The Royal Game of Ur: A Digital Reproduction of an Ancient Sumerian Game

Abstract

The game industry is continuing to grow and users can enjoy this kind of products on diverse platforms (e.g., PC, game consoles, smartphones, tablets). While there are many developers working on modern game genres for pure entertainment, it is also interesting to exploit the attractiveness of games for serious purposes. To this aim, we have devised a mobile game able to merge the rediscovery of an ancient board game played by ancient Sumerians with the pleasure to play on mobile devices. The goal of the project is also to raise the interest of fourth graders in history, in particular in Sumerians, through the digital version of a game that was played thousands of years ago. Our game includes the possibility for teachers to add historical trivia shown to the players while using the application.