Senet
Race five pieces along the S-shaped board of ancient Egypt's favourite game. Toss four throwing sticks, swap enemies off their squares, dodge the Water and bear off first.
Play nowHow to play
Controls
Tap- Throw the sticks: light sides up = squares to move (none = 5).
- 1, 4 and 5 throw again.
- Tap a glowing piece to move.
- Landing on a lone rival swaps you.
- Stop on 26, then leave with exact throws.
- Bear off all five first.
About the game
Senet is one of the oldest board games we know, played in Egypt more than four thousand years ago. Thirty squares sit in three rows, and pieces walk them in an S shape. You and your rival each have five pieces that start interleaved on the first row. Instead of dice you toss four flat sticks: count the light sides facing up to move that many squares, and if none show, move five. Throws of one, four and five earn another throw. Land on a single rival piece and you swap places with it, but two rival pieces side by side guard each other, and three in a row block the road.
Near the end every piece must stop on the House of Beauty at square 26. From there a five carries it home, while a one drops it into the Water and washes it back to square 15. The last three squares let you out only with an exact throw. The twist is the sticks themselves: they are tossed with real physics, tumbling and clattering across the table, and the faces they settle on are your move. Six rivals wait, from a lazy scarab to the all-seeing Sphinx.
Free to play in your browser. No download, no sign-up. Works on phones, tablets and computers. Your progress is saved on this device.