Tweaking Ancient games

My chosen ancient game that i decided to tweak was the Royal Game Of Ur

In order to look at changing the game i first played the game over and over to get a better understanding of the game and its core mechanics. 

The royal game of Ur is a very simple race game so i decided to change some dynamics to the game to make the game a little more interesting.

 

I decided to add a rosette square at the start of the board where each player enters the middle section first square. this square if occupied by a player and landed on have the opportunity to knock the opposing players pieces off the board and back to the start.

 

I tested this new dynamic to the game and found that this created alot more interaction with your opponent with laughter ect. however it did in some cases make the game last longer.

 

This was an effect that i did not want in a game that already seemed to take a little longer than it should for a game of its simplicity.

 

I have more ideas of iterations that i would like to make to the Royal game of Ur and i hope to test these changes out with hopefully improved results.