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A later tablet helped recover an older game
Irving Finkel reconstructed play for the Royal Game of Ur using a Babylonian rules tablet from about 177 BCE and other evidence. The tablet was much later than the game’s beginnings. Recovering play required more than inspecting a surviving board.
The written record supplied a route back to the game.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Royal Game of Ur · Wikimedia contributors
Adapted, summarized and translated from the source. Adapted text is also available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reviewed: 2026-10-05