Hounds and jackals is a Middle Kingdom board game of ebony and ivory: play as a rehearsal of paths, including paths the dead might need.
Mercury 91 is not affiliated with The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Images and object data shown here are public-domain Open Access (CC0) records from The Met collection. Citations are given so you can visit each work on the museum site.
The board looks like a palm or a tree of holes. Pegs are hounds and jackals. Players race. Egyptians took games into tombs because eternity might still want a pastime, and because a path-game is already a little afterlife.
Reniseneb’s name is attached to this example. A named player is better than an anonymous amusement. Someone owned the rules in their hands.
Thoth is a god of games of chance and of the moon’s count. A board of holes is a calendar you can cheat at. That is the right tone for this object: serious play.
Mercury 91 will not pretend this is a product feature. It is a reminder that cosmic systems can be sat at a table. The Temple of Thoth includes it so the court is not only piety. People also moved pegs and argued.
Citation
Game of Hounds and Jackals. ca. 1814–1805 B.C.. Ebony, ivory. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. 26.7.1287a–k. Purchase, Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1926 (26.7.1287a-k); Gift of Lord Carnarvon, 2012 (2012.508)
Public-domain Open Access (CC0) photograph. Dimensions: Board: H. 6.8 cm (2 11/16 in.); W. 10.1 cm (4 in.); D. 15.6 cm (6 1/8 in.); Average height with pins: 14 cm (5 1/2 in.); Jackal pins: H. 7 cm (2 3/4 in.) to 8.5 cm (3 3/8 in.) Bottom (2012.508): L. 12.9 cm (5 1/16 in); W. 7.4 cm (2 15/16 in); Th. 0.3 cm (1/8 in)
Hound pins: H. 6 cm (2 3/8 in.) to 6.8 cm (2 11/16 in.)
