The ancient board games we finally know how to play – thanks to AI

In the 1970s, in a grave in a Bronze Age cemetery in Shahr-i Sokhta, Iran, an incredible object was unearthed next to a human skull: the oldest complete board game ever discovered. Around 4500 years old, it consists of a board with 20 circular spaces created from the coils of a carved snake, four dice and 27 geometric pieces.

The Shahr-i Sokhta game is one of many ancient board games discovered around the world, such as the Roman game Ludus Latrunculorum and the Egyptian game Senet, found in Tutankhamun’s tomb. But we have only been able to guess how to play these games. There are no preserved rulebooks – with the notable exception of the Royal Game of Ur from ancient Mesopotamia, whose long-lost rules were deciphered in 2007 from a cuneiform tablet in the British Museum.

Now, though, another tool is helping to bring these games back to life. In recent years, researchers have been harnessing artificial intelligence to assist in the hunt for likely rules. The goal is to make these forgotten games realistically playable again, while also gaining insights into the evolution of game types. “These games act as a window into the past, offering glimpses into the social and cultural dynamics of the people who played them,” says Eric Piette at the Catholic University of…