Senet Deluxe - The Ancient Game of Life and Afterlife
Senet is an ancient Egyptian race game and the predecessor of our modern Backgammon. The oldest known form of the game is shown in a painting from the tomb of Hesy (circa 2686-2613 BCE). Many pictures of the game and artifacts have been discovered and are displayed in Museums around the world. The commonness of these finds indicates that the game was very popular in its time.
The main adversaries in Senet are the Spools and the Pyramids. These pawns follow a path from their start positions to the House of Horus in an inverted 'S'. The player moving all of his pawns off the board first wins. Fields on the Senet board are called houses. Some of these have special significance and are adorned with icons like the Ankh symbol. Instead of dice flattened sticks are used. Each stick has a bright side and a dark side. Every bright side is a point. If only dark sides are showing the player is awarded 5 points. When a 1, 4, or 5 is thrown the player gets another turn.
When moving into a field occupied by an opponent, the pieces switch places. If, however, the opponent's pawn is part of a row of two or more, it cannot be beaten. It is possible to 'jump' over an opponent if it isn't part of a row of 3 pieces or more. 3 pieces are considered a block and are an important strategic tool.
Through symbology Senet hints at the afterlife as seen from an Egyptian point of view. If one's piece is beaten on one of the last three fields or the jump over the House of Water is not successful one moves back to the house of Rebirth. In such the game alludes to reincarnation and the journey of the dead.
Senet Deluxe is a truly unique strategy game. It features great animation, a soundtrack, an intelligent adversary, enforceable backwards moves, highlighting for acceptable moves, game statistics and online help. Be prepared to spend many hours with the most popular game of the antiquity.
For more screenshots and several videos of the application in action, please visit the website indicated below.
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Senet Deluxe FAQ
Is Senet Deluxe free?
Senet Deluxe is not free (it costs 3.99), however it doesn't contain in-app purchases or subscriptions.
Is Senet Deluxe legit?
⚠️ The Senet Deluxe app has poor ratings and negative feedback. Users seem unsatisfied with its performance or features.
Really fun to think about what the consciousness was in ancient Egypt by playing this game. The thematics of it also really added a lot.
I am giving this 5 stars, even though there seems to be a bug with the stats page. After winning, the stats showed 100% loss, along with other issues on the stats page.
Functionally, worked great
Generally very good, but a few negatives
I played the earlier version of this in PalmOS many years ago, and then the earlier version of it for iOS, and now the newest update.
What I like about it most is that this the ONLY version of electronic Senet that doesn’t automatically alternate players after each throw, but gives additional throws on 1, 4, 5 as is correct. Nice!
What I *don’t* like is that for some inexplicable reason, pieces move on the second row of squares from left to right (!), instead of from right to left preserving the S-shaped path of piece movement as is traditional. Why??? What is the logic in that? (That’s why the one reviewer thought his piece moved ahead ten spaces, because pieces on the second row now start at the left side).
And smaller issues—
—> pieces should be safe from attack on the last three squares
—> pieces should be safe from attack on the square 25 (nefer).
—> pieces which fall into the water square should emerge in square 15, the one marked with an ankh.
—> the constant “jiggle” of the throw sticks is visually REALLY annoying.
It’s still a good game, but it used to be much better; I hope that one day it can be as good as it once was, especially with the correct movement path.
V2.2.2 Broke the game
Pieces are skipping all over the board. I rolled 2 and the piece I selected moved 10spaces??? On another roll I selected to move and my piece chose to move backwards when a valid forward move was available. This update broke more than it fixed. Completely unplayable now 👎
Rules are wrong and no 2 player
Paid money for a poor version of an ancient game my ancestors played. If you are going to misappropriate my culture at least get the rules of the game right. Also no human vs human play option...overall the game is garbage
Programmed to cheat
I kept a log and over 90% of the time the computer get extra rolls to my single rolls. Also for some reason 100% of new games the 1st roll is a 3. Clearly not random
It cheats
The computer gets the numbers it needs. The computer gets to roll again much more often than the human. It appears that better rolls for the computer were a substitute for actual strategy algorithms. Frustrating.
Fun & Well Done
This second version of Senet available for iOS is also five stars in my opinion. While not as graphically sophisticated as the other competitor, game play is a bit better due to implementation of the rules requiring clearance of the top row before any of a player's pieces may be removed from the board at the end of the third row, and the "blocking" feature where three or more consecutive board spaces occupied by a player's pieces block an opponent's pieces from passing, regardless of the throw count made. It also features an optional setting to require backward moves on the board if no forward move is available, which would enhance and extend game play for more experienced players. Also importantly, this version offers a two-player option. App works well on my iPad Air, with very good graphics and sound/music, and like the competing game, offers an optional "suggested legal moves" setting to help beginning players learn the game - this can be turned off when the player becomes more proficient. I'll probably play this version more than the other as I become more experienced, because the first row clearance and blocking game rule features referenced above make game play more fun.
Great game
Works perfectly and has great graphics, the only thing missing is an option to play with a friend. It gets boring playing by yourself sometimes. But in any case great to pass the time with.
Broke
Every time I try to enter the application, it closes making it unplayable.
Unplayable on iPad2
I saw the Senet Deluxe HD sale, and remembered I had purchased the iPhone version. When I went to play it to see if it merited the upgrade, the game crashed each time. Reboot, reinstall, deleting apps in memory -- nothing works. It's a shame the developer doesn't update this to iOS4. As such, I cannot recommend it.
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