The Royal Game of Ur Board
So there I was in early 2022, chilling on the internet, and somehow I ended up being introduced to one of the oldest board games in the world, The Royal Game of Ur.
The desire to play the game was strong. Unfortunately, I didn't have a game board, and I didn't know anyone who did either. At that moment, the fever struck and apparently required action on 2022-02-12 when I set my band saw to cut at a 60° angle: perfect for making 4 sided die.
What follows, is what followed; the creation of a game set for the Royal Game of Ur in my woodshop.
Start of the die
Game of Ur was originally played with 4 four sided die that have 2 sides marked so as to make each die a binary 1/0. This results
in potential rolls from 0 to 4.
Finished Die
putting the final angles on the die was a tough task for me. Eventually I made a sanding jig to make the die more accurate. If I ever make
4 sided die again, I'm going to invest time in making a sweet jig first.
Cut a lot of pieces and start glueing them together
The board is comprised of squares of oak, lined with redwood. The roll-again squares are made of mimosa wood, and the "safe" central square is redwood.
glueing pieces of glued pieces together
The final glueing
Shaped, sanded, and oiled
Staining 2 points of the die
2 sets of 7 pieces
The game pieces are discs cut from the trunk of a japanese maple. The tree was gift to me, but I tended it poorly and it died.
Now the wood lives on!
All the pieces!
On 2022-02-20 a bag for the game was stitched on my sewing machine.
All wrapped up
Wooowee, what a fun project, and what a fun game!
sHalL wE PLaY A gAmE?
cheers!