Gameplay

Gameplay from the *Ancient Games* varies game by game.

## Games rules

### Senet

The pawn must follow an S-like path across all the board, row by row, starting from the upper row, in order to be taken off the board. The dices in question are a bunch of four sticks, whose score is obtained by counting the number of white faces of the sticks (for example, two white faces on the sticks mean that the player can move a pawn by two squares); horever, in case of no whites, the player can move a pawn by 5 squares. If a player scores a 1, 4 or 5, he/she can play again.

A pawn is considered protected if it is beside an ally pawn, and cannot be captured. Instead, it is isolated if it is alone, if an adiacent square is occupied by an enemy pawn and the other is empty, or if it is surrounded by two enemy pawns. If an adversary arrives on the square occupied by an isolated pawn, the two pawns trade places.

The player can move a pawn if it ends up on an empty square, or one occupied by an isolated enemy pawn. The move is instead impossible if the pawn arrives on a square occupied by an ally pawn or a protected enemy pawn.

The last five squares of the board are special: in order to access the last four squares, a pawn must first stop on the previous one (the 26).

* If a pawn ends up on square 27, it is sent back to square 15, or the first empty square before 15).
* If a pawn ends up on square 28, 29 or 30, it is stuck until it is captured, or gets out the board n one throw (for example, a pawn that ends up in square 28 can get out only by a throw of 3). Horever, they can still capture enemy pawns ahead of them, provided that the rules above are applied. It's worth noting that, instead of trading places, the captured pawns are sent back to square 15, or the first empty square before 15).

To score a point, a player must take a pawn out of the board from the squares 26, 28, 29 or 30. The player that scores 7 points first is the victor.

### Royal Game of Ur

#### Walker ruleset (all versions)

The game starts with the seven pawns per player and three four-faced dices. The score of the dice is obtained by counting the number of dice that have an upward golden summit.

A pawn is protected if it is on a starred square, and cannot be captured. The player can move a pawn if it ends up on an empty square, or a square occupied on an enemy pawn (provided it isn't protected by a star), while, instead, it is impossible if it arrives on an ally pawn. Captured pawns are sent back to the start.

When in the last squares, the player needs an exact throw of the dice in order to take a pawn out. This makes him/her score a point. The first player that scores seven points, taking out all of his/her pawns, is the victor.

#### Finkel ruleset (since v. 1.5)

The Finkel ruleset presents significative differences to the Walker ruleset:

* There are four dices instead of three.
* Only the central row is shared between the players.
* If, after a throw, all dice have their golden summit upwards, it makes 4, and the player can move the pawn by 4, as well as throw again.
* If, after a throw, *no* dice have their golden summit upwards, it makes 0, and the player loses their turn.

### Ludus Duodecim Scriptorum

This time, the dice looks and works like a regular six-faced dice, and there are two of them. The player rolls the dice and move a pawn to the central row (right side for player 1, left side for player 2), according to the result. He/she then follows the path from 1 to 24, starting from the square on the upper corner, and crossing all squares on the upper and lower rows. The two dice are independent: the first one can be used to move a pawn, and the second can either be used to move the same pawn or another one.

Once they have left the central row, pawns can be stacked up or moved separately. A lone pawn is always vulnerable, and if attacked, it will be removed from the board, and will have to restart again. A pile made of at least two stacked pawns is safe until it is attacked by a bigger pile. A pawn that joined a pile cannot leave it until it is time to leave the board.

Only one pawn can exit the board at a time. In the case of pile, it will be the top pawn. Of course, to take a pawn out of the board and score a point, a player needs an exact throw. Six points (thus all of own pawns taken out of the board) are needed to win.

## Challenges

Since v1.2, challenges have been introduced beside standard play.

## Difficulty

The games have three difficulties: *Easy*, *Medium* and *Hard*. Horever, since v.1.5 of the Royal Game of Ur, a new difficulty has been added: *Heroic*.

While these three difficulty levels use the same AI with different priorities, the new *Heroic* AI is completely different: before it moves, it will "think". Indeed, it will evaluate all the possible moves at once, give them a score (depending on its priorities and the state of the board and possible moves during the next turn, etc.), sort them and choose the best option, thus giving the impression of playing with the actual world champion of chess.

## Currency and winnings

Before v1.2, players could use Gold Bars, which could be used as an in-game currency. These Gold Bars have been replaced with Gold Coins since that version.

Gold Coins (just like their Gold Bars "ancestors"), could be obtained after a victory (or purchased in the in-game store). They could be spended to play online, buy bonuses and get help during a game. They can still be purchased from the store or earnt from playing, although it is now considered a consolation prize; losing a game yelds 25-50 gold (depending on how well the loser played, while abandoning or cheating yelds no wins), while winning a game will yeld a Victory Chest, which can contain a rare object or 100 gold. Gold coins are not needed for online mod any longer, and bonuses (as in lackluster and rarely used) have been retired. Gold Coins, instead, can be used not only to get help during a game, but also to buy additional Victory Chests from the Store, which cost 500 Gold (or less if buyed in bulk).

Victory Chests are generally earned after every victory, and can contain rare items such as Boards, Dice, Avatars and Pawns, or just some Gold Coins. Since v1.5, Victory Chests have now a base rate of success, generally around 30%. Every time the player gets Gold Coins as a Victory Chest reward, the drop rate rises to 40%, then 50% and so on, until the player gets an item (or even reaches 100%, which means guaranteed loot in the next Chest). After a lucky Victory Chest, the drop rate is reset and goes back to 30%. It is worth remembering that Boards, Dice, Pawns and Avatars are only cosmetic items.

There are also two new currencies introduced in v1.5: Stars (see below) and Gems. Gems can only be purchased at the Store with real money.

## Daily Quests

Introduced in v1.5, these Daily Quests are designed to push players towards all game modes, instead of just one. The player has 3 quests everyday that will last for 24 hours, which are reset at midnight UTC / GMT. Quests are available only if the player is logged in (and not in Anonymus Mode). Each completed quest is worth 100 Gold Coins;

1. **PvP Quest**: it is always the same: defeat a random players using the matchmaking system. Matches against friends (unless friends are found each others using matchmaking) do not count.
2. **Challenge Quest**: the player needs to defeat the chosen God twice;
3. **Side Quest**: is doable in parallel with the other two quests. At the moment, only one quest is available ("Take 30 pawns out of the board over various games"). It can be completed in any mode and difficulty.

## Campaign Mode

*See here: Multiplayer*

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