Senet: an exciting Ancient Egyptian board game

Make and play your own Ancient Egyptian board game. Senet is a game for two players competing be the first to get all their game pieces off the board. The word ‘Senet’ (or ‘Senat’) translates as ‘passing’ and refers to gameplay where pieces leapfrog over others. The game was popular in Ancient Egypt, dating from at least 2600BCE.

Game sets with a similar design to this one have been recovered from royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt and images showing the game being played have been found in wall paintings and papyrus scrolls. In the ancient text The Book of the Dead, a player is depicted playing Senet against an invisible opponent.

The game is played using the board on the top of the box. The game pieces pieces can then be packed away inside the box, forming a travel set; just what you need for your journey into the afterlife!

This resource contains a printable A4 net forming the game board, full instructions on how to make it and the rules of game play for a simple version of the game, suitable for KS2 pupils. It is best printed on thin card, but will also work with paper. To play the game you will also need ten game counters (5 in one colour and five in another). The Ancient Egyptians didn’t use dice but instead threw coloured flat-sided sticks. Four Lollipop sticks or wooden coffee stirrers will work well.

Our Senet kit was originally designed for the Exhibition Tutankhamun: excavating the archives which marked the centenary of the excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun.