Games That Egyptian Children Played

Outdoor Games

• Sports such as wrestling, racing and tug-of-war were popular. Boys fenced with sticks and boxed as well. Swimming was also popular for fun or as a competition. Piggyback racing and piggyback wresting were played by both boys and girls.

  In khuzza lawizza, a combination of leapfrog and London bridge, two boys sit facing opposite each other with arms outstretched, hands touching. The other children take turns jumping over the bridge of arms as the two boys try to make the jumper fall down. Leapfrog was also played by children.

Girls' Games

• Girls played with dolls and turned dancing into a game. One of these dancing games was called Pressing the Grapes. Girls formed a circle and held hands while dancing to the center of the circle and moving back out.

Senet and The Game of Twenty Squares

• Senet, possibly the basis of the game backgammon, was played by adults and children, from peasants to royalty. The rules of this game are lost but surviving game boards have three rows of 10 squares numbered one though 30. It was played with 40 to 50 games pieces.

  The game of twenty squares is sometimes found on the reverse side of the senet board and was played using the same game pieces. The games of senet and ttwenty squares were found in King Tut's tomb.

Mehen and Hounds and Jackals

• Mehen, the game of snakes, is played on a round board with a spiral painting or drawing of a snake. The body of the snake was divided into squares. Up to six people could play. They used marbles painted red and lions and lionesses as game pieces although no one knows what the rules were.

  Hounds and jackals may be the forerunner of the game of the goose or snakes and Ladders. It is believed this game was played with five pieces per player. One player used five hound-like pieces and the other used five jackal-like pieces.