An ancient Egyptian peg-racing game on a shield-shaped board where shortcuts and penalty holes reshape the chase.
Two arcing tracks rise from the base of a shield-shaped board to a shared goal. You play the Hounds against the computer or a friend playing the Jackals. Cast the sticks to get a number, then advance one of your pegs that many holes, first to bring all five pegs home wins.
The Game of Hounds and Jackals is an ancient Egyptian race game from the Middle Kingdom, roughly four thousand years ago. Players pegged little sticks topped with dog and jackal heads into holes drilled along two tracks, which is how the game got its modern name — the Egyptian one is lost.
The best-known set was found in the tomb of Reny-Seneb at Thebes and is remarkably complete: a shield-shaped board, fifty-eight holes, and all ten pegs. Because the pegs stand in holes rather than sitting on squares, a game could be carried, interrupted and resumed without losing the position — a small practical insight that modern travel sets rediscovered several thousand years later.
Hounds and Jackals, sometimes called the Game of 58 Holes, is one of the oldest known board games, played in ancient Egypt over 3,000 years ago. This is an original, free browser recreation with an adjustable AI opponent and pass-and-play.