Mehen
Unsegmented ancient Egyptian Mehen Board image by Rob Koopman
Several game boards shaped like a coiled and spiraling snake are known from ancient Egypt, spanning from 3000 to 2300 BCE. The snake's body of the boards are typically, but not always, segmented into rectangular cells suggesting a board game. The name Mehen refers to both the game and an Egyptian serpent god that protects and coils around the sun god Ra during his journey through the night. The boards found seem to span a considerable time period and vary in size, material of composition and number of segments the snake's body is composed of. Some of them have stands underneath and are shaped as a small table while others are planar in general. One of the boards found had three lion-shaped pieces, three lioness shaped pieces and several small white and red marble-like spheres associated with it that may or may not be gaming pieces. In normal contexts it would seem certain that such things are gaming pieces but it is unusual that none of the pieces fit into the cells of the gaming board they are associated with. There is little to no remaining evidence to indicate how the Mehen game was played, although it seems very likely to be a race game. Another race game of the Baggara Arabs of Sudan is called Li'b el Marafib, translating to "The Hyena Game". The spiraling shape of its board is somewhat suggestive of Mehen and it is a possible descendant of it.
Sources