Senet Canvas Board Game

Senet is one of the oldest known board games, and was played by the ancient Egyptians over 5000 years ago. In ancient times, people of all walks of life enjoyed this 2 player game, from the common workers to the pharaohs themselves. Several versions of this game have been discovered that spanned the various dynasties, and it evolved along with the culture.

This hand made Senet set includes a canvas game board, handmade scarab game pieces (made of a gypsum cement), wooden throwing sticks, instruction booklet, and your choice of a wooden box or velvet bag to keep everything in.

The box has a hand painted Egyptian style engraving on the cover of two people playing senet, inspired by an ancient painting from the tomb of Sennedjem. The inside of the box is lined with velvet.

This game also includes wooden throwing sticks, the traditional type of counters counters that ancient people often used as dice. They are round on one side and flat with an engraved pattern on the other.

The scarab pieces are cast copies of an original that I carved by hand. See the photos for color options. Please note that the color names are just descriptions of the color and not the actual material. Each piece is cast from gypsum cement (a stone-like material that has been in use since ancient Egyptian times) and is hand painted gold accents to enhance the engraving detail, and sealed with lacquer.

“Lacquer Black”: inspired by ancient Egyptian sculptures such as the shrine of Anubis from King Tut’s tomb. Metallic black is a similar look with a metallic twist.
“Ivory”: Egyptians used ivory in sculpture and relief carvings – usually from hippopotamus, but occasionally elephant tusks.
“Egyptian Blue” : Artifacts with this color range (in my eyes) from a vivid cerulean hue to a soft periwinkle tone, depending on the artist recipe, the material it was used on and how it aged over the centuries. The color of these pieces is on the lighter side to give them a more aged look.

There were many different versions of Senet played throughout Egypt’s history, with different symbols on the board. This game set is based on a version that uses the symbols for the life (Ankh), House of Happiness, House of Waters, House of Three Truths (three ibis), The House of Re-Atoum (Isis and Nephthys), and House of Re-Horakty (Horus).

Includes: Fabric game board, decorative box OR velvet bag, 14 playing pieces (7 for each player), 4 throwing sticks, and printed instruction booklet.