Royal Ur The Ancient Game
A race, four and a half thousand years old.
The oldest board game we can still play, made properly for iPhone and iPad. Buy it once: no ads, no accounts, no in-app purchases, nothing collected.
$4.99 · one-time purchase · iPhone, iPad and Mac
- No advertising
- No analytics
- No account
- No subscription
- No in-app purchases
- Nothing collected
What it is
A game cut from shell and lapis lazuli
Four and a half thousand years ago, someone in Mesopotamia cut a game board from shell and lapis lazuli. This is that game — reconstructed, quiet, and complete — and you can learn it in a few minutes.
The Royal Game of Ur was found in the Royal Cemetery at Ur, in southern Iraq. It is a race. Seven pieces each, fourteen squares, four pyramidal lots thrown together for the count.
The middle of the board is shared ground, so a piece landing on yours sends it back to the start. Five rosette squares grant another throw, and a piece standing on one cannot be taken.
Three ways to play
Alone, across a table, or across the world
Against the machine
Three strengths
Gentle, Steady and Ruthless — from an opponent you can learn against to one that will punish a loose move. The search is budgeted in time, so it thinks for as long as it is given and no longer.
Across the table
Pass and play
Hand the phone back and forth, or lay the iPad flat between you and let the board draw itself the right way up for both players at once.
Across the world
Game Center, a turn at a time
Turn-based matches with a friend, played at whatever pace suits you — days apart, if that is the pace. Your match waits.
The lots are provably fair
The game never gets to decide
Every throw depends on the match seed and the position in the game, and on nothing else. The difficulty setting cannot reach the roll — it is a property of the opponent, not of the dice.
Undo a move, close the app, come back tomorrow: the same throw comes up, because it was never a decision the game got to make.
Built like an object
Shell, bitumen, lapis and red stone
Panels set in pitch, inlaid and cut, lit as though a lamp were above the table. The four lots are real objects that land and settle.
Sound and haptics are additive: with both switched off you lose pleasure and never information.
It asks you for nothing
Bought once, and then left alone
Nothing is collected, which is why the App Store privacy label reads Data Not Collected in every category. The only network traffic the app can make is the Game Center turn it sends for you.
- No advertising and no analytics
- No account and no sign-in
- No subscription, no in-app purchase of any kind
- No permission requests
- No timers, no streaks, no daily anything
- No notification beyond “it is your turn”
Learn it properly
Nine short steps
A walkthrough that teaches the game on a real board, with real pieces. You can stop at any point and pick it up where you left off. The full rules stay on hand whenever you want them.
Made to be read
VoiceOver, throughout
Every square is named by its place on the track, and the board is read in playing order rather than in layout order. No state is carried by colour alone — every cue has a shape as well as a hue. Reduce Motion, Reduce Transparency and Increase Contrast are all honoured.
The details
What you are buying
| Price | $4.99 — bought once, no subscription |
|---|---|
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, and Mac (Designed for iPad). Universal purchase. |
| Requires | iOS and iPadOS 26.5 or later |
| Language | English |
| Multiplayer | Pass-and-play on one device; turn-based matches through Game Center |
| In-app purchases | None. The purchase framework is not linked into the app at all. |
| Privacy | Data Not Collected, in every category. No tracking. |
| Age rating | 4+ |