What is the world’s oldest board game?

Senet is the oldest known board game in the world. It was played in Ancient Egypt and game boards have been found in Predynastic and First Dynasty burials dating as far back as 3500 BC.

The game’s boards were rectangular slabs made of wood, limestone, or faience (ceramic earthenware made from ground quartz) and coated with a brightly colored glaze and featured carved squares and symbols.

Although historians aren’t quite sure how exactly the game was played, Timothy Kendall and R.C. Bell have made their own reconstructions of the game. Kendall and Bell’s rules are based on pieces of texts mentioning Senet and these rules have been adopted by modern senet players.

Checkers and Backgammon are the second and third oldest games, respectively. They both date back to 3000 BC; Checkers originating in Ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) and Backgammon in Ancient Perisa (modern-day Iran).