How to Make a Senet Board

Last Updated: August 10, 2021

Senet was the much-loved board game of the ancient Egyptians. In this step-by-step tutorial, you will learn how to make a Senet board with household materials for you to play Senet at home with your friends and family.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Covering the box

It's recommended that you put newspaper on your working space, to protect it from glue and paint.
Wrap it with newspaper, making sure to cover every little bit of the box. Make sure that the newspaper sits tightly, then stick it down with some tape.

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Soak the strips in the tub of PVA. Drape the soaked strips over all parts of the box until it is fully covered. Let it stand to air dry.

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Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Painting the box

Once the paper strips have dried, mix the yellow and brown paint on the palette to get a uniform, nice shade of yellow-brown/light brown colour. This might take a while, so keep combining until you like the color.
Using the paintbrush, apply the light brown paint on one face of the box at a time. Leave in a safe place with sunlight to air dry.

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Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Making the Senet board

Rule three rows and 10 columns on one broad side of the box, using a pencil.
Keep using a ruler to keep your lines straight.
3
Draw the symbols. With pencil, draw in the following symbols:
- In the second/middle row, sixth column from left, draw an ankh sign (symbol of life).
- In the last row, sixth column from left, draw a bird in the Ancient Egyptian style.
- In the last row, seventh column from left, draw three parallel waves.
- In the last row, eighth column from left, draw three dots (like an upside down "therefore" symbol).
- In the last row, ninth column from left, draw an eye of Horus.
Using a thin paintbrush, paint over the ankh symbol in blue paint, the bird in red, the waves and the dots in blue and the eye of Horus in red.
Once done, the Senet game board is now ready for playing Senet.

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Question

I drew the lines with paint. Will this affect the game, or how its made?

Community Answer

No, The game will work just the same with paint, but the details may be a little more sloppy.

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Can I make a senet board without newspaper?

Community Answer

Yes. Instead of newspaper, you could use papier-mâché or even plain wrapping paper.

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Question

What can I use if I don't have a shoe box?

Community Answer

If you don't have a shoe box, use any box that is about the same size. Even a cereal box can work if it is big enough.

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Look online for the symbols if you're not sure what they are.

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Instead of the light brown paint, you can just apply gold paint, if you can find gold color that is suitable for paper and it fits within your budget.

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You can substitute paper towels with toilet rolls. This is a price-saver trick, as covering the box only requires a few layers of toilet roll. You can also substitute the light brown paint with a natural or light pinkish colour as well as gold. Your palette can just be a plastic tray or you can mix colours by putting paint on your newspaper, then you can mix paint straight off the newspaper.

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Things You'll Need

For the board :

1 shoe box or a box measuring approximately 30 centimeter (11.8 in) length, 12 centimeter (4.7 in) depth & 12 centimeter (4.7 in) width
Newspaper
Masking tape
Paper towels
Tub of watered down PVA art glue
Acrylic paint (essential colours are brown, yellow, blue & red)
Thick paintbrush and thin paintbrush
Mixing palette
Pencil
Black pen or felt-tip pen

How to Make a Senet Board

Steps

Covering the box

Painting the box

Making the Senet board

Community Q&A

Video

Tips

Things You'll Need

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