Everybody loves to play board games sometimes, but it is surprising to know how long this pastime has been in existence. Some of the earliest board games are over five thousand years old. The oldest is probably Senet, an Ancient Egyptian game which has been found in burials from before 3000BC.  The game involves an element of luck, and so it was thought by the Ancient Egyptians that those who won the game were protected by the Gods. For this reason, games of Senet were often buried alongside the body in the grave, to be used on the dangerous journey to the afterlife. The game can also be seen on a number of paintings in tombs. The game board is set out as a grid of three by ten rows, and uses two sets of at least five pawns. The actual rules are unknown, although some historians have proposed rules which are used in the Senet sets available today.

The Royal Game of Ur, also known as the Game of Twenty Squares, is another ancient game which dates back to the First Dynasty of Ur, in 2600 BC Mesopotamia. It was played with two sets of seven markers, one black and one white, and three four-sided dice.  Although the ancient rules are unknown, a stone tablet has been found which depicts a reliable record of how the game was played in 177-176 BC.

Both Senet and The Royal Game of Ur are probably predecessors to the game backgammon, which itself has a long history.  The game of Nard, which existed in Iran in around 3000BC, used two sets of fifteen counters, four dice and same board as the one used in backgammon today, although the initial starting positions and rules are different.  Similar games were played in Ancient Rome and India.