Senet: rules and history

Everything you need to play, shown in moving pictures — and what we know about the game, and what we don't.

Important: senet's original rules are lost. No rulebook has come down to us from ancient Egypt. What you read here are "Sawah rules": a reconstruction we chose from the best-known attempts by Egyptologists, with the source of every rule written beneath it.

Learn it hands-on in an interactive lesson

Senet in a minute

The goal
A race over a board of thirty squares: the first to bear all their pieces off the end wins.
Sticks, not dice
Throw four sticks and count the light sides: that is how far you move.
Moving
Move one piece by the whole throw, and hit a lone enemy piece by landing on it.
Winning
Every piece must stop on square 26, then leave with an exact throw.

The rules, step by step

Eleven rules, each with a moving picture of what happens on the board.

1
The board
Thirty squares in three rows. The path snakes: 1 to 10 along the top row, back from 11 to 20, then 21 to 30 and off.
Source: Piccione 1980
2
Setting up
Each player has five pieces, placed alternately on squares 1 to 10.
Source: Five pieces from Dynasty 18 paintings (Piccione 1980); alternate setup from Jéquier
3
The sticks
Four sticks, each light on one side and dark on the other. The throw is the number of light sides; four dark sides count 5. Throws of 1, 4 and 5 give you another throw.
Source: Kendall 1978
4
Moving
Move one piece forward by the whole throw. You cannot land on your own piece.
Source: Kendall and Jéquier
5
Hitting
Land on a lone enemy piece and you swap places: it goes back to the square you came from.
Source: Kendall
6
Guards and walls
Two enemy pieces side by side cannot be hit. Three in a row are a wall you cannot jump.
Source: Jéquier (the three-piece wall is not Kendall's, as is often said)
7
Square 26, "beauty"
Every piece must stop on it exactly before going on. From it, a 5 bears the piece off, 2, 3 and 4 take it to 28, 29 and 30, and a 1 drops it in the water.
Source: Kendall, as summarised by the Ludii ancient games project
8
Square 27, "the water"
A trap: a piece that falls in goes back to square 15, or the nearest empty square before it.
Source: Common in museum reproductions
9
Bearing off
From 28 with an exact 3, from 29 with a 2, from 30 with a 1. Squares 26 to 30 are safe from hits.
Source: Piccione 1980 (the religious texts) and Jéquier
10
No move?
If no move is allowed with your throw, the turn passes to your opponent.
Source: Our simplification; Kendall makes you move backwards
11
Winning
The first to bear all their pieces off the board wins.

Sawah rules and expert rules: what's the difference?

Before you play, you choose the rules. Sawah rules are the base and the easiest start; the expert rules change one or two things taken from named scholars. Here is every difference, who proposed it and what it does to the game — and each set has a short lesson that teaches you the difference hands-on.

For beginners
Sawah rules
The easiest start — recommended
The base
These are the rules every other set is measured against, and the ones used online and in the daily puzzle.
Who proposed it?
We chose them from the best-known scholarly attempts: Timothy Kendall's count of the sticks (four dark = 5), Gustave Jéquier's guard of two and wall of three, the piece in the water returning to square 15 as in museum reproductions, and bearing off from 28, 29 and 30 with a 3, 2 and 1 as the religious texts suggest.
What does it change in play?
Five pieces each on the first ten squares: a medium-length game with rules that are easy to learn.
Kendall 1978 · Jéquier · Piccione 1980
Play with these rules Learn it in a short lesson
For experts
Old Kingdom: seven pieces
A longer game with seven pieces
What changes from Sawah rules?
- Seven pieces a side instead of five, on the first 14 squares
Who proposed it?
Old Kingdom paintings show seven pieces a side — among them the painting in the tomb of Hesy-Re — and the archaeologist Timothy Kendall built his 1978 rules with seven. From Dynasty 18, five became the norm.
What does it change in play?
Pieces start on the first 14 squares, so the game is longer, and guards and walls are easier to make with more pieces.
Piccione 1980 · Kendall 1978 (via Damian Walker's summary and the Ludii project)
Play with these rules Learn it in a short lesson
For experts
Jéquier: dark = 6
The rare throw hits harder
What changes from Sawah rules?
- Four dark sticks count 6 instead of 5
- Extra throws on 1, 4 and 6 instead of 1, 4 and 5
- No direct way off square 26: a piece goes through 28, 29 or 30
Who proposed it?
The Swiss Egyptologist Gustave Jéquier made a reconstruction around 1930 in which four dark sticks count 6 instead of 5, with extra throws on 1, 4 and 6. The guard of two and wall of three in Sawah rules come from him.
What does it change in play?
A 5 never comes up, so a piece cannot leave square 26 directly but goes through 28, 29 or 30. The rare 6 (about one throw in 16) is a big leap early on.
Jéquier c. 1930, via Damian Walker's summary of Botermans and others, and the Ludii project
Play with these rules Learn it in a short lesson
For experts
Both together
Seven pieces and dark = 6
What changes from Sawah rules?
- Seven pieces a side instead of five, on the first 14 squares
- Four dark sticks count 6 instead of 5
- Extra throws on 1, 4 and 6 instead of 1, 4 and 5
- No direct way off square 26: a piece goes through 28, 29 or 30
Who proposed it?
Both changes at once: seven pieces as in the Old Kingdom, and Jéquier's count of the sticks. A mix we chose for players who want the biggest challenge — not a set any one scholar proposed.
What does it change in play?
The longest and hardest: more pieces, and no direct way off square 26.
Sawah's choice, combining two documented rules
Play with these rules Learn it in a short lesson

Show the full comparison table

Rule	Sawah rules	Old Kingdom: seven pieces	Jéquier: dark = 6	Both together
Pieces	5	7	5	7
Setup	Squares 1–10	Squares 1–14	Squares 1–10	Squares 1–14
Four dark sticks	5	5	6	6
Extra throw	1, 4 and 5	1, 4 and 5	1, 4 and 6	1, 4 and 6
Leaving square 26	With a 5	With a 5	No direct exit	No direct exit
Proposed by	Sawah, from the best-known reconstructions	Old Kingdom paintings, and Kendall 1978	Gustave Jéquier, c. 1930	Sawah, for experts

All of these are modern reconstructions, because the original rules are lost. Online play and the daily puzzle always use Sawah rules so everyone plays the same game, and some journey gates have rules of their own.

The chance of each throw

A throw of 125%

A throw of 237.5%

A throw of 325%

A throw of 46.25%

A throw of 56.25%

Assuming each side lands half the time — a modern assumption we cannot check against real sticks. The average throw is 2.31, and the chance of an extra throw 37.5%.

What we know about senet

Dynasty 1 · c. 3100–2900 BCE
Consensus
Its oldest traces are from Dynasty 1: ivory squares in a tomb at Abu Rawash, and a three-row board in a hieroglyphic sign from Narmer's reign.
Dynasty 3
Consensus
Its first clear picture is in the tomb of Hesy-Re at Saqqara, beside the games of mehen and men.
The Old Kingdom
Consensus
Its name, "senet", means "passing". In an Old Kingdom tomb, a player in the relief says: "The passing is mine."
Dynasty 18 · Tutankhamun
Consensus
Howard Carter's list gives Tutankhamun four game boxes. In the drawer of one, never opened, were two ivory knucklebones, five red pieces and five white.
From the end of Dynasty 18
Consensus
The board became a model of the afterlife; Queen Nefertari is painted in her tomb (number 66 in the Valley of the Queens) playing alone against an unseen opponent.
Beyond Egypt
Consensus
It was played in the Levant and Cyprus, and spread wherever Egyptians were.
Until Dynasty 26
Disputed
Egyptians played it until at least Dynasty 26; whether it was played in Ptolemaic and Roman times is uncertain.

Common mistakes

It is said: Senet's rules are known exactly.
In fact: The original rules are lost; everything played today is a modern reconstruction.
It is said: Senet is the oldest board game in the world.
In fact: The Egyptian game of mehen is older.
It is said: Tutankhamun had five senet boxes.
In fact: Howard Carter's list counts four game boxes.
It is said: Senet is the grandmother of backgammon.
In fact: No archaeological evidence links the two.

Sources

References are given as published, in their original language. Wikipedia was used only to reach them and is not cited as a source.

Read the senet chapter in the encyclopedia Play now

Senet in a minute

The rules, step by step

The board

Setting up

The sticks

Moving

Hitting

Guards and walls

Square 26, "beauty"

Square 27, "the water"

Bearing off

No move?

Winning

Sawah rules and expert rules: what's the difference?

Sawah rules

Old Kingdom: seven pieces

Jéquier: dark = 6

Both together

The chance of each throw

What we know about senet

Common mistakes

Sources