Play Senet Online, the Game of Ancient Egypt
Egypt, before 3000 BCE
Senet might be the first board game anyone ever played. Egyptians kept at it for around 3,000 years, and they buried sets with their dead.
It's a race with traps. You get the board, the sticks and the scary squares here, and you can play the AI or a friend in your browser.
How to play Senet
- Each player has 5 pieces. The board is 30 squares in 3 rows of 10, and you move in an S shape: right on the top row, left in the middle, right on the bottom.
- Throw four casting sticks to get a move of 1 to 5. A 1, 4 or 5 gives you another throw.
- Move one piece forward. If you land on an opponent's piece, you swap places with it, unless it's protected.
- Square 15, the House of Rebirth, is safe, and it's where pieces get sent back to.
- Every piece has to stop on square 26, the House of Beauty. Square 27, the House of Water, sends you back to 15.
- Squares 28 and 29 need an exact 3 and an exact 2 to leave. First to get all 5 pieces off wins.
Want every detail? Read the full Senet rules.
A little history
Senet shows up in Egypt before the pharaohs, and it started out as a normal pastime. By the New Kingdom (1550 to 1077 BCE) people saw it as the soul's trip through the underworld, so full sets went into tombs.
Queen Nefertari, wife of Ramesses II, is painted playing it on her tomb walls. Four Senet boards were found in Tutankhamun's tomb.
There's more on the history page.
Strategy that actually helps
Keep your pieces close together. Two of your pieces side by side can't be attacked. A tidy group is hard to break up.
Be careful around the last five squares. The House of Water sends a piece back, so don't leave a piece where an unlucky throw drops it in. Sometimes the best move is the boring one that keeps you out of trouble.
When you're behind, slow down and block. When you're ahead, run. Senet rewards knowing which of those you're doing.
Senet FAQ
Is Senet free to play online here?
Yes. Play the AI or send a room link to a friend, no download and no payment needed.
How old is Senet?
Senet shows up in Egyptian tombs from around 3100 BCE, and boards were buried with people like Tutankhamun. It's one of the oldest board games we know about.
Are these the original Egyptian rules?
Nobody wrote the full rules down, so every version of Senet today is a reconstruction. Ours uses a common modern one based on the work of historians like Timothy Kendall. It plays well, but treat it as a good guess, not a translation.
How long does a game take?
Most games take ten to fifteen minutes.
Ready to play?
Play the AI at your own level, make a private room for a friend, or hit Quick Match. It all runs in your browser on ancientboardgames.io.