The games that people used to play in 18^th century Egypt are surprisingly somewhat similar to some games that people play nowadays. Egyptians enjoyed life and they use to make playing games a part of it just as we do. Just as many of our games are inspired by history, like Ladbrokes Book of Ra slots and other cultures like Keno which is said to have originated in China as a form of bingo and lottery, the Egyptians also took their inspiration for other places too. As some of the games they played were traditional African games and others the Egyptians actually happen to learn from their West Asian neighbours. People in ancient Egypt often use to play games with pieces like checkers or mancala or Senet.

Made Up Games

 It is known that as ancient Egyptian houses were small, dark and crowded many used to play athletic games outside. They also enjoyed swimming in rivers to stay cool. Other games that they use to play which we now consider sports include wrestling, boxing and dancing. There are many sculptures and carvings that depict ancient Egyptian men wrestling as well as women dancing together in a circle. Many use to participate in racing games too, whether they were crawling on their knees or carrying their partner on their back and seeing who could run the fastest as well as the longest.

Toys

The oldest toys to have ever been discovered in ancient Egypt was little toy boats that were carved from wood. From the same period, many baked clay animal and rattles have also been found which suggest they had a collection of toys that had been handmade. However, there haven’t been any depictions in artefacts so there are no certainties that they were played with or even served as a religious purpose. There have been other toys made by the ancient Egyptians from wood, bone, ivory, ceramics as well as stone.

Board Games

 Much like many of us play a variety of board games at Christmas, board games among Egyptians of all ages and social class were also popular from depictions shown through several different artefacts. A favourite was Mehen, which is the game of the snake which was played on a one-legged table. The board bore the picture of a coiled snake either hand carved or inlaid, and the body was divided into squares. Up to six players used three lions, three lionesses, white and red spheres which were ranged in a box when the game was over. Like many Egyptian games the rules and how to play them are unknown. Another popular game was the Game of Twenty Squares which may have been called ‘Aseb’ by the Egyptians which is sometimes found on the reverse side of the Senet board. The oldest of these boards were made during the 17^th dynasty, and unlike the descriptions accompanying depictions of Senet, there is no information on the rules of Twenty Squares.