Royal Game of Ur
Equipment:
- game board
- 7 pieces per player
- 4 tetrahedral dice (with two marked corners)
Rule 1 - Game Setup
The Royal Game of Ur requires no special setup of pieces, so the setup for
games is quick.
1. Clear the game board.
2. Players start with seven pieces each.
3. Roll the dice to decide the starting player. The total number of marked
corners pointing up (0-4) determines the value of the roll. Higher roll goes
first.
Rule 2 - Roll the Dice
The unique tetrahedral dice used for the Royal Game of Ur are read by
counting the number of die with a marked corner facing upwards after
rolling. You can use alternative dice that can give you a result of 0 to 4 (such
as throwing sticks with one side marked and the other left blank).
Rule 3 - Move Your Pieces
After rolling, select one of your pieces to move by the number of tiles that
you rolled. Any roll can move an existing piece on the board or add a new
piece to the board (e.g. if you roll a 1, you can move one piece one space or
add a new piece to the first space). The path each player takes is shown
below:
Only one piece can occupy a tile, so a valid move is always on an open tile or
when capturing your opponent's piece. Your turn can only be skipped if you
have no available moves or you roll a 0.
Rule 4 - Capture Pieces
If one of your moves would land you on a tile occupied by your opponent,
you can land on it and capture it. Captured pieces are returned to the player,
and can be played on the board again in the next turn if your opponent has a
valid move. The only exception is if your opponent's piece is on a rosette tile.
Rule 5 - Rosette Tiles
1. Landing on a rosette grants an extra roll of the dice.
2. Pieces on rosette tiles are safe from capture.
Rule 6 - Scoring and Winning
Winning requires scoring all your pieces. You can score pieces by moving
them off the board at the end of your path. You need an exact roll to take a
piece off the board. For example, to score a piece from the final rosette tile,
you would need to roll exactly a one.
