HOW TO PLAY SENET
(the rules I use, anyway)

Senet is a very old game, dating back to ancient Egypt. Because it is
so old, and no one in ancient Egypt preserved the rules for later
generations, the exact rules are somewhat of a mystery. Historians
have tried to figure out the rules of Senet, but they disagree in the
details. I prefer a variation of a common Senet rule set:

Board layout

The Senet game board is 3 rows of 10 columns each. Game play moves in
a "backwards S" configuration. Some square on the board are
significant, which I'll explain later.

 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9  10
20  19  18  17  16 <15> 14  13  12  11
21  22  23  24  25 [26]<27>{28}{29}{30}

Game play

Each player has 5 pieces to move off the board. (Each player is a
different color.) Start the game by placing the pieces on the first
row, alternating the player 1&2 pieces. Players take turns to move a
single piece. To move: "throw" a set of four flat throwing sticks (one
side is black, the other is white) and move the same number of square
as you have "white" sides showing (1 white face up, move 1 square,
etc). If you cannot make a valid move, you lose your turn.

Attacks

Each square on the board can only contain one piece. If you land on
another player's square, you swap places.

Special squares

Several squares hold special significance. On the last 3 squares
{28}{29}{30}, players must "throw" exactly 1, 2, or 3 to move off the
board. The fourth square from the end <27> is a "trap." Any player who
lands on this square automatically jumps back to square <15>. If there
is already a player on square <15>, you cannot make this move.
(Historians disagree on this rule, but that's the rule I prefer.) The
fifth square from the end [26] holds special significance: you must
reach this square by an exact throw before you can move on.

Players in the last 3 squares {28}{29}{30} are "safe" and cannot be
attacked.


HOW TO PLAY SIMPLE SENET

The game will automatically "throw" the throwing sticks for you, and
display the results in the lower-right corner of the screen.

If the "throw" is zero, then you lose your turn.

When it's your turn, the game will automatically select your first
piece on the board. You may or may not be able to make a move with
this piece, so select your piece to move, and hit Space (or Enter) to
move it. You can select using several different methods:

  Up/down/left/right to navigate to a specific square.

  Plus (+) or minus (-) to navigate "left" and "right" on the
  board. Note that this will automatically follow the "backwards S"
  shape of the board.

  Tab to select your next piece on the board.

To quit the game at any time, press Q (uppercase Q) or hit Esc, and
the game will prompt if you want to forfeit the game.

You win if you move all of your pieces off the board before your
opponent. It takes a combination of luck and strategy!
