Irving Finkel, the curator of the cuneiform inscriptions in the British Museum, and an ancient games historian, does a playthrough of the Royal Game of Ur with a YouTuber, Tom Scott, who never played this game before. They play according to Finkel’s rules, which in my opinion, are nowhere near as exciting as Dmitriy Skiryuk’s rules, but nevertheless still interesting to watch.
Very enjoyable. Seeing a virgin discover the pleasure of a battle schooled by the master.
I would buy one of these games!
I sent you an email.
Yes! I would love this game, in its original form. I do not want a modern version. The original is beautiful.
I have been playing backgammon for almost half a century and I’ve read often about the Royal Game of Ur, but this is the first time ever that I’ve actually seen it being played.
Fascinating. Thanks a lot.
Tom mentions that backgammon got more interesting after the “doubling dice” was introduced. Firstly, “dice” is the plural of “die” and secondly, it’s not called a doubling die. The common name the the “doubling cube” or simply “the cube”. It’s not being rolled. It’s used to offer the opponent the option to continue a game for double the stakes or to resign and lose the initial stake. https://backgammon-boards.com/backgammon-101-the-doubling-cube-in-backgammon/