There is evidence that ancient Egypt games did indeed exist. There are indications, that there were games that both young children and adults played. Some of the games were physical and involved a ball or other object. Other games however were board games. These board games were not Milton Bradley, but they had a sophistication about them for the time.
It is believed that the children’s physical games were played with a type of ball. Balls made of papyrus, from the time period, have been discovered. The children also became embroiled in racing and balancing games. One of the favorite games for them to play were wrestling games. It was also known, that the girls had dolls that they could play games with.
It appears that ancient Egypt games for adults included contests similar to the Olympic games. They had swimming, track, gymnastics, hockey and equestrian type competitions. Outside of their Olympic type competition,wrestling games seemed to be the favorite of the times.
Board games were another type of ancient Egypt games. One of the more popular board games of the time was a game called Senet. Some of the more rudimentary forms of this game were not on an actual board but marked on pavement or stones. Much like todays times, the wealthy people actually had the game on a chic, sophisticated board. It is said that there is actually a Senet board in King Tuts tomb. The game was so immensely popular that it took on religious overtones. The object was to get your five pieces off the board and stop your opponent from accomplishing the same feat. There was another popular board game called mehen or snake. Up to six people could play. There were stone pieces in the shape of dogs and other animals to move along the board. The object was to get your pieces to the center of the coiled snake board where the head was. If you were the first to accomplish this, you were the winner.
In ancient Egypt, the residents also played with Ouija boards. They were known as luck boards. They used the boards to predict the future. So as you can see, even though it was ancient times, the people all had games and things to occupy themselves during leisure time.