Editing Board game (section)

====Oldest game====
The [[Royal Game of Ur]], estimated to have originated from around 4,600 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, an example of which was found in the royal tombs of ancient Mesopotamia ({{Circa|2600&nbsp;BC}} &ndash; {{Circa|2400&nbsp;BC}}),<ref name="ur_british-museum_current(2020)">{{cite web|title=''game-board'': Museum number 120834|website=British Museum (www.britishmuseum.org)|language=en|pages=11–15|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1928-1009-378|access-date=15 April 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250415000000/https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1928-1009-378|archive-date=15 April 2025|url-status=live|df=dmy}} [https://ia600704.us.archive.org/16/items/the-royal-game-of-ur-british-museum/The%20Royal%20Game%20of%20Ur%2C%20British%20Museum.pdf Alt URL]</ref><ref name="finkel_british-museum_2007">{{cite book|title=Ancient board games in perspective {{!}} Papers from the 1990 British Museum colloquium, with additional contributions|editor=I.L. Finkel|publisher=British Museum Press|publication-place=London|date=2007|first=Irving L.|last=Finkel|language=en|url=https://annas-archive.org/md5/189bf3233143e3aa74a521089bae39dc|access-date=17 April 2025|df=dmy}}</ref><ref name="mancala_board-game-studies-lournal_2020_p127">{{Cite journal|last=Depaulis|first=Thierry|date=1 October 2020|title=Board Games Before Ur?|journal=Board Game Studies Journal|language=en|volume=14|issue=1|pages=127–144|doi=10.2478/bgs-2020-0007|issn=2183-3311|doi-access=free|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350710812|access-date=17 April 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250417000000/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350710812_Board_Games_Before_Ur|archive-date=17 April 2025|url-status=live|df=dmy}} [https://ia601508.us.archive.org/14/items/depaulis-2020-board-games-before-ur/Depaulis%20%282020%29%20Board%20Games%20Before%20Ur.pdf Alt URL]</ref> is considered the oldest playable boardgame in the world, with well-defined game's rules discovered written on a cuneiform tablet by a Babylonian astronomer in {{Circa|177 BC}} &ndash; {{Circa|176 BC}}.<ref name="ur_british-museum_2021">{{cite web|title=Top 10 historical board games|website=British Museum (www.britishmuseum.org)|date=26 February 2021|language=en|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/top-10-historical-board-games|access-date=3 January 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027133607/https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/top-10-historical-board-games|archive-date=27 October 2023|url-status=live|df=dmy}}</ref><ref name="finkel_2007">{{cite book|title=Ancient Board Games in Perspective {{!}} Papers from the 1990 British Museum colloquium, with additional contributions|chapter=3. On the Rules for the Royal Game of Ur|page=16|year=2007|first=Irving L.|last=Finkel|language=en|publisher=British Museum Press|publication-place=London|url=https://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~pbarfuss/On_the_Rules_for_the_Royal_Game_of_Ur.pdf|access-date=17 April 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250417000000/https://csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~pbarfuss/On_the_Rules_for_the_Royal_Game_of_Ur.pdf|archive-date=17 April 2025|url-status=live|df=dmy}} [https://ia600704.us.archive.org/32/items/finkel-2007-on-the-rules-for-the-royal-game-of-ur-p-16/Finkel%20%282007%29%20On%20the%20rules%20for%20the%20Royal%20Game%20of%20Ur%20-%20p16.pdf Alt URL]</ref>

Currently, [[Senet]] is argued to be the oldest known board game in the world, with possible game board fragments ({{circa|3100&nbsp;BC}})<ref name="senet_piccone_1980"/> and undisputed pictorial representations ({{circa|2686;BC}} &ndash; {{circa|2613 BC}})<ref name="Sebbane">{{cite journal|last=Sebbane|first=Michael|year=2001|title=Board Games from Canaan in the early and intermediate Bronze Ages and the origin of the Egyptian Senet game|journal=Tel Aviv|volume=28|issue=2|pages=213–230|doi=10.1179/tav.2001.2001.2.213|s2cid=162219908}}</ref> having been found in Predynastic and First Dynasty burials dating as far back as 3500 BC.<ref name="oldest-games_oldest_current(2025)"/> However, while Senet was played for thousands of years, it fell out of fashion sometime after 400 A.D. during the [[Roman Egypt|Roman period]];<ref name="Sebbane"/> the rules were never written down, therefore they are not decisively known.<ref name="oldest_how-stuff_works_current(2025)">{{cite web|title=How Senet Works|website=How Stuff Works (www.entertainment.howstuffworks.com)|first=Laurie L.|last=Dove|date=4 April 2012 |language=en|url=https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/leisure/brain-games/senet.htm#pt1|access-date=13 April 2025|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250207171850/https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/leisure/brain-games/senet.htm#pt1|archive-date=7 February 2025|url-status=live|df=dmy}}</ref> Similarly, [[Mehen (game)|Mehen]] is one of the oldest games dated with reasonable confidence, i.e., {{circa|3000&nbsp;BC}} &ndash; {{circa|2300&nbsp;BC}},<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ancient Egyptians at Play: Board Games Across Borders|last=Crist|first=Walter|display-authors=etal|publisher=Bloomsbury|year=2016|isbn=978-1-4742-2117-7|location=London|pages=15–38}}</ref><ref name="ur_british-museum_2021"/> with some estimating it dates back to {{circa|3500&nbsp;BC}}.<ref name="oldest_good-games_current(2024)"/> The rules, scoring system, and game pieces, however, are unknown or speculative.<ref name="oldest_good-games_current(2024)"/><ref name="ur_british-museum_2021"/>

The title of the oldest known board game has been difficult to establish.<ref name="oldest_good-games_current(2024)">{{cite web|title=The Oldest Games in the World|website=Good Games (www.goodgames.com.au)|date=31 July 2023|language=en|url=https://www.goodgames.com.au/articles/the-oldest-board-games-in-the-world|access-date=7 January 2025|archive-url=https://archive.today/20250106224937/https://www.goodgames.com.au/articles/the-oldest-board-games-in-the-world|archive-date=6 January 2025|url-status=live|df=dmy}}</ref> An example of this is [[mancala]], which includes a broad family of board games with a core design of two rows of small circular divots or bowls carved into a surface, which has had numerous estimations of its generic age due to the many variants that have been discovered in different locations across Africa, the Middle East, and southern Asia.<ref name="oldest_good-games_current(2024)"/> These are dated across many different historical periods, from archaeological sites dating the game at {{Circa|800&nbsp;BC}} &ndash; {{Circa|200&nbsp;BC}} (Roman Settlements); {{Circa|2500&nbsp;BC}} &ndash; {{Circa|1500&nbsp;BC}} (Egypt); and even {{Circa|7000 &nbsp;BC}} &ndash; {{Circa|5000 &nbsp;BC}} (Jordan). The later based on divots carved out of [[limestone]] in a Neolithic dwelling from {{Circa|5870 &nbsp;BC}} ± 240 BC,<ref name="mancala_simpson_2007">{{cite book|title=Ancient Board Games in perspective: Papers from the 1990 British Museum colloquium, with additional contributions|publisher=British Museum Press|publication-place=London|editor=I.L. Finkel|year=2007|first=St John|last=Simpson|chapter=1. Homo Ludens: The Earliest Board Games in the Near East|pages=5–10|language=en|url=https://www.academia.edu/3584121|access-date=17 April 2025|df=dmy}}</ref><ref name="oldest_good-games_current(2024)"/><ref name="mancala_south-african-art-mmuseum_2020">{{cite web|title=Mancala|url=https://www.savannahafricanartmuseum.org/2020-workshops/05-2#:~:text=There%20is%20archeological%20and%20historical,floor%20of%20a%20Neolithic%20dwelling|website=Savannah African Art Museum|access-date=10 December 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241210045650/https://www.savannahafricanartmuseum.org/2020-workshops/05-2|archive-date=10 December 2024|url-status=live|df=dmy}}</ref> although this later dating has been disputed.<ref name="mancala_board-game-studies-lournal_2020_pp.127-144">{{Cite journal|last=Depaulis|first=Thierry|date=1 October 2020|title=Board Games Before Ur?|journal=Board Game Studies Journal|language=en|volume=14|issue=1|pages=127–144|doi=10.2478/bgs-2020-0007|issn=2183-3311|doi-access=free}}</ref> Furthermore, when considering the Neolithic period game boards discoveries, caution has been given against considering these finds as representing earliest human game playing, as the absence of evidence of such games does not equate to evidence that no games were played during earlier periods.<ref name="discoveries_rollefson_1992">{{cite journal|title=A Neolithic Game Board from CAin Ghazal, Jordan|journal=Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research|date=May 1992|number=286|first=Gary O.|page=3|last=Rollefson|language=en|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1357113.pdf|access-date=18 April 2025|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|doi=10.2307/1357113 |jstor=1357113 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250419000000/https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/1357113.pdf|archive-date=19 April 2025|url-status=live|df=dmy}} [https://ia601504.us.archive.org/20/items/rollefson-1992-a-neolithic-game-board-from-ain-ghazal-jordan-p.-3/Rollefson%20%281992%29%20A%20Neolithic%20Game%20Board%20from%20%CA%BFAin%20Ghazal%2C%20Jordan%2C%20p.3.pdf Alt URL]</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="160">
File:Men Playing Board Games.jpg|'' Men Playing Board Games'', from The Sougandhika Parinaya Manuscript
File:-3000 Abydos Spiel der Schlange Mehen anagoria.JPG|Mehen game with game stones, from [[Abydos, Egypt]], 3000 BC, [[Neues Museum]]
File:Maler der Grabkammer der Nefertari 003.jpg|Painting in tomb of Egyptian queen [[Nefertari]] (1295–1255 BC) playing senet
</gallery>