Ancient Sumeria was a collection of city-states, each run by its own king, in the area of South-Central Iraq. Sumeria is also known for developing the earliest form of writing, cuneiform, which Finkel has studied extensively

Dr Irving Finkel is Assistant Keeper of the Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures department at the British Museum. This tone of joke is characteristic of Finkle. More information on Finkel can be found here:

The British Museum's catalogue entry for the original object can be found here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1928-1009-378

Cuneiform tables have proved invaluable to developing our understanding of Sumerian culture, and Mesopotamia more broadly. Finkle is a specialist in cunieform, and taught Tom Scott and Matt Grey how to write their names in cunieform: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOwP0KUlnZg. The link to the cuneiform object they are discussing can be found here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_Rm-III-6-b

Irving mentions Ludo and the game rules - there is an assumption into how the rules are played, but he has basically cross referenced modern games and the ancient text to determine the original rules- link to cuniform video. Finkel's commentary regarding how he deciphered these rules can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHjznvH54Cw

Many early boardgames immitate the notion of being "at war", for example chess. This apsect is carried through thematically to many video games.

As Scott suggests, contemporary dice differ from those found with the Royal Game of Ur board, with many boardgames using six-sided dice, and many roleplay games using a variety of dice types, including twenty-sided dice. In this case, it’s the white marks on the corners of each die that determine the amount each player can move forward, much like the pips on the facing of modern dice.

The notion that playing this game is "like a windown on antiquity" echoes many of the reasons why game scholars choose to study this field

Backgammon is another game originating in the action world. It possibly traces it's origins to the ancient Egyptian game Senet, which, along with Mehen (discussed on this page), was found in many ancient tombs

The British Museum's catalogue entry points out some issues with how the original object has previously been constructed "An important point to note, often forgotten, is that this was a hollow box and not a solid board: it was therefore a much more delicate item than the present reconstruction suggests." This entry, found here https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1928-1009-378, also notes several similar objects found in other ancient Mesopotamian grave sites.

Finkel makes an interesting point here, suggesting that the storage aspect of the original Royal Game of Ur object links to modern gaming practices. We might think of this in relation to box art and integrated box storage in modern boardgames

Although games like the Royal Game of Ur are fairly balanced between luck and strategy, modern boargames are often divded between American style, luck-based games, and Eurogames, which are more known for their complexity and multiple ways of winning.

It seems like Finkel may have been incorrect in the assertion that people may have been beaten to death with chessboards

Although there is no specific Mesopotamian god of luck, there have been over 3000 gods attested on cuneiform from this region

The notion of balancing a game is still an important one in analogue game design. While you don't want players to find the game too easy, you also need to make sure it is satisfying for them to play multiple times.

Here, Finkel makes an interesting point about the relevance of ancient games in a modern context. Although digitising games is not a one size fits all solution, it has been sucessful in continuing the popularity of other ancient games, like chess.