RegionNorthern Africa, Central Asia, Southern Asia, Western Asia
CategoryBoard, Race, Escape
Description
58 holes was a game popular in ancient Southwest Asia from the second and first millennia BCE. The earliest known board comes from Egypt, but it appears very quickly in widely dispersed places throughout the region very quickly, so an origin somewhere else cannot be ruled out. After the middle of the second millennium BCE, it was mostly played only in Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Iran. The ancient name for the game is unknown. In the center of the board are two parallel lines of ten holes, which are surrounded by an arc of 39-41 holes, typically with a larger or marked square at the apex. Pieces are typically pegs to be inserted into the holes, but in some cases discs, stones, or seeds may be used.
Rules
58-60 holes. Two rows of parallel lines of spaces in the center, ten or eleven in each line. Outer arc with 29-30 spaces. Five pieces per player. Sometimes certain holes are connected to each other or individually marked.
Incomplete rulesets Historical Information
Rules known from DLP evidence. Parallel Connections
Boards have lines which connect holes in the same track. do not connect tracks on the board Unmarked
Boards have no markings. Marked Holes
Certain holes are marked. Crossover 1
Simple version with lines crossing between tracks. Crossover 2
Crossover lines include the outer arc. Crossover 3
Crossover board with more connections between the central lines and the outer arc. Crossover 4
Most complex crossover board. Labyrinth
58 holes with a "labyrinth" of extra holes around the goal.
70 pieces of evidence in total. Browse all evidence for 58 Holes here.
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Sources
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