Iraqi Mesopotamian Dice Strategy Game: "Ur"

This two-player strategy game uses the so-called Ancient Babylonian game board. Boards found in a location that was part of Ancient Sumeria in Mesopotamia, in the royal tombs at Ur dating from approximately 2500BC, are referred to by their location. The board is easily identified because four of its squares have been removed to make a waist.

The original Sumerian rules have been lost, but scholars believe that the game is a sort of race game. The same boards were still in use a century or two before the birth of Christ and archeologists have discovered the rules for the game played at that time on some cuneiform tablet dated at 177/176BC. The object of the game is to prevent the opponent from having any moves by blocking and taking pieces.

Different boards show a variety of patterns on their squares: the consistent factor is that five rosettes always appear. Game historians are not sure about the significance of the rosettes to play.
Source:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2827 http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Royal-Game-Ur.htm