Volume 6 Number 3, Winter 1995 THE OSTRACON PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE Judy Greenfield Frank Pettee Sandy Kerns Mary Pratchett David Pepper Cheryl Preyer Jil Taylor ESS STAFF LIAIS Dr. Robert Pickering THE OSTRACON is published three times per year by members of the Egyptian Study Society. The ESS, a support group of the DENVER MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to study ancient Egypt. Articles are contributed by members on a voluntary basis. ‘Member participation is encouraged. in whole of in part without written permission. ‘Nothing may be printed ©1995 Egyptian Study Seciety Publication of THE OSTRACON is supparted by a grant from ‘THE PETTY FOUNDATION 1 14 IN THIS ISSUE ARTICLE The Oldest Paved Road by Thomas Bown & James Harrell The Impact of Geography by Tim Pepper Tau, An Egyptian Board Game by Graome Davis Lecture Notes: Egypt & Mesopotamia In Search of a Royal Tomb Egyptian Sacred Art Brewers, Bakers, and Builders The Flood Protection Plan Deir e! Bahri and Temple of Mentuhotep House of Scrolls by Stuart WeirTAU AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN BOARD GAME by Graeme Davis About the Author: Graeme Davis was an Ostracon editor until he left Denver. However, he has kept in touch and has been our reporter and ‘ambassador’ at large. Davis is now living in Washington DC. He now works for Magnet Inte-ractive Studios, designing CD-ROM games and nonfiction products and Internt Web services. IA slightly different version of this article first appeared in KMT, A MODERN JOURNAL OF ANCIENT EGYPT, Vol. 4, No. 2, entitled “Reconstructing Rules for the Ancient Egyptian Game of Twenty Squares (Tau was renamed the ‘game of 20 squeres).” Used with permission of KMT.] Most readers are familiar with senet, or senat, the Egyptian board game found in the tomb of In trying to deduce a set of rules for tau, | have tried to draw as much information as possible from the actual boards and pieces and avoided the influence of other people's reconstructions and rules from games which seem to be similar. At least one set of rules for the Ur game is commercially produced (and protected by copyright!), but this may not be much help in Feconstructing tau. In the first place, the differences in board layout will affect play significantly; secondly, the dice with the Ur game seem to have been two-sided rather than the four-sided “long die”. Besides, a similar board and pieces do not necessarily imply similar rules. Just think of the number of games that can be played with a conventional set of checkers! The Gaming Set: Like senet, tau seems to have Tutankhamun and elsewhere. Several modem versions of this came hevesbesa) iy Hi in published commer ly with various sets of rules. Tau, although a less famous game, seems to have been just as popular in ancient Egypt. In fact, more Figure 1. Long die with exploded view been played with ten “men” to a side. They were even the same pieces on some occas- ions, for it is not uncommon for a gaming set to have a senet board on one side, a tau board on the other and a drawer to hold the pieces and dice. The dice were “long dice” (Fig. 1): short wooden than one senet board has been found to have a ‘tau board on the back. The layout of the board has some intriguing similarities to the famous game boards found in the royal tombs at Ur of the Chaldees, which date some 1,500 yea earlier. Tau may also be the same as the game of polis mentioned in Plato's Republic. Allin all, tau seems to have a pedigree which is at least as distinguished as that of senet, and does not deserve to be overlooked. As with almost any ancient game which hi survived into the present day, it is difficult to reconstruct the rules of tau. This article represents one person's attempt at this, but aders are warmly encouraged to experiment and adapt and use whatever rules they find best. Page 11 ‘sticks of square cross-section, marked 1, II, Ill, and X. The same markings are found on the last four squares of the senet board, so there is little doubt that the dice were intended to give a score from 1 to 4 rather than 0 to 3. The playing pieces ranged from plain, pawn- shaped objects to miniature works of art, something like the chess knight but with the heads of dogs, lions, or occasionally, men rather than horses. Although senet was probably played with ten pieces to a side, tau may have used only seven, like its predecessor from Ur. In all likelihood, the precise rules and the number of pieces may have varied from time to time and place to place - this was very common in the time before written rules became the norm. Winter 1995The Board: The tau board (Fig. 2) was roughly banjo-shaped, with a central file of 12 squares Thirdly, and most difficult, it is necessary to decide on the meaning of the marked squares. and two side files of four squares each. It is The flowers on the board from Ur and the later similar to. a board Ste ‘one from Enkomi do from Ur (Fig. 3) but Rot suggest anything; the side-squares of neither do the birds dif- the short-er end are ferently placed on a straight-ened out into a board from Ak-hor. a single file. End Some players may de- cide, like the ancient Some — but not all Figure 2. Tau Board Start 7” owners of unmarked — of the tau boards found have marked boards, to do without special squares squares. The most striking is an ivory example from Enkomi in Cyprus which has rosettes placed in every fourth square -- an arrangement which is almost identical to the placement of the flower designs on one of the boards from Ur. Other boards are marked differently or not at all. The Rules: The first question which needs to be answered is whether tau is a race game or a war game. The elongated shape of the board, and the fact that there is a single track for much of the way, strongly suggests a race game. Most games from the ancient Mediterranean area were race games; and war games draughts, chess and its ancestors, the Viking hnefatafl, and the Roman /udus fatrunculorum were nearly always played on square boards. At the time tau was played, most of the classic war games had not yet been invented. Having decided that we're dealing with a race game, now we must decide the direction of movement around the board. This comes down to a simple choice: do pieces enter the board on the end square of the center file, or on the end squares of the side files? The latter seems more likely, as this gives each player a chance to “set up" his pieces in the altogether. The possibilities are almost endless. The special squares might give the player who landed on them another move or some penalty such as a move backwards. A piece on a marked square might be safe from capture or might cost its player a fine if the game was played for money. Some possibilities can be discounted. For example, it is unlikely that a marked square gives immunity from capture since three marked squares — at the bottom of each side-file and at the end of the center file — are squares where capture by surrounding is impossible (rules for capture are discussed later). In the end, somewhat subjectively, | decided that landing a piece on a marked square gives a player a free tum. This. makes players concentrate their tactics on reaching as many marked squares as possible; and means that no matter how far a player may be in the lead, his opponent can always come back through a combination of lucky throws and shrewd moves. Capture might be by displacement (i.e. moving onto a square currently occupied by an enemy piece will knock it off the board). However, a ence by Plato to the game of polis suggests that capture in this safety of the side file before battle is joined game is by sur- rounding. The name of the game means “city,” and Plato used the on the center file. Play in the other direction results in a game as a metaphor for feeling of anticlimax ~ once a piece has turned the corner into the safety of a side-file, it is certain to finish, instead of the tension of battle maintained to the last move. Winter 1995 Figure 3. Game board from Ur, with “flower” spaces marked Greek city-state poli- tics. The only real clue he gave about playing the game was a suggestion that a player should keep all his dogs (i.e. dog-headed playing pieces) together so that none is captured. This, Page 12suggests that pieces could be captured by being cut off and surrounded. Since dog-headed pieces were popular for both senet and tau (some distinguished Egyptologists_ have ‘suggested that the pieces represent the jackal- more than one piece. A piece may move over ‘an occupied square into a free square, but may not move into an occupied square. The object of the game is to move all your headed god Anubis), it could be that the Greek ‘game of polis is descended from tau. pieces off the board from the —_ square marked END on Figure 2. An exact roll is required to move a Reconstructed Rules for Tau: Having made various deductions, conjectures, and inspired gu the available evidence, it's ss. frome Figure 4. Capture. Piece Ais captured, but pieces B and C are not. piece off the board — for example, a piece on the END square needs a roll of 1 to move off the board. time to set down some rules and see if they work! As I’ve already said, | make no claims about authenticity, since no trace of Egyptian rules for tau has yet been found. Different ideas ‘of how the game might be played are found in the references cited below, and readers should feel free to experiment with rules until they have something that suits their own preferences. My only claim is that the following rules fit the components, are playable, and provide enter- taining and moderately challenging games But enough disclaimers—on with __the rules...Each player has ten pieces (seven if a shorter game is preferred). The board is placed between the players so that each player has a side-file near him. The game uses a four-sided die, which can be obtained from most hobby game stores. A six-sided die may be used if preferred, but given the placement of the marked spaces (every fourth square), this changes the tactical aspects of the gam Play begins with all pieces off the board. Each player rolls the die, and the player with the higher score moves first. The die is re-rolled in the event of a tie. The players then take turns rolling the die and moving. A player moves by rolling the die and moving a piece the indicated number of squares. The player may choose to move a piece which already on the board or to move a new piece ‘onto the board. Pieces are moved onto the board at the squares marked START on Figure 2. A player may have any number of pieces on the board at a time, but no square may hold Page 13 A player must move, if possible, even if this results in the immediate capture of the moving piece. If a player cannot move any piece the number of squares indicated by the die roll, the turn is lost and play passes to the other player. Pieces on the center file may be captured by enemy pieces. A piece is captured if there is an enemy piece on both sides of it (see Figure 4). Captured pieces are returned to their player, and added to the stock of pieces which have not yet entered the board. A piece which lands on a marked square entitles its player to throw again and make another move. There is no limit to the number of moves which may be made in a single turn by this means. A player may choose to decline a free move. The winner is the pieces off the board. irst player to move all his REFERENCES Bell, R. C. BOARD AND TABLE GAMES FROM MANY CIVILIZATIONS. Dover Publications, Inc.: New York, 1979. Falkener, E. GAMES ANCIENT AND ORIENTAL. Dover Publications, Inc.: New York, 1961. Ridgeway, William. The Game of Polis and Plato’s Rep. 422 E, JOURNAL OF HELLENIC STUDIES 1898, p. 288-290. Woolley, Sir Leonard. EXCAVATIONS AT UR: A RECORD OF TWELVE YEARS WORK. Thomos Y. Croywell Co.: New York, 1954, Winter 1995