The ancient Egyptian game represented in a famous Book of the Dead scene is senet.
Senet was a board game played in Egypt for more than two millennia. Its early history is difficult to reconstruct because surviving boards and pieces are incomplete, but possible examples occur in First Dynasty burials around 3100 BCE. Clearer depictions appear in Old Kingdom tombs, where people are shown playing on rectangular boards divided into squares.
The game gradually acquired religious meaning. In Chapter 17 of the Book of the Dead, the deceased plays senet against an invisible opponent. The match can be understood as an image of the dead person’s passage through the underworld and progress toward the afterlife. This symbolism helped transform a recreational game into a funerary object and religious motif.
Senet boards have been found in elite burials, including the tomb of Tutankhamun, and tomb paintings show figures such as Queen Nefertari playing it. Modern reconstructions are necessarily tentative because the exact rules and movement system are not fully known. Senet should not be confused with mancala, Hounds and Jackals, or mehen, which were distinct Egyptian games.