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

The British Museum · 8.1M views · 2017-04-28 · 25:33

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Overview

Tom Scott plays the Royal Game of Ur against British Museum curator Irving Finkel, who deciphered its rules from a cuneiform tablet. Finkel teaches the game and explains its history as the oldest playable board game.

On Hacker News

Recommended in threads on ancient games and cuneiform as a charming match with an enthusiastic expert.

Recommended by 6 HN people across 5 months · HN mentions 2019–2025

Topics

Chess, board games & puzzlesWorld history
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royal game of urirving finkeltom scottbritish museummesopotamia

What people said

sothatsit · 2025-11 · Strong recommendation

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]

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jedimastert · 2019-12 · Strong recommendation

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]

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yreg · 2023-06 · Recommendation

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.

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Sources

Video by The British Museum, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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