Printable Royal Game of Ur Board
Everything you need to play at a table: print one sheet, cut out fourteen pieces, grab four coins.
Prints in black and white on a single A4 or US Letter page in landscape. Only the board, pieces and rules print, not this page.
The Royal Game of Ur
Light pieces (cut out)
Dark pieces (cut out)
- Light sits along the bottom row, Dark along the top. Light goes first.
- Toss four coins: each head counts 1. Move one piece that many squares (0 = turn lost).
- Enter at the fourth square from the left of your row, run left, then along the middle row to the right, then back along your row to the exit.
- Land on ✿ to throw again. The middle ✿ is safe: no capture there.
- Land on an opponent in the middle row to send it back to start.
- Bear off with an exact throw. First to bring all seven home wins.
No pyramid dice? Use four coins
The original game uses four tetrahedral dice, each with two of its four corners marked, so each one is a fair 50/50 between 0 and 1. A coin toss is exactly the same: count each head as 1. Four coins give the same odds as four pyramid dice: 0 or 4 one time in sixteen, 1 or 3 four times in sixteen, and 2 six times in sixteen.
What you need
- The printed sheet (thicker paper or card is nicer).
- Fourteen pieces: cut out the circles, or use seven coins of one kind and seven of another, or draughts/checkers.
- Four coins to throw.
New to the game? Read how to play, or skip the printer and play online against the computer or a friend.