What games did the ancient Egyptians play?

What do games tell us about Ancient Egypt?

The ancient Egyptians didn’t spend all their time working or preparing for the afterlife. They also liked to play lots of board games.

These games often tell us about the way the Egyptians followed their religion and lived their lives.

Board games were all played with ancient Egyptian versions of dice called throw sticks or knuckle bones. This was because they were all games of chance.

For the ancient Egyptians, the element of chance symbolised that their fate was in the hands of the gods.

Watch: What Ancient Egyptian board games were there?

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

This video can not be played

What was the Mehen game?

A photo of a small ivory lion playing piece from a Mehen board game — Image caption,
This is a close-up photograph of a lion piece from a Mehen board game. It is carved from ivory. The ancient Egyptians often made things from hippopotamus ivory because there used to be lots of hippos living by the Nile.

The gameboard showed a coiled snake whose body is divided into rectangular spaces. Mehen was a snake deity (god) in ancient Egyptian religion.
The game was played with lion or lioness shaped pieces with three to six sets and small marbles or balls.

Gameboards

Take a look at some ancient Egyptian game pieces.

Skip image gallery

Image source, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Image caption,
The ancient Egyptians played Aseb on one side of this box and Senet on the other side. Look closely at the picture and you can see some knuckle bones. The ancient Egyptians would use these as dice.
Image source, Manchester Museum, University of Manchester
Image caption,
These are ancient Egyptian throw sticks which were used as dice. Every stick has a flat side and a rounded side. They would throw them in the air and when they landed, the number of flat sides showing told them how many places they could move.
Image source, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Image caption,
This is one of the most detailed and beautiful versions of a Hounds and Jackals board ever found!