The Royal Game of Ur with Cats!

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Goal: Race your 7 cat statues along the path and bear them off the board before Ninkilim does. The scoreboard shows how many pieces you have remaining to bear off (first to reach 0 wins!).

The Path

Your cats start off the board and enter on the top row at the fourth column from the left, traveling left to the corner rosette.
They then enter the shared middle row, traveling all the way to the right.
Finally, they exit back to the top row at the eighth column, move left to the rosette, and bear off the board.
Ninkilim's cats follow a symmetric path using the bottom row for entrance/exit and the same shared middle row.

Movement & Dice

On your turn, roll the 4 tetrahedral dice. The corners are marked with cat face outlines. The number of dice landing with a cat face corner pointing up (from 0 to 4) is your move distance.
If you roll a 0, your turn ends immediately.
You can move any of your cats forward by the exact roll amount.
You cannot land on a square already occupied by one of your own cats.

Combat & Rosettes

Combat Zone: The middle row is shared. If you land on a square occupied by an opponent's cat, you scratch/capture it, sending it back to their starting basket.
Fish Treat Rosettes: There are 5 rosette squares, each topped with a delicious fish treat.
- Landing on a rosette gives you an extra roll immediately!
- A cat sitting on the middle rosette (column 4, middle row) is safe from capture. Opponents cannot land on this square if occupied.

Bearing Off

To bear a cat off the board, you must land exactly one square past the final rosette. An exact roll is required.

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Rules of the Royal Game of Ur

The Path

Movement & Dice

Combat & Rosettes

Bearing Off

Game Log

History of the Royal Game of Ur

Origins (c. 2600–2400 BCE)

Archaeological Discovery

Deciphering the Rules

More Cat Games