The Sumerian Game
BOCES and IBM's 1960s economics game for sixth graders, by Mabel Addis and William McKay; the earliest known ancestor of Hamurabi.
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The Sumerian Game is an economics game for sixth graders in which the student rules Lagash, a city-state of ancient Sumer, and divides each harvest among food, seed, and storage1. The Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) of Northern Westchester County, New York, made it with IBM2. Mabel Addis, a fourth-grade teacher, wrote the game’s instructional version, and William McKay of IBM programmed it3. It is the earliest known ancestor of Hamurabi4.
#Play
The student plays Luduga I, priest-ruler of Lagash1. The first problem reads “We have harvested 5,000 bushels of grain to take care of 500 people”5. Each season’s report asks how to split the grain, and the report’s model makes 18 bushels per person6 the best ration. Floods and fires strike in 5 seasons out of 167. Grain kept in storage can rot, reported as “rotted or been eaten by rats”8.
Students played on IBM 1050 terminals linked to an IBM 7090 at IBM’s Yorktown Heights division9.
#History
The project began during Cooperative Research Project 1948, from February 1963 to August 19642. The Strong holds a printout of play dated 18 September 196410. From October 1965 to March 1966, 26 sixth graders played it in the project’s experiment11.
Doug Dyment heard it described by a graduate student and wrote The Sumer Game in FOCAL, which David H. Ahl turned into Hamurabi12,4.
Joachim Froholt calls it “the oldest strategy computer game we have a decent amount of information about”13. Kate Willaert notes that earlier resource management games existed for computers, written for adults14.
Mechanics
Every claim about this game, by concept (12)
References
- ^ abThe student rules Lagash in Sumer, about 3500 B.C., as Luduga I, and each season divides the grain among food, seed, and storage.PaperWing et al. 1967
How we know
He then assumes the role of Luduga I, priest-ruler of Lagash
pp. 13–14 · archived copy ↗ (1) food for the people, (2) seed for next season's planting, (3) inventory for future needs.
p. 14 · archived copy ↗ Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-20.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^ abThe Sumerian Game came out of a partnership between the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) of Northern Westchester County, New York, and IBM, and was begun in Cooperative Research Project 1948, which ran from February 1963 to August 1964.PaperWing et al. 1967
How we know
Research Project 1948, which lasted from February 1963 to August '64.
p. ii, Preface · archived copy ↗ The Sumerian Game (already begun in the preceding project), The Sierra Leone Game, and The Free Enterprise Game.
p. 12 · archived copy ↗ Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-20.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^Mabel Addis, a fourth-grade teacher, wrote the instructional version, and William McKay of IBM programmed it.PaperWing et al. 1967
How we know
The instructional version of the game was written by Mrs. Mabel Addis, a fourth grade teacher at the Katonah Elementary School. William McKay of IBM programed the game for the computer.
p. 13, note 1 · archived copy ↗ Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-20.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^ abHamurabi descends from The Sumerian Game through Dyment's FOCAL Sumer Game, which Ahl converted to BASIC, and which Dyment based on a description of The Sumerian Game.PublisherAhl, 101 BASIC Computer Games · Dyment, interviewed by Willaert (2019) · Willaert 2019
How we know
CONVERTED FROM THE ORIGINAL FOCAL PROGRAM
p. 129, line 10 · archived copy ↗ “I thought that this would make a good demonstration program,” Dyment told me.
· archived copy ↗ the BASIC version that appears in David Ahl's 101 BASIC was adapted from this DECUS version, not Dyment's much more compact revision from a year or so later
2021 Update · archived copy ↗ Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-20.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^The first problem reads: "We have harvested 5,000 bushels of grain to take care of 500 people."PaperWing et al. 1967
How we know
We have harvested 5,000 bushels of grain to take care of 500 people.
p. 14 · archived copy ↗ Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-20.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^The report's population model makes 18 bushels per person the best ration.PaperWing et al. 1967
How we know
the "best" amount of grain to use for food is 18 bushels per person
p. 14 · archived copy ↗ Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-20.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^Floods and fires strike in 5 seasons out of 16 overall, cutting the harvest by 10% to 40%.PaperWing et al. 1967revised
How we know
The procedure, repeated a number of times will show disasters occurring 5/16 of the time overall.
p. 15 · archived copy ↗ Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-20.
Revised after a check by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^Grain left in inventory can rot, and the game reports the loss as grain that has "rotted or been eaten by rats".PaperWing et al. 1967
How we know
"Sir: I am sorry to report that bushels of grain have rotted or been eaten by rats this past season
p. 15, Grain Rotting · archived copy ↗ Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-20.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^Students played on IBM 1050 terminals linked by Dataphone to a special-purpose IBM 7090 under a time-sharing monitor at IBM's Yorktown Heights division, and the game was about 15,000 lines of Fortran Assembly Program code.PaperWing et al. 1967
How we know
The terminals located at the BOCES Research Center were connected by Dataphone to a special-purpose 7090 Computer, which was under supervision of a Time Sharing Monitor system (TSM) … The Sumerian Game used about 15,000 lines of instructions
p. 60 · archived copy ↗ Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-20.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^The Strong's Sumerian Game collection holds a teletype printout of play, titled "Sumerian Economic Model", dated 18 September 1964.WebNovakovic 2016
How we know
“Sumerian Economic Model” game teletype printout, September 18, 1964
Series I, Object 3 · archived copy ↗ The quote matches our archived copy.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^From October 1965 to March 1966, 26 sixth graders from the Mohansic School in Yorktown Heights played it and the Sierra Leone Game in the project's experiment.PaperWing et al. 1967
How we know
From October 1965 to March 1966, twenty-six sixth-grade students from the Mohansic School in Yorktown Heights, New York, played the two games
p. 65 · archived copy ↗ Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-20.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^Doug Dyment, then at DEC in Canada, told Kate Willaert he wrote the game, which he titled King of Sumeria, as a demonstration program after a graduate student at a university in Alberta described The Sumerian Game to him.InterviewDyment, interviewed by Willaert (2019)
How we know
“I thought that this would make a good demonstration program,” Dyment told me. “The game as I wrote it was titled King Of Sumeria.”
· archived copy ↗ Checked against the evidence by its author, an AI model, 2026-10-20.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^Joachim Froholt calls The Sumerian Game "the oldest strategy computer game we have a decent amount of information about".WebFroholt 2025
How we know
What I have just described is a typical scenario in The Sumerian Game, the oldest strategy computer game we have a decent amount of information about.
· archived copy ↗ The quote matches our archived copy.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
- ^Kate Willaert writes that The Sumerian Game "wasn't the first resource management game for computers" but was the first designed for elementary school students.WebWillaert 2019
How we know
Although The Sumarian Game wasn’t the first resource management game for computers, it was the first one designed for elementary school students, making it the first “edutainment” game as we know it.
· archived copy ↗ The quote matches our archived copy.
Checked by a second AI model, 2026-10-21.
Sources
Primary
- Wing, Richard L., Mabel Addis, Walter Goodman, Jimmer Leonard, and William McKay. 1967. “The Production and Evaluation of Three Computer-Based Economics Games for the Sixth Grade: Final Report.” U.S. Office of Education, Cooperative Research Project 2841 (ERIC ED014227). Board of Cooperative Educational Services, First Supervisory District, Westchester County, New York. original · archived · licence, all uses
- Ahl, David H. 1975. “101 BASIC Computer Games.” Digital Equipment Corporation. original · archived · licence, all uses
- Dyment, Doug and Kate Willaert. 2019. “Doug Dyment on King of Sumeria, interviewed by Kate Willaert.” A Critical Hit!, in “The Sumerian Game: The Most Important Video Game You've Never Heard Of”. original · archived · licence, all uses
Secondary
- Willaert, Kate. 2019. “The Sumerian Game: The Most Important Video Game You've Never Heard Of.” A Critical Hit! original · archived · licence, all uses
- Novakovic, Julia. 2016. “Finding Aid to the Sumerian Game Collection, 1962–1967, 2015.” Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play, The Strong. original · archived · licence, all uses
- Froholt, Joachim. 2025. “The Sumerian Game: The ancestor of modern city builders.” Spillhistorie.no. original · archived · licence, all uses