Tom Scott vs Irving Finkel: The Royal Game of Ur | PLAYTHROUGH | International Tabletop Day 2017 

He also looks exactly like what youd expect a person called Irving Finkel to look like

Like a Wizard Gamemaster

Like fully expect he was given a choice by a genie: Genie "You can choose only 1: The Ark of the Covenant with all the powers entailed, The Secrets of Stonehenge and it's control of the sun, or a Boardgame-" IF: "BOARDGAME!" Genie: "Hold on I offered-" IF: "DID. I. STUTTA???" *Everyone Liked That*

And HIS NAME

blathers eyebrows :’D

He must absolutely love working in a museum, since he's surrounded with old objects and such

Irving Finkel is obviously Dumbledore. He's not even trying to hide it.

No caps

@@JetFalcon710 He does not work at the museum. He IS the museum

The only thing left is for to be named harry and he has a stick

I'm guessing u don't know who fink is! Probably the greatest living historian a d one of the all time greats! u can put him next to ppl like Einstein and artiistotil

I would totally take classes on anything from this type of scholar.

And that is exactly the reason why I play Senet and Hnefatafl with my daycare children. Getting them interested in history in a playful way'.

I always hated history in school because it was mostly about memorizing dates and names in the context of historical events, but then in 10th grade I got a history teacher who was so passionate about history that it actually got me interested in the subject because it showed me how fascinating history truly is. This man is the type of person I'd love to have had as a teacher.

I would spend days without eating or sleeping learning this game from this man!

They had me laughing pretty good.

Academics are either the funniest people in the world or have no sense of humour at all, there is no in between

Good old fashioned tight lipped British humour.

same

Haha, yep

Tolkien just casually rolling over in his grave

Gandalf*

@@thornels Thank you. A vein almost burst in my skull.

You'd think it'd be the other way around

Seemingly an insult and a compliment in one sentence. It is quite remarkable how often those two traits coincide.

Humanities against STEM, the ancient conflict.

Dude was hilarious

Irving gives me the same vibes as sir terry pratchet

You can tell the caption writer was having an absolute blast working on this video.

Whoosh signaling a deathblow

"80's action film montage music. Think Top Gun, but the stakes are higher!"

Irv - how are you not subscribed to our channel yet? Too busy dreaming of open fields and yogurt?

Ahem, let me use this opportunity to say the following: I sent a month ago, as a contribution to this video, the spanish subtitles and, having waited what I believe to be a decent amount of time, they haven't been accepted nor activated. I apologize if I'm being kind of rude but I really want them to be available so my family, as well as all the other spanish speakers who don't understand english, can have access and enjoy this content that you, the british museum, took the effort to make. Thank you very much :D Edit: Great, they've been accepted. Thanks, much appreciated.

Is it available again?

Hello Dr Finkel. What do you think of using the name "Aasha" for the game, given that that is the name used by the Cochin Jews for their version and that it seems to be the only historically attested name that we have? Love the videos by the way.

Not fooling me Merlin. I suspect you learned these rules direct from the Sumerians.

Easy. 1. Live in 2500 BC. 2. Just text something that's uncommonly texted. 3.Oh, and store the text on a good storage device, like baked clay.

Lmao

@@loocheenah Can clay tablets be set up in raid 0 ?

@@ericlotze7724 yes of course, but you need N archeologists to read such RAIBCT (redundant array of baked clay tablets), where N is the number of tablets.

WoW

I watched a documentary in which this game was found. Googled it and came and here they are. Amazing

So would I With a drawer to organise-keep the dice and pieces

There's a free online version, I love it!

The most proper thing for the souvenir shop.

I completely agree. My 18 yr old son would love it

Brutal

The number of likes on op is Irving’s age

Well standing for very long doesn't seem likely...

shit this is good

Ah, the ol' youtube switcharoo!

Finkel DOES resemble Athos from Fire Emblem 7, just with a glasses and he's British. Irony.

no he uses rng manipulation

I too hate mathematics. What a chap

This really sounds like an MTG flavortext

Maybe the p-value has always been above 0.05? Who knows.

@arcangelkrlos So what you saying is he succeeded at being British then?

@@stareagle5000 epic

Arrogant i would say

@@samhous7482 of course, but tongue in cheek, because the insinuation - that is, anyone with a knowledge of maths is uncivilised - is so ridiculous it couldn't possibly be taken seriously (?)

@@stareagle5000 We've seen Love Island. You can't keep pretending you're all posh and clever any longer. We know about Essex now.

Sorry will steal it for a writing prompt.

This sounds suspiciously like the fate of the universe depends on the outcome of this game.

@@vampir753 You've guessed right my friend.

Yes he does remind me of a wizard, not gonna lie

this is what harry potter shouldve been

"I HAVE TO WIN"

Ascdren savage

What do you expect from Merlin himself?

Come on guys that’s not nice ... he was probably closer to 7 years old back than

Real test is bring the game out of front of Keanu Reeves and see if he already knows how to play it

Exactly my thought! haha

He probably preordered the game it for early access too

I think this could be made just by looking at the photos online of the gameboard. A translation of the rules for advanced gaming, and you've already seen how it's casually played. And there's no copyright!😂😂

@@tinkerstrade3553 No copyright yet, you mean. Just watch those lobbyists extend it to author's death plus 5000 years.

@@poudink5791 Disney lawyers could, no doubt!

rather british behavior, or what I imagine it to be at least. love it too!

😂

The shade was directed at the mathematics department, though.

Mathematicians aren't civilised people.

And I feel like that shade was thrown at me lmao. I'm sorry Mr. Irving I'm still trying to learn it 😭

I laughed so hard at this, 👌

My head hurts now, and I can't breathe.😂

i get the joke, but christ had nothing to do with that. ;)

@@TanteEmmaaa get correct Atheist, this is a christian minecraft server

@@TanteEmmaaa damn so much salt

Greetings from the 011

You think gods were the only way humanity could’ve invented a board game? How little do you think of us?

I just discovered this and backed it with mere hours to spare. Also comes with more advanced rulesets for added strategy. So happy to get to play this game!

IronManIsA Unicorn Why were you expecting math? They're English.

Awesome!

Yeah, but we can tell you're not English. It's called Mathematics. Only the North Americans call it math. We here in the UK shorten it occasionally to maths but math is North American.

"We here in the UK shorten it occasionally to maths." I've almost never heard anyone call it " mathematics" outside of a "math or maths" discussion. I think you can drop the "occasionally."

Same, just at midnight. And man was it entertaining.

12:39 My family has just went to sleep.

1:40am for me

03:53

00:24am for me :P

I laughed out loud, thank you

Except he does. It's all going on in that clever brain of his. He just doesn't see all the workings out.

+Joshua Rosen At least it works for him

@@joshuarosen6242 True. Many people who claim to not be able to do math actually are perfectly capable and use it on a daily basis.

So much sass.

McKendry2 hi hun x

This is hilarious

This is genuinely one of the funniest jokes Ive ever heard but still maintains its classiness

"looks like"

Fuuckkk This is some matrix glitch shit I read this comment a second earlier when he actually said it.

With rules fairly similar to Sorry.

@@JaxMerrick more like "Sorry not sorry, chap"

lol its more sorry

mesopotamopoly.

backgammon more like

@@pathdecair Ooh you know him that well huh. kinky

@@exactzero Who r u to accuse Me?

@@pathdecair I'm someone who got you to delete your comment.

@@exactzero i see his comments. So I'd say you're wrong about that one, chum.

@@davecrupel2817 Awesome burner account.

Lol

It was a bloody good racket for about 3000 years too...

Royal Game Of Ur = PUBG Backgammon = Fortnite

Just one little factual note: Summerians and Romans never meet each other, because Summerians didnt exist when Romans found their empire.

Rofl ... good one. Where those Summarians not secretly from Sweden :)

Here's a plot twist: Tom's playing with a future version of himself!

well Tom is clearly a wizard, can't argue against that :D

Not to mention it's four and a half thousand years old. If he's not careful, he'll end up in the Shadow Realm no doubt.

what's four and a half thousand years old, the game or the curator?

Androth both of them....

We want it!

+

Yes!

I'd buy it

I need this game in my life. That was an intense end-game

👍

Well, he got the 3 he needed! LoL!

🤣🤣

That just made me laugh.

protip no 1: Inanna was the patron goddess of Ur protip no 2: Inanna hated nerds

Not Jeremy Clarkson? Look at his Bentley Continental GT review on top gear when drives it to Budleigh Salterton on Top Gear about umpteen years ago. He's my idea of the quintessential Britt. (combine him with co host James May and you have the anglogasm of Britterey. Words I made up but are self evident as to meaning) Probably what the last true Romans were like. Roman till the end. But you're right, Finkel is awesome.

Jacob Rees-Mogg?

Oswald Mosley

i call false, no tweed.

I was waiting for him to shout "you're a wizard, Tom!"

svfutbol20 I wish I could be there for that

"Wow this game sucks. You can totally get mana screwed or mana flooded and then you just lose."

#playgreen

Nope - that game is only for incels and virgins and will be of 0 historical significance.

@@Cal97g sorry to say but once a game has been around for as long as magic has it already has historical significance in a sense. But you missed the joke lmao or at least maybe I thought the OP meant because magic would be a bitch to try and teach someone a thousand years from now with only broken knowledge of the game.

Tom Scott you played very well tom but you cannot beat the master at their own game

Tom Scott and The British Museum best collaboration.

Tom Scott thanks for sending me here Tom, fantastic game, good video. enjoyed every second. I would buy a replica!

Fun people, fun game, fun video. Nice!

Tom Scott it was a joy to watch too!

I was thinkin wizard, too. lol

I'm thinking Merlin and a young official (like tax officer) of Arthur's court.

That’s exactly what I was thinking! He reminds me of T.H. White’s Merlin.

Its very unfortunate that you might be a furry.

Jev of poo It’s very unfortunate that no one bothered to point it out, *oh wait.*

Isn’t that the plot of yu-gi-oh?

@@goldenhearted603 Only if Ancient Sumur had shadow games. Which they very much might have.

Here, here!

He's a *"find"* in his own right! ...and - (I wonder if he has a bit of Irish in his British...? - *the Sense of humor, of course* - but then the Jewish are actually the greatest Commedians, - Don Rickles comes to mind. ❤)

@@sockington1 Not that Finkle would know. He hates math.

Finkel is definitely a warlock

lol, true! Scott is the kind of wizard that studied the arcane for decades through alchemy and sigils and understanding the metaphysical, whereas Finkle is that sort of Gandalf type wizard who speaks in riddles and says things like "magic cannot be learned, only experienced"

@@tigerguy529 i can totally imagine Finkel sitting pensively, smoking his pipe and muttering about the mysteries of mysticism.

Its how i imagine Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully and Ponder Stibbons would play

Plucky Adept vs Master Wizard

On mud I think

the rules really remind me of the game "sorry"

@@hassanalasdy7056 he even said "clay" during the explanation

Yes, clay! Stones are rare in central and southern Iraq. And Ur was in south of Iraq

@@haideral5104 well if its 4000 years old its stone now

It's more like Backgammon, really

No it guy with interesting things to say and dumbledore play an ancient bored game

Teaches Sorry more like

The fact his personal chess set was used in the movie makes this even better

@@levesteM it's actually more like ludo

no stay wild, best comment of my day lol

The quote goes "Gentlemen you had my curiosity ... but now you have my attention". The way you put it doesn't make much sense since attention and interest would pretty much mean the same thing in the context of your comment. Not meaning to be a dick just wanted to point it out

"Wizard" lol

@@nikosoukkala2648 Why? Attention doesn't mean interest. He was on youtube, youtube had his attention. Video caught his interest.

Fantasy movies be like

the blurbs are fantastic

"no belt ranking system has been discovered" got me.

"make that 8 times"

I assume it was Irving.

And Tom has retired, so now it is a collectable.

Dr. Finkel is a national treasure. Utterly brilliant, a total scholar, yet completely able to communicate to other human beings. We would have very little knowledge of ancient history without his efforts. He is a super hero to folks who love history and archaeology.

7diid

Guess you guys have never heard of David Fletcher .... Thats too bad

You mean Gandalf? He is a museum wizard.

Very, very eipc...

The most eipc thing on earth

you forgot the no funny business part

@@jangonauta yeah, but, I'm still trying to do the math on this being a game out of Sumer, but he says it's his game. Didn't know Dumbledore was that old and had time to work at the British Museum and as headmaster of Hogwart's.

I enjoyed your explenations and deductions during the game, I'd take one.

He said calmly .

He's a full-on anime villain and it's kinda scaring me Edit: _Markiplier_ villain actually... it has that frantic, protect-your-dignity-at-all-costs energy

but the tiny but was there ..

Maybe he invented this game...

Yeah me too.

I've never been so intimidated by somone so gentle 😂

and so British

dumbledore is old but he can destroy you without needing a wand

Even more so with how he kept talking with the guy so he didn't catch on to him cheating.

Great Mesopotamiaaaa 🇮🇶🇮🇶🇮🇶🇮🇶🇮🇶

absolutely

Tom Scott: "Why is no one still playing this game?" Me an Intellectual: "Isn't this just ancient Sorry?"

I feel the same

With Young King Arthur to boot

I feel the same

Epic reference

ASLAAAAAAAAANNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where is that line from??

williss11 from the chronicles of Narnia

Epiccc m8!

CCheukKa knowledge is power.

An /Apparently/ civilized person. The fact that he is mathematically capable makes him a Muggle... errr I mean a savage!

This is true tho, you might not use all the math you learn directly but the type of thinking and philosophy developed from solving such abstract problems and the breaking down of complex structures into its more basic components is what separates the bottom rung from the top. Its what separates leaders from followers, Abraham Lincoln reading Euclid was a watershed moment and many great people have such a moment in their life, and that's because Math is not about the numbers, its an extension of common sense and reason itself, a man who is not mathematically capable literally has the common sense and reasoning capability of a first century slave or a feral human. And its not a special talent either, its just a choice whether you want to work that already existing muscle in your brain or not. Even amongst creatives and artists the top performers are mathematically capable people, perspective, measurement, proportion etc.

@@funkycosmonaut See, you write all of that and it sounds perfectly convincing, yet here is this wise old wizard who cannot count above ten on his own proving being good at maths is not everything!

@@D4n1t0o counting does not mean you understand mathematics

I would watch the hell out of that. "Irvin Finkel: Time Wizard" The weekly misadventures of Irvin Finkel's archeological quest through time -- stealing artefacts and beating Hammurabi at Ur.

@@twelvecatsinatrenchcoat maybe it's like yugioh were every problem is solved in a game of ur

He might've even played a match with Gilgamesh while he was there lmao.

"this means WAR.”

He's talking wild shit 😂

It’s still a popular game, I’m still pretty young & played & still do play it every so often.

Mensch ärgere dich nicht but smaller and with a safe space

Xeno426 Finkel is just as witty in his books. Wonderful reads.

Except, many of these academics aren't this good at presenting and talking about it in a way that's easy and understandable for the public, it's simply not their expertise. Which is why they often use celebrities or other professional show hosts to do it.

Xeno426 I've seen him in quite a few modern documentaries-not as presenter but as contributor,especially on BBC4

He really is both interesting and charming. Very engaging.

i could never see the annotations, even turning annotations on. What am i doing wrong? :/

@Shiber Yeah pretty sure Manny means annotation as in the word's definition, not the feature with the same name RU-vid used to have

I certainly did not. I took so many screenshots of this video. "Think top gun but the stakes are higher"

Hy

Just made you hit 1,000 likes, congrats

I don't get it - can you explain?

@@Crystal2193 I think the joke is that he spent his youth gambling (and probably getting drunk and other delinquent things), and so wasted his youth

I thought he may have had a persistent D&D problem in the 70s and 80s, like many did.

@@HiVizCamo , exactly. Because Dungeons & Dragons includes a tetrahedral dice.

@@solderbuff if your team has a cleric. I would hope you use them every game 😄

Kevin Houlihan dying omg

It is conspicuously similar to Maximillion Pegasus and Duel Monsters, isn't it?

You've activated my trap card

Haha! Would love to play a game with him !

thats because Tom believe in the hearts of dices

Underrated comment, right here :D

ChapstickPremonitions With the rare exception of when the instructions are written directly on the board.

ChapstickPremonitions hahaha great comment 😁😂

Snatch n Grab well if you have the board you inevitably have lost peices, thats the issue with board games, well intill someone steps on it

Jay Koerner​ What you said seems true... inevitably. But I used to play chess at work using a pencil and paper. Draw the board, draw the pieces, erase and redraw them to move them. We could have a complete chess board, rules, and pieces all on a piece of paper. Also, we could have just the rules written out. These rules include a description of the playing field (board), and description of pieces. Plus starting positions, rules for movement, and the whole package. Much like the MLB has a written set of rules not just for playing the game, but describing the game, its field, and players. We have baseball with no board, and no pieces. For the Royal Game of Ur, we just need those rules. For the board and the pieces, we can scribe in the dirt. As for random number generators, that's a little more complicated, but truly not. Use flat tokens with one side marked. Basically, to play a game, we don't need to be handed a board and pieces, just rules. Explicit rules describing the domain, all elements, and how they may interact.

add any game at all. he would be rad at the warhammer table too. give the man a robe and we have the top DM for any tabletop

He is the character

No ways not unless you want a min-maxer who only wants combat. He’d be much better suited to Warhammer.

Manny Brum not just play with, the guy could DM an amazing game all about a fantasy world a kin to Mesopotamia.

@@jimmymcgill2961 He was roleplaying *this* game. He decided it was better to appease the Sumerian gods than to calculate the probabilities. That's like the opposite of min-maxing.

Tom hes only sixty nine show some manners

@@obliviousotterI Sixty nine? Nice.

Lol, good one

😆😆😆😆😆👍

No joke as soon as I started to read the comment a second later the line Tom said started playing