Many board game fans will receive a new box, with new rules to learn, under the tree. If your loved one already has every game imaginable, you can opt for an Iranian board game, several thousand years old.
In 1977, in Shahr-e Sokhteh, an ancient Bronze Age city in southeastern Iran, archaeologists unearthed a mysterious plateau. Nearly fifty years after its discovery, an article from ScienceAlert tells us that experts have recreated the potential rules of this game.
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Rarely, it was found in its entirety (an advantage for giving it at Christmas). In addition to a large board on which twenty circular spaces are engraved, the archaeologists got their hands on twenty-seven pieces to place in its squares and four dice also engraved with circular shapes. The game was in a tomb dating back 4,500 years ago and closely resembles another from the period, the royal game of Ur, discovered in the 1920s in what is now Iraq.
New rules that fit the times
Despite the strong resemblance to it, the game of Shahr-e Sokhteh has enough differences that it is difficult to know the precise rules. Computer scientist Sam Jelveh and archaeologist Hossein Moradi used a combination of material evidence and modeling to establish a set of potential rules. In their article, the researchers write: “The proposed rules are intended to be historically accurate and impart meaning to each element of the game board.”
Taking inspiration from other board games of the time, the researchers used probability models to define the roles of the pieces. They determined two sets of ten “runner” pieces (one for each of the two players) as well as star-shaped pieces that serve as “shelters” and cone-shaped pieces that could be used as “blockers.” The board itself resembles a snake, with a first part for placing the pieces, a second serving as a bridge to “survival”, and a third for the head and tail of the snake.
Like many games, participants must roll the dice to advance their pawns and move as quickly as possible. Researchers cannot know for sure whether the proposed new rules match those of the time. Nevertheless, they have been tested by fifty modern players and have been approved, both in terms of originality and replayability. The researchers explain: “The rules we have suggested are not the originals, but propose a way of playing, based on our understanding of the rules of the game of Ur and the analysis of the pieces of the game of Shahr-e Sokhteh.”
Having reached its peak 3,000 BC, Shahr-e Sokhteh was one of the most important cities of the time on the Iranian plateau, and the board game found here dates from around 2500 BC. C. More than a hundred similar games, dating from around the same time, have been discovered in this part of the globe. The materials used and board layout vary, which is a testament to the popularity of these games of yesteryear. We can't blame you if your gift is unoriginal!
