1. Senet is played on a 3-by-10 rectangle.

2. Senet requires 4 casting sticks. You can use 4 dice; odd numbers representing 1, even numbers 0. Moves are calculated as the sum of the dice (1 through 4). A roll of four even numbers is played as a 5.

3. Each player selects 5 BEADs of a colour of their choice.

4. BEADs are placed on the first row alternating between players.

5. Players decide who begins by rolling 1 die.

1. Players roll to determine how many spaces they can move their BEAD. A player can only move 1 BEAD each turn and they must move a BEAD is possible.

2. Each play space can only be occupied by 1 BEAD.

3. If a player lands on a square that is occupied by their opponent’s BEAD, the opponent’s BEAD is placed on the square that the player started their move from (they switch positions).

4. Every BEAD must land exactly on the House of Happiness (the 26th square – marked by a bird).

5. If a BEAD lands on the House of Water (the 27th square – marked with three wavy lines) the BEAD must move back to the House of Rebirth (the 15th square).

6. If a BEAD lands on the House of Three Truths (the 28th square – marked with three dots) the player must roll a 3 to move the BEAD.

7. If a BEAD lands on the House of the Re-Atoum (the 29th square – marked with an eye) the player must roll a 2 to move the BEAD.

8. If a BEAD lands on the last square of the board, the player can roll again immediately but must roll a 1 to leave the board.

9. Players roll exactly to move their BEADs off the board.

To win the game, a player must be the first to move all 5 of their BEADs off the board.

1. Senet is one of the oldest known board games of the world. It has been found in the predynastic and First Dynasty burials of Egypt, around 3500 BC and 3100 BC respectively.

2. By the time of the New Kingdom in Egypt (1550 BC-1077 BC), this game had become a kind of talisman for the journey of the dead.

3. Because of the element of luck in the game and the Egyptian belief in determinism, it was believed that a successful player was under the protection of the major gods of the national pantheon - Ra, Thoth, and sometimes Osiris.