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Hunting was the favorite thing to do for the men of Ancient Egypt.  Sometimes pharaohs and their noblemen hunted in the desert (because Egypt didn’t have a lot of forests).  They hunted things like lions, wild bulls, and leopards. Professional hunters went through the desert with the pharaoh and helped hunt the animals with bows and arrows.  They mainly waited by waterholes until their prey came and then they shot them with the arrows.

Farmers did not like the hippopotamus because hippos trampled their crops, so they hunted hippos to protect their crops.  Crocodiles were very rarely hunted, though, when they were only the brave men would dare try.

Rivers were also a good place to relax while having picnics, fishing, and catch water birds. Kids liked to play things like leap-frog, tug-of-war, and wrestling or doing gymnastics.

There was a game that was played by everyone in Egypt.  It was called Senet.  Rules to Senet were pretty easy to learn.

Rules of the Game

Throwing a 1, 4 or 6 wins the thrower another turn.

Pieces move up and down the board lengthwise: Row 1, left to right; row 2, right to left; row 3, left to right.

Landing on a square occupied by an opponent means the opponent’s piece has to move back to the square his attacker has come from.

Two pieces of the same color cannot occupy one square, but next to each other they can’t be attacked.

Three pieces in a row cannot be passed by an opponent.

The square marked means that a player must go back to the square marked , and if that is occupied, go back to start.

The squares marked , , and are safe from attack.

A player cannot move a piece off the board until all his pieces are off the first row.

How to Play Senet!!!

      Place a white piece on every other square of the first row and 5 black pieces on the squares in between.

        The first player to throw a 1 moves the last black piece on the first row one square down. Then he throws again, free now to move any other black piece.

        When the white player makes his first move, he must use the last white piece in the row first.

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