The British Museum
6 HN recommenders · recommended in 8 months, 2019–2025
25:33 · 8.1M views · Apr 28, 2017
Tom Scott plays the Royal Game of Ur against British Museum curator Irving Finkel, who deciphered its rules from a cuneiform tablet. Finkel teaches the game and explains its history as the oldest playable board game.
Recommended in threads on ancient games and cuneiform as a charming match with an enthusiastic expert.
9 comments from Hacker News
I was lucky enough to meet Irving Finkel a couple of times and he is as eccentric in person as he is in his brilliant lectures, talks, and videos. When I met him all the shelves, and even the floor, in his office was covered with different books, papers, and artifacts. He has amassed quite a collection of interesting things. I met him through my work related to the Royal Game of Ur, which he also did a fantastic video on with Tom Scott: this video
He really is. He's got two incredible videos with Tom Scott where the two of them play what could be considered the worlds oldest game[0] and he introduces Tom and Matt to "writing" cuneiform[1]. He's so sharp in both, I love seeing him anywhere else now. [0]: this video [1]: [LINK]
I've gotten into ancient games recently, and I've tried Senet with various rule variations- I think it's kind of boring. I like much better the Royal Game of Ur- this video I've also been playing with Indian Pachisi, two player is kind of boring, but I still need to try four player / doubles.
Irving Finkel made a video with Tom Scott, playing the game of Ur. I enjoyed the interaction. this video I'm sure he has many other even better videos, but I will have to yet get to them.
You might be thinking of Ur, which is roughly 4,500 years old. This is an interesting video from Dr. Irving Finkel on it and its playing rules.[0] [0]: this video