Completed Senet Board

Having put the mini senet board aside for a time as I contemplated just how on earth I was going to make the bitty pieces, I finally got back to it the other night and finished it off. I ended up getting a 5/16 dowel and filing the pieces down to the right size and shape, then painted them up. The tricky part was the (working!) bolt, which is authentic to the real ones--the bolt is held in place by two loops of gold (well, 'gold') wire, but slides to fit into the third wire loop on the body of the box. Two raised bits in the middle of the bolt keep it from falling out altogether. I don't know how well it's going to hold up, as I had to use Elmer's glue, which probably isn't going to stick to the metal. But all the superglue I could find had hardened up to little tubes of solid plastic. But for now, it works. Check this out:

Closed, with the bolt slid to the right:

And open, with it slid to the left, enabling the drawer to slide out:

The drawer full of the bitty pieces, and the throwing sticks:

A close up:

And here it is all set up, with the pieces alternating. It would be entirely possible to play this set, and not only because there are some playable rules out there (I've played senet myself plenty of times, with the 1:1 set I made years back); the pieces and throwing sticks are all separate. Of course you'd have to be Joe's size, and/or use tweezers, and/or manage not to breathe on it while playing, but hey.

And here's Joe, giving it a shot. Finally, that I'm-crushing-your-head right hand of his is useful for something.

I really am very pleased with how this came out. Not bad for my first try at making something that small!