While looking for a fun scripting project for Morrowind, I came across the game The Royal Game of Ur, or The Game of Twenty Squares. This was one of the world's first known board games. It was played in ancient Mesopotamia and has since seen somewhat of a revival through the work of archaeologists and museum curators. (See Wikipedia article.)

I was going to try creating some basic assets for the board and pieces, but fortunately, LordBerandas beat me to it in 2017 with the mod "The Royal Game of Ur", which has assets, a book of rules, and some item placement, but no gameplay. LordBerandas gave me permission to derive from this work. I have avoided to the extent possible redistributing the assets of the mod, choosing to keep it as a requirement so that this mod serves as a complement. The only asset included here is a fixed version of the board mesh, which had a display issue in OpenMW.

The game includes a full AI to play against. It is not designed for two multiplayer users.

Be sure to check out my other minigame mods, Thirteen Telvanni and Nine-holes, which nicely complement the locations of this game.

Neither MWSE nor OpenMW are required. This mod uses only native Morrowind scripting.

The Royal Game of Ur is required. You must install and load that mod first. Tamriel_Data is also required. The latest releases use loose files, so you don't need to register BSAs.



This game is simple but has a lot of depth to master, which is perhaps why it proved so popular in the ancient world.

The game is for two players. Its basic game loop consists of a dice roll and moving one figure, with a goal of adding all figures to the board and moving them to the end. It's an early form of Backgammon. In the Morrowind version, one side plays as the Dwemer and the other as the Automatons.

Shown below is a diagram of each player's route that they move their figures, as well as the "ellipses" mentioned later marked with a star symbol. The green row is a shared "combat row".



• Four dice are rolled, each one adding either 1 or 0 to the total. Therefore, the probabilities of rolls are:
  

Roll 0 — 1/16th  (least common)
Roll 1 — 1/4th
Roll 2 — 3/8th  (most common)
Roll 3 — 1/4th
Roll 4 — 1/16th  (least common)

• On a player's turn, they may either add a figure to the board from their stack or move a figure already placed. In either case, figures advance as many squares as the dice roll value.
• The first four spaces closest to the player are not shared with the opponent. After the fourth square, figures turn and enter the shared combat row that goes along the length of the board. The final two spaces once again split off toward the player's side, and figures are safe from capture there.
• A player's figures cannot share a square. If an opponent's figure is in the way on the shared combat row, the opponent's figure is sent back to their stack.
• To be removed from the board, you have to roll the exact number of spaces needed to reach one space past the final square.
• The first player to remove all their figures from the board wins.
  

Extra rules:

• On the fourth, eighth, and fourteenth squares of each player's track, there is an ellipse shape. Landing on the ellipse allows another turn. This can be repeated several times in a row if lucky.
• A figure on the shared ellipse on the eighth square is safe from capture.
• In this mod, betting is available before starting the game. The reward for winning is double the bet.
  

Game of Ur Locations

Look for this game among the collections of Dwemer enthusiasts and wizards. There are four playable boards, not counting the miscellaneous items hand-placed by LordBerandas' mod (these are not playable).

Tel Fyr, Corprusarium Bowels
Relevant NPC:Yagrum Bagarn
Bet:none

Balmora, Guild of Fighters
Challenger:Hasphat Antabolis
Bet:25

Vivec, Guild of Mages
Challenger:Trebonius Artorius
Bet:50
Note:Betting only for Mages Guild members

Gnisis, Arvs-Drelen
Challenger:Baladas Demnevanni
Bet:100
Note:Requires 60+ disposition

Credits

• LordBerandas — assets and book of rules from The Royal Game of Ur mod (permission granted via Discord)
• Tamriel_Data team — dice roll sound and flat table
• Kvikvendi — public domain board diagram on this mod page
  

My Other Mods

• Moving Minecarts
• Questline - Vivec Lighthouse Keeper
• Nine-holes
• Thirteen Telvanni - a Dunmer Card Game
• Writer of the Third Era
• Quick Character Creation
• Preview Warning for Tamriel Rebuilt (and Creating Your Own TR_Preview)