Senet - Nunc est bibendum

Game of passing

Track

Chance

Complex

Long

History Rules of play Further reading

History

*A senet set from the tomb of Amenhotep III – Brooklyn Museum, New York. (Wikimedia commons).*

Senet (from Ancient Egyptian znt, meaning “passing”; Coptic ⲥⲓⲛⲉ /sinə/, “to pass, afternoon”) is one of the oldest known board games, with a documented history of more than 5,000 years. Related boards have been found in Predynastic and 1st Dynasty burials (3500–3100 BCE) at Abydos and Saqqara. The earliest certain depiction dates from around 2620 BCE, in the mastaba of Hesy-Ra, a high official of the 3rd Dynasty under King Djoser.

From secular game to mystical ritual

Old and Middle Kingdoms (c. 2686–1650 BCE). During the Old Kingdom, senet was purely a pastime. Tomb scenes, such as that of Pepi-ankh at Meir (c. 2300 BCE), show players facing each other and exchanging strategic remarks, which reveal a positional game in which skilled players could move their seven pieces past those of their opponent. Movement follows a boustrophedon pattern (reversing direction on each row), a feature unique to senet. The last five squares bear secular inscriptions: “good”, “bad”, and the sequence 3–2–1, which governs the exit moves and would not change in 3,000 years.

New Kingdom: the religious transformation (18th Dynasty, 1570–1293 BCE). This period marked a complete revolution. The game went from seven to five pieces per player and was built into wooden boxes with a drawer, often made specifically for tombs and inscribed with the funerary offering formula. More fundamentally, under Hatshepsut (c. 1498 BCE), the 3–2–1 sequence became three birds, two men, one man, while “bad” turned into a water trap. Under Seti I (1291–1279 BCE), the “men” became “gods”.

Tomb depictions changed radically: senet disappeared from everyday scenes and appeared instead in a religious context, often linked to the Book of the Dead. Players no longer faced each other but an invisible opponent – their own soul.

Mapping the afterlife

At the end of the 18th Dynasty (1293 BCE), the board became a full simulation of the night journey with the god Ra through the 12 regions of the afterlife (corresponding to the 12 hours of the night). Each square corresponds to specific deities and events: square 1, the “House of Thoth”, announces the arrival of the deceased at the divine tribunal; square 12 represents the constellation Orion/Osiris; square 15, the “House of Repeating Life” (a frog, symbol of resurrection), grants an extra turn; square 27, the “Waters of Chaos”, is the ultimate trap, where pieces are lost for good, like sinful souls drowned in the primordial waters.

The final square (30), that of Ra-Horakhty, represents the sun god in his form as the rising sun at dawn. Bringing all one’s pieces through it meant achieving mystical union with the sun god while still alive, ensuring survival through the trials of the afterlife before even dying. This discovery shows that the Egyptians believed they could actively influence the judgement of their soul – a belief brought to light by the research of Peter Piccione.

Late Period (20th Dynasty, c. 1185–1075 BCE). The religious development reached its peak with boards decorated entirely with religious motifs, accompanied by ritual texts in which the player narrates in the first person the journey of their pieces through the afterlife. Paradoxically, secular forms persisted at the same time, bearing witness to the remarkable coexistence of two traditions: the recreational game and its mystical version.

Spread and decline

Senet spread beyond Egypt, notably to Cyprus towards the end of the third millennium, a sign of Egyptian cultural influence. Despite 3,000 years of evolution, the game retained remarkable structural stability.

Decline set in during the Roman period, although graffiti at Dendera suggest some residual survival. The game also lived on in late literature: in the tale Setne Khamwas and Si-Osire (Roman period), the dead Naneferkaptah challenges Setne to a board game for a mysterious book. Although senet is not named, the mystical stakes, the funerary setting and the religious implications of the challenge clearly evoke this game, bearing witness to its persistence in the Egyptian imagination.

The exact rules have not come down to us, but several reconstructions have been proposed since the pioneering work of Gustave Jéquier in the 1930s.

Rules of play

Equipment and set-up

A board whose surface is divided into 30 squares arranged in three parallel rows of 10. The 15th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th squares are decorated with a drawing and have special meanings.
2 sets of 7 pieces in different colours or shapes, i.e. 7 identical pieces per person (in the New Kingdom, the game seems to have been played preferably with 5 pieces each).
4 sticks with one decorated side (or painted a certain colour) and one “neutral” side (natural colour or painted another colour).

The pieces are placed alternately on the first 14 squares of the board: the pieces of one colour on the odd squares, those of the other colour on the even squares.

The square marked with the sign of life ankh (15th square) is the starting square.

Object of the game

Move all your pieces along a set route and then bear them off the board, while trying to slow down your opponent’s pieces. The first person to bear off all their pieces wins the game.

Moving the pieces

The pieces move round the board along a Ƨ-shaped path (from right to left on the first row, then from left to right on the second, and finally from right to left again on the last).

Pieces always move forward, according to the result of throwing the four sticks into the air together, the combination being read once they have landed. The sides facing up are counted as follows:

One decorated side: 1 point and throw again
Two decorated sides: 2 points and pass the turn
Three decorated sides: 3 points and pass the turn
Four decorated sides: 4 points and throw again
Four “neutral” sides: 5 points and throw again

The points scored may be played with any piece of your colour, but may not be split between several pieces.

Pieces may jump over other pieces (your own or your opponent’s), except when three opposing pieces occupy consecutive squares (see below). Occupied squares also count towards the number of points moved.

Two pieces, even of the same colour, may never occupy the same square.

Sending the opponent back

A piece can never be removed from the game. There is therefore no capturing of opposing pieces, but you can send your opponent back: when a piece lands on a square occupied by an opposing piece, the latter must move back to the square the attacker came from (the two pieces thus swap places).

Two pieces of the same colour on adjacent squares form a small block: they cannot be attacked. The opposing player therefore cannot send them back and take either of those two squares. He or she must then move another piece or, if this is impossible, stay put and miss a turn.

Three pieces of the same colour in a row form a large block; not only do they protect one another, but they also cannot be passed by an opposing piece. They thus form a wall for the opponent (without, however, preventing pieces of their own side from moving forward).

This blocking situation is one of the tactical foundations of the game, forcing players to move one of their pieces backwards if they cannot move any other forward (this play of swapping and blocking can already take place behind the starting square, before the pieces have even entered the track).

How to play

*Nefertari playing senet. Painting in the queen’s tomb.*

The players take turns throwing the sticks. The first to throw a “1” starts. They move the piece on the 14th square to the ankh starting square, and thereby take the pieces of that colour.

Stopping on the ankh starting square is compulsory. Each piece must therefore, with one or more throws of the sticks, land on the starting square before it can begin the course. This square is protected, so the piece cannot be dislodged by the opponent. By remaining on this square, a piece can therefore block the other pieces from entering play.

After that, the throw of the sticks gives the number of points the player may assign to any one of their pieces.

As long as a player throws a “1”, a “4” or a “5”, they may throw again, but as soon as they throw a “2” or a “3”, they play and hand over to their opponent.

The players move their pieces in turn, according to the number of points scored, trying to overtake their opponent’s pieces while seeking to block them or send them back.

If a player cannot use the full number of points thrown, they must use them backwards. Any throw that does not allow a forward move must be used to move back by the same number of squares, provided the piece then lands on a square not already occupied by one of their own pieces.

If, in doing so, a piece lands on an opposing piece, the latter must be moved (and therefore advanced) to the square the moving piece came from.

If, despite this, no move is possible, the player misses a turn.

Special squares at the end of the course

The “House of Happiness” square (26th), marked nefer (“good”), is a “lucky” square where the piece cannot be attacked. A throw of “5” lets the piece leave the board immediately. On a throw of “1”, the player may throw the sticks again (so as not to land on the “House of Water” square).

The “House of Water” square (27th), marked with the sign mu (“water”), is a trap: any piece landing on it is sent back to the ankh starting square: the “House of Rebirth” or, if that is occupied, to the first empty square before the “starting” square. The player may also choose to remain on this square until a throw of “4” allows the piece to leave the board. In that case, however, they may not move any other piece on the board.

The “House of Three Truths” square (28th) symbolically bears the number 3: only a throw of “3” allows the piece to leave the board.

The “House of Re-Atum” square (29th) symbolically bears the number 2: only a throw of “2” allows the piece to leave the board.

The “House of Horus” square (30th): only a throw of “1” allows the piece to leave the board.

In addition, the “Happiness”, “Three Truths” and “Re-Atum” squares protect the pieces they hold; these cannot be attacked, even when isolated, and may stay there for as long as needed.