The (Classic) Royal Game of Ur¶
The Royal Game of Ur (ROGOUR) is a 5000 year old board game. Watch this entertaining video for an excellent introduction by Irving Finkel. Finkel, a curator in the British museum and a fan of the game since childhood, deciphered the game rules from a 4000 years old cuneiform tablet which describes a modern versions of the game!
I was immediately captivated, which is hardly surprising. The game has been capturing the hearts of men, women and children for thousands of years. But it was not just the cool factor, the unusual dice, and the idea that we can play it exactly like our great ancestors. I was also drawn by the game’s compact form: with only 14 pieces on 20 squares it might be small enough to crack on my own small laptop!! Even more, I was intrigued when Finkel claimed with great authority that the balance of luck and skill in ROGOUR is 50%-50%, while Backgammon is closer to 40-60. I will return to this question of luck vs. skill later, but for now let me say I suspect Finkel underestimates how much skill can hide in a simple looking games like ROGOUR. It is an easy mistake to make; the board is relatively small and there are only a few moves per position. Yet, looks can be deceiving. Let me give you a taste. You are red and rolled a 3. Assuming you either watched the video or read The Rulez:, what is your move?
Most players would not think once and hit the green piece at 7, possibly with a superior smirk towards green. After all, that piece is about to enter the home stretch, and hitting it costs green 11 whole pips! And now WE have a piece only 4 pips away from the finish line. But it turns out this is not the best move: at this stage of the game controlling the safe 4 square is more important than hitting. Entering another piece gives red 57.18%, while hitting green gives only 54.2%!! An equity loss of 0.06!
I suggest you go and play a few games against the machine (the program is called tkur). You have a few opponents to choose from, starting with Joe, an absolute beginner, to Ishtar, the Ur goddess [1]. You should record you games (with a -r) and analyze them using printGame.
This repository contains code relating to ROGUR, the fascinating precursor to backgammon.
The ROGOUR code¶
| [1] | I am aware the Sumerians called her Inanna, but the Assyrians and Babylonians knew her as Ishtar, a name which I think is more familiar today. |