What is the oldest game discovered?

Dr. dig responds:

Games have been around ever since there have been people to play them. Even animals play games, such as tag and peek-a-boo.

But, maybe you are thinking of board games? No one really knows when the first board game was invented -- probably thousands of years ago. The earliest board game thus far uncovered is a game from Mesopotamia. This game, called the Royal Game of Ur, may have been an early form of backgammon played with dice.

The ancient Egyptians also enjoyed many games. The most popular were Mancala (a game that involves capturing the opponent's pebbles), Hounds and Jackals (the winner was the first player to get all of his or her hound or jackal-headed pegs to the other side of the game board), and Senet (a kind of race game, like backgammon).