Rulebooks may be tough to read, but have you ever tried to whip through the oldest known rules for the oldest board game in the world?

That’s why we had to send our own rules master, Ivan Van Norman, to talk to Dr. Irving Finkel, the Assistant Curator of Ancient Mesopotamian script at the British Museum in London, England. This rulebook is a tablet that dates back four millennia to the city of Ur, and describes the oldest board game in the world. The two discussed many things, one of them being the oldest-known rulebook in ancient history as well as the game it belongs to. If you want to check out the game in action, you can see if Irving can win against a novice in this video from the British Museum in London.

Do you have a better strategy for the world’s oldest board game? Do you think this was the grandfather of any other popular games? Let us know in the comment section below.