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Hounds and Jackals is an Egyptian race game. Dated at around the 9th Dynasty of Egypt, the game features simple mechanics that resemble games such as Backgammon and Snakes and Ladders.
Rules
Rules
Materials
1 Game Board
5 Hound pegs
5 Jackal pegs
2 Knuckle bones (dice)
The game board consists of 58 (or sometimes 59) holes divided into four rows. The board is symmetrical, and one side belongs to each player. There are lines which connect holes 6 and 20, and holes 8 and 10. The 59th hole present on some boards contains the "shen" hieroglyph.
The objective is to get all of one's pegs to the aforementioned "shen" hieroglyph. Each turn, the knuckle dice would be rolled by the active player, and they would advance one of their pieces by the amount given by the dice. The lines on the board are thought to be a form of snakes and/or ladders, where if a peg lands on a space with a line touching it, the peg is required to go to the hole on the other side of the line.
History
History
Hounds and Jackals boards have been found in Thebes dated to the 9th Dynasty (2135-1986 BCE), as well as Gezer in Modern Israel and Susa in Iran. The dates for boards found in the non-Egyptian areas are unknown. However, there is sufficient evidence that all of the boards found so far are from a common origin. Some suggest that the game developed out of the megalithic Shuvalan array.
Game Design Elements
Game Design Elements
Hounds and Jackals seems to be a race game purely based on chance. The rules do not allow for strategy or meaningful player choice. The "snakes and ladders" element of the game could possibly add tension or surprise to the game, but in terms of abstract mechanics, it does nothing to affect the player interaction.
Art
Art
The pegs resembling hounds and jackals serve the purpose of visually differentiating which tokens belong to which players. Concerning the game board, there were several instances of functional decoration. Certain holes have circles around them, denoting importance. The lines present on most boards tell the players where the snakes/ladders lead to. The single hole with the "Shen" hieroglyph marks the destination. Shen means "encircling" or "eternity", which would refer to the act of the pieces circling the board before reaching the end point.
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