Hounds and Jackals

ancientgames.org/hounds-and-jackals/

Eli October 15, 2017

Hounds and Jackals is an Egyptian game, which came into existence in the Middle Kingdom,
around the 9th Dynasty, circa 2135 – 1986 BCE. It is a racing game, in the same category as
Senet, Aseb, and the Royal Game of Ur.

The game was originally discovered by William Mathew Flinders Petrie and published by him
in 1890. Since then over 40 examples of the game have been found in Egypt, Israel, Syria,
Iran and around the Levant and Mediterranean.

Game of Hounds and Jackals. Middle Kingdom, Dynasty 12. Reign of Amenemhat IV. ca
1814–1805 BCE. Egypt, Thebes, pit tomb CC25. Ebony, Ivory. The Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York – 26.7.128

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The original name of the game is unknown. Petrie called The Game of 58 Holes, since the
game board that he found contained two sets of 29 holes. later, when Howard Carter
discovered the fanciest known copy of the game, he called it The Game of Hounds and
Jackals, since the playing pieces had heads of dogs and jackals on them. A third, least
common, common name for the game was Shen for the Egyptian hieroglyph which was
written on some of the examples, around the big hole at the top of the game.

Hounds and Jackals Game Board. Middle Kingdom, 11th Dynasty. Egypt, Thebes, Deir el-
Bahri, Tomb TT 312 – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York – 26.3.154

The original rules for Hounds and Jackals are unknown. There have been many
reconstruction attempts by historians and archaeologists, but most of them make a boring
game. I have presented here two most interesting and challenging sets of rules, which make
a really exciting game. The first set of rules was developed by a Russian game re-
constructor Dmitriy Skiryuk (Дмитрий Скирюк) and originally published on his blog in three
separate posts (1, 2, and in most detail 3), in Russian. I provided some of my clarifications
regarding the options on what to do when reaching the last hole. The second set of rules,
which is very different from Skiryuk’s, was published by a user Welsch Dragonfly (Donna
Washburne) on Instructables.com.

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Dmitriy Skiryuk’s Rules:

1. Number of players is 2.
2. The game includes the board of 58 holes arranged in two half loops, and the 59th large
common hole, 5 jackal pieces, 5 hound pieces, and 4, two sided, throwing sticks are
included in the game to serve as dice, with one side rounded and the other side flat.
3. The movement across the board starts from holes #1 (A and A’) and each player
continues on their side along their path until all pieces exit off the board from cell 30
(H). Usually, the hounds get the right side, when facing the rounded end (top on the
diagram below), and the jackals get the left side (bottom on the diagram below).

4. All 4 throwing sticks are thrown at the same time. The score is determined as follows:
1. If one throwing stick landed on the flat side and the other three landed on the
round side the score is 1.
2. If two throwing sticks landed on the flat side and the other two landed on the
round side the score is 2.
3. If three throwing sticks landed on the flat side and the fourth one landed on the
round side the score is 3.
4. If all four throwing sticks landed on the flat side the score is 4.
5. If all four throwing sticks landed on the rounded side the score is 5, which is the
maximum obtainable score.
5. Additional throws of the sticks by a player in a single turn are not allowed.
6. Both players place one of their pieces into hole #1 (A and A’). The remaining pieces
remain off the board.

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 7. Both players throw the sticks. Whoever scores the lowest of the two moves first on the
exact number of holes that they scored with the dice. Then, the opponent throws the
sticks again and moves that number of holes that they scored.
8. Further moves alternate between players.
9. The pieces can move only forward, by the amount of holes that was scored with the
dice. However, if the piece lands on a hole with a line then it will follow the line in either
direction, as explained below.
10. As soon as a piece either lands into holes marked with the Nefer symbol, #15 or #25
(G or G’ and E and E’), or passes them, the player gets to load the next piece onto the
board into hole #1 (A or A’).
11. If a piece lands exactly into holes marked with the Nefer symbol, #15 or #25 (G or G’
and E and E’), the player also gets a second turn.
12. Once a player has more than one piece on the board, they can move any of their
pieces, as long as the move is allowed.
13. Pieces cannot pass each other unless they do it by landing into passing holes (#6, #20,
#8, #10) marked with lines.
14. One hole can only be occupied by one playing piece. If a hole is already occupied by
another piece the player cannot land there or pass it. The only exception is the last
hole #30 (H), called Shen, which can hold multiple pieces as will be explained below.
15. If a piece lands in holes #6 (B or B’) then that piece skips to hole #20 (F or F’), as
shown by the lines on the board. The same thing happens in reverse. If a piece lands
in holes #20 (F or F’) then that piece skips back to hole #6 (B or B’), as shown by the
lines on the board.
16. If a piece lands in holes #8 (C or C’) then that piece skips to hole #10 (D or D’), as
shown by the lines on the board. The same thing happens in reverse. If a piece lands
in holes #10 (D or D’) then that piece skips back to hole #8 (C or C’), as shown by the
lines on the board.
17. Skipping holes by following the lines on skipping holes does not count as passing holes
with Nefer (#15 or #25 (G or G’ and E and E’)), and if that happens the player does not
get to load another piece on to the board.
18. If a piece passes a hole with Nefer (#15 or #25 (G or G’ and E and E’)), but the starting
hole (#1 (A or A’)) are already taken by another piece, then a new piece does not get
loaded on to the board. However, if in such a case the piece landed into a hole with
Nefer and the player got a second turn, then they still get to take the second turn.
19. Whenever a player’s piece reaches the final hole #30 (H), also called Shen, the player
removes the opponent’s piece that is located the farthest back on the path from the
board and keeps it for themselves. The removed piece does not return to the board
during the rest of the game for any reason. However, the player’s piece that reached
the end hole also gets to be kept by the player and they can bring it back onto the
board at any time when a new piece can be brought back onto the board.

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 20. Entering hole #30 (H) requires an exact score of the dice. For example, if the piece is
located on cell #29, the player must score 1, if the piece is located on cell #28, the
player must score 2, if the piece is located on cell #27, the player must score 3, if the
piece is located on cell #26, the player must score 4, and if the piece is located on cell
#25, the player must score 5 . If the player scores a different dice score and cannot
make any other moves using other pieces or move into cell #30, then they skip a turn
and wait for the next turn.
21. The player is never allowed to cross hole #30 (H) and enter inside the opponent’s path.
Once a piece reaches the final hole #30 (H) it must stay there until the player scores
the exact score of 1, after which that piece can be removed off the board.
22. A piece sitting inside the final hole #30 (H) cannot be knocked off the board by the
opponent. For this reason that hole is made with a much larger diameter than all other
holes, since it can hold multiple pieces simultaneously, either the same player’s pieces,
or the opponent’s pieces, or both. There is no limit to how many pieces the last hole
can hold.
23. The path can never be empty without any pieces. If a player knocks off the board the
only opponent’s piece that was on the board, but the opponent still has more pieces in
their hand then the opponent must load the next piece automatically into hole #1 (A or
A’) and do not need to wait for dice score 1.
24. The goal of the game is to capture all 5 pieces of the opponent, while keeping some of
your own pieces. The player that captures all 5 of the opponent’s pieces first wins.

On Game Strategy:

1. Hounds and Jackals is mostly a game of chance and not strategy. However, some
strategizing is possible.
2. The throwing sticks have uneven probability for different scores, as compared to a six
sided cubical dice, which makes them more frustrating and exciting at the same time.
1. The most frequent dice score on throwing sticks is 2 (probability is 6/16).
2. The next most frequent dice scores are 1 and 3 (probability is 4/16).
3. The least frequent dice scores are 4 and 5 (probability is 1/16).
4. Due to this uneven probability of scoring it is advantageous to the player to keep
gaps between their pieces and trap holes by either 1 or 3 holes. Gaps of 4 or 5
are even better. However, gaps of 2 are more dangerous since the probability of
scoring a 2 is highest and therefore the piece can get easily fall into a trap and
get moved back. The opposite applies if the trap hole will move the piece forward
or it is a Nefer hole. Then the player should prefer a gap of 2 and not gap of 1 or
3 holes, and of course not a gap of 4 or 5 holes, which will give them even less of
a chance on landing there.

Donna Washburne’s Rules:

1. Number of players is 2.

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 2. The game includes the board of 58 holes arranged in two half loops, and the 59th large
common hole, 5 jackal pieces, 5 hound pieces, and 4, two sided, throwing sticks are
included in the game to serve as dice, with one side rounded and the other side flat.
3. The cells on the board are defined differently in this set of rules.

4. All 4 throwing sticks are thrown at the same time. The score is determined as follows:
1. If one throwing stick landed on the flat side and the other three landed on the
round side the score is 1.
2. If two throwing sticks landed on the flat side and the other two landed on the
round side the score is 2.
3. If three throwing sticks landed on the flat side and the fourth one landed on the
round side the score is 3.
4. If all four throwing sticks landed on the flat side the score is 4.
5. If all four throwing sticks landed on the rounded side the score is 5, which is the
maximum obtainable score.
5. Every fifth hole is labeled with an orange circle and has a special meaning.
6. Holes labeled with the Egyptian hieroglyph Ankh (meaning Life) have a special
meaning as well.
7. The holes connected by lines function in the same manner as in Skiryuk’s rule set. The
pieces move from one hole to the connected one in both directions, either forwards or
backwards.
8. At the beginning of the game all 5 pieces are placed on the red holes for the first player
and on the blue holes for the opponent.
9. The goal of the game is to move all of the player’s pieces located on one side home
box, onto the opponent’s side home box – from red holes to blue holes, and from blue
holes to red holes.
10. Pieces can only move forward.
11. Pieces are not allowed to land into holes occupied bv the same player’s other piece.
12. Piece that lands on a hole occupied by an opponent’s piece knocks the opponent’s
piece off the board and occupies that hole.

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 13. Holes labeled by Ankh and holes inside both of the home boxes are safe holes. If they
are occupied by an opponent’s piece that piece cannot be knocked off the board.
14. A knocked off the board piece can be brought back to the first hole inside its own home
box by the exact dice score of 1.
15. In order to move pieces on the board all 5 of them must be present on the board. While
a piece is off the board the same player’s other pieces cannot be moved. If a piece has
been knocked off, the player must bring that piece back onto the board with the exact
throw of the dice.
1. If the home box is completely empty, and the player scores 1, they put the
knocked off piece onto the first hole inside the home box.
2. If they score 2, then they put it in the second hole inside the home box.
3. If they score 3, then they put it in the third hole inside the home box.
4. If they score 4, then they put it in the fourth hole inside the home box.
5. If they score 5, then they put it in the fifth hole inside the home box.
6. If a hole is already taken by one of the pieces, either their own or the opponent’s
(which cannot be knocked off since the home box holes are safe holes), then the
player loses their turn, and must throw the dice again on the next turn to try to
land inside a different hole inside the home box. The player gets only one dice
throw try per turn.
7. If all 5 spaces inside the home box are occupied by a mixture of player’s own and
opponent’s pieces and the player gets a piece knocked off, since there are no
holes for the player to bring back the knocked off piece they lose the game.
16. The player who occupies the opponent’s home box with all of their 5 pieces, wins the
game. Also, if opponent’s home box is occupied by a mixture of the opponent’s pieces
and the player’s pieces, and the opponent get a piece knocked off the board, which
they cannot return on the next move, because the home box is fully occupied, then the
player wins the game as well.
17. There is a variation in the game if the players are using two sets of 4 sided dice instead
of throwing sticks. If the 2 two sided dice were thrown, then the player can chose to
move two pieces on one turn, one on the amount of holes scored on one dice and the
other on the amount of holes on the other dice. But the player cannot split moves
however they want. They must use one dice for one piece and one dice for the other
piece.

Bibliography:

1. Bell, R. C. Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations. Courier Corporation, 2012.
2. Crist, Walter, Anne-Elizabeth Dunn-Vaturi, and Alex de Voogt. Ancient Egyptians at
Play: Board Games Across Borders. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016.
3. Hoerth, A. J. “The game of Hounds and Jackals.” Ancient Board Games in Perspective.
British Museum Press, London (2007): 64-68.

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4. de Voogt, Alex, Anne-Elizabeth Dunn-Vaturi, and Jelmer W. Eerkens. “Cultural
transmission in the ancient Near East: twenty squares and fifty-eight holes.” Journal of
Archaeological Science 40, no. 4 (2013): 1715-1730.
5. Dunn-Vaturi, Anne-Elizabeth. “Game of Hounds and Jackals.” In Ancient Egypt
Transformed: The Middle Kingdom, edited by Adela Oppenheim, Dorothea Arnold,
Dieter Arnold, and Kei Yamamoto. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2015. p.
249, no. 188.
6. Botermans, Jack. The book of games: strategy, tactics & history. Sterling Publishing
Company, 2008.
7. Dunn-Vaturi, Anne-E. ““The Monkey Race” – Remarks on Board Games
Accessories.” International Journal for the Study of Board Games, CNWS
Publications, 2000. pp. 107-111.

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