ur now after watching that video. And yes, Finkel is such a delightful charming character :)
posted by symbioid at 7:37 PM on April 8, 2018

I just played a round on kongregate, using Finkel’s rules just like the video. I think I like the idea that pieces have to turn into the opposite side in the end of the board, then circle around the edge to bear off. It sets up a neat counter-flow there, and makes every piece hittable, even at the last minute.

I also think that unhittable spot in the center seems wrong. It’s a huge strategy spot with finkel’s rules, but I’d think the square would look different. There must also be a meaning to the different patterns on the non-rosette squares.

Fun game though, it did change fortune drastically right up to the end.
posted by ctmf at 8:57 PM on April 8, 2018

That was delightful, and now I want to go back to the British Museum and hang out with him by the Lewis chesspieces.

Also, he did his PhD on Mesopotamian exorcistic magic, which sounds totally interesting.
posted by mogget at 9:00 PM on April 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've never wanted that full bushy beard and eyebrow thing on my face as much as now.
posted by drewbage1847 at 9:00 PM on April 8, 2018

I once went for a job interview at the British Museum, and between entering the offices through an assuming door next to a bin near the Egyptian sculpture gallery and catching a glimpse of Irving Finkel in his office, it was everything I hoped it would be. I didn't get the job, but that's fine.
posted by Helga-woo at 5:02 AM on April 9, 2018

Clicked on the link just to see the beard: was in no way disappointed. A+++ would beard again.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:11 AM on April 9, 2018

Irving did his PhD dissertation on Babylonian exorcistic spells against demons... I def think I made some wrong choices education-wise
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:20 AM on April 9, 2018 [1 favorite]

Back in the day I went to a pub that had some boardgames with some work colleagues and we started regularly playing Ludo together... It seems a super simple kids game at first once you get into it a whole load of tactics and strategy open up and it's great competitive fun (especially over a drink or two)
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:23 AM on April 9, 2018

I don't think I've ever played Ludo, but I looked it up on Wikipedia and it turns out that Sorry! is a derivative of it. I was a hardcore Sorry! player in my youth. I should give Ludo a try. Then again, I'm not super good at games when trying to learn them by myself, which is why I have a box of Sushi Go! on my coffee table, untouched.
posted by PussKillian at 8:41 AM on April 9, 2018

Zabuni's links above are part of a really excellent series from the British Museum, introduced previously on MeFi. I'm excited to see that Season 3 is well underway. No new (old?) boardgames yet but there's more Finkel!
posted by bunnysquirrel at 6:05 PM on April 9, 2018