Tom Scott vs Irving Finkel: The Royal Game of Ur | PLAYTHROUGH | International Tabletop Day 2017

He really is. He's got two incredible videos with Tom Scott where the two of them play what could be considered the worlds oldest game[0] and he introduces Tom and Matt to "writing" cuneiform[1]. He's so sharp in both, I love seeing him anywhere else now. [0]: [VIDEO] [1]: [LINK]

I was lucky enough to meet Irving Finkel a couple of times and he is as eccentric in person as he is in his brilliant lectures, talks, and videos. When I met him all the shelves, and even the floor, in his office was covered with different books, papers, and artifacts. He has amassed quite a collection of interesting things. I met him through my work related to the Royal Game of Ur, which he also did a fantastic video on with Tom Scott: [VIDEO]

I've gotten into ancient games recently, and I've tried Senet with various rule variations- I think it's kind of boring. I like much better the Royal Game of Ur- [VIDEO] I've also been playing with Indian Pachisi, two player is kind of boring, but I still need to try four player / doubles.

There’s a great video on YouTube of Irving Finkel (quite an interesting guy) playing the Royal Game of Ur. [VIDEO]

You might be thinking of Ur, which is roughly 4,500 years old. This is an interesting video from Dr. Irving Finkel on it and its playing rules.[0] [0]: [VIDEO]

Irving Finkel made a video with Tom Scott, playing the game of Ur. I enjoyed the interaction. [VIDEO] I'm sure he has many other even better videos, but I will have to yet get to them.

I've been trying other non-roman dice: Indian four-sided dice: [LINK] Two-sided dice (cowry shells) for Indian Pachisi- they are terrible! [LINK] More binary dice for the Royal Game of Ur: [VIDEO]

He also taught Tom to play The Royal Game of Ur [1], a Middle-Eastern precursor to Backgammon that was the Chess of that era in terms of popularity. Irving was the one to decipher the rules from a cuneiform tablet. 1. [VIDEO]