At The Heritage Game Company, we believe history should be celebrated without pretending that unanswered questions have simple answers.
Some of the games in our collection have rules that are very well established. Others are reconstructions made by historians and game researchers from archaeological evidence, surviving texts and the design of ancient boards.
The rules of the modern game are well documented, rigorously researched, and consistently played across centuries of unbroken living tradition.
Ancient evidence gives us a strong foundation, but some details require scholarly interpretation. For instance, deciphered Babylonian cuneiform clay tablets or 13th-century illuminated manuscripts provide concrete rules, even where minor variations exist between modern gaming historians.
The game itself is unquestionably ancient and deeply revered, but the complete original rules have not survived. Surviving boards, hieroglyphic tomb wall frescoes, and spiritual texts provide clues, but modern rules represent thoughtful scholarly reconstructions.
Where we have adapted an ancient game for modern play, we will tell you openly.
For example, the three-white / three-black-sided wooden binary dice supplied with our Royal Game of Ur set are a deliberate modern adaptation. They are not presented as historically accurate replicas of the original dice or throwing implements.
"For us, authenticity does not mean pretending to know what history has not preserved.
Authenticity means telling the story honestly."