A History of the World in Board Games: Reading Answers & Explanations
IELTS Reading practice test · 14 questionsAcademicmedium
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About this passage
The passage opens: “Board games are among the oldest of all human pastimes, older than writing, older than most of the world's religions, older than nearly everything we think of as civilisation. In the ruins of the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur, archaeologists found beautifully made game boards some four and a half thousand years old,…”
- Passage length: about 796 words
- Questions: 14
- Question types: Matching Headings, Matching Sentence Endings, Sentence Completion
“A History of the World in Board Games” is an original IELTS-style practice passage written by IELTS-Bank. It is not taken from an official IELTS or Cambridge test, so these answers only apply to our version.
Answer key at a glance
A History of the World in Board Games answers with explanations
Questions 1–6: Matching Headings
The passage has six paragraphs, A-F. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
- i. Games buried with the dead
- ii. A pastime as old as civilisation itself
- iii. A game that crossed continents and changed its pieces
- iv. Teaching right and wrong through play
- v. A protest that became a celebration
- vi. A surprising modern revival
- vii. The rules of professional gambling
- viii. Why children lose interest in games
- ix. Carving board games out of wood
- 1
Paragraph A
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Answer: ii — A pastime as old as civilisation itself
Why: The passage describes board games as predating writing and civilization, highlighting their ancient origins and widespread presence, which supports the heading "A pastime as old as civilisation itself.
Where to find it · Paragraph A “Board games are among the oldest of all human pastimes, older than writing, older than most of the world's religions, older than nearly everything we think of as civilisation.”
- 2
Paragraph B
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Answer: i — Games buried with the dead
Why: Paragraph B discusses how board games, like Senet in ancient Egypt, were buried with the dead due to their symbolic significance in representing the soul's journey through the afterlife.
Where to find it · Paragraph B “In ancient Egypt the game of Senet, played on a grid of thirty squares, came to be seen as a symbol of the soul's dangerous journey through the afterlife, and fine sets were placed in tombs so that the dead might play their way safely to the next world.”
- 3
Paragraph C
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Answer: iii — A game that crossed continents and changed its pieces
Why: Paragraph C discusses how chess originated in India, traveled through various cultures, and underwent changes in its pieces and rules, aligning with the heading "A game that crossed continents and changed its pieces.
Where to find it · Paragraph C “No game has travelled further or changed more than chess.”
- 4
Paragraph D
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Answer: iv — Teaching right and wrong through play
Why: Paragraph D is about how the game Snakes and Ladders originally taught morality by using ladders to represent virtues and snakes to symbolize vices, illustrating teaching right and wrong through play.
Where to find it · Paragraph D “The game known in English as Snakes and Ladders began in India as a lesson in morality: the ladders that carried a player upward stood for good deeds and virtues, while the snakes that dragged them down represented sins and vices, so that the passage across the board became a small parable of a life lived well or badly.”
- 5
Paragraph E
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Answer: v — A protest that became a celebration
Why: Paragraph E describes how Monopoly evolved from The Landlord's Game, originally intended as a protest against greed, into a game celebrating wealth accumulation, aligning with the heading "A protest that became a celebration.
Where to find it · Paragraph E “Monopoly, in which players grow rich by buying property and charging rents, grew out of an earlier game called The Landlord's Game, patented in 1904 by an American woman named Lizzie Magie.”
- 6
Paragraph F
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Answer: vi — A surprising modern revival
Why: Paragraph E describes Monopoly's transformation from a game critiquing wealth inequality to one celebrating it, illustrating a surprising modern revival of its original purpose.
Where to find it · Paragraph E “Even the most famous modern board game hides a surprising history.”
Questions 7–11: Matching Sentence Endings
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A-H, from the box below.
- A. are among the oldest of all human pastimes.
- B. linked to beliefs about the journey after death.
- C. as a game named chaturanga.
- D. designed to teach players about virtue and vice.
- E. to warn people against the greed of landlords.
- F. invented only in the twentieth century.
- G. played only by kings and priests.
- H. banned for many years by the church.
- 7
The game boards found at Ur show that board games
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Answer: A — are among the oldest of all human pastimes.
Why: The passage states that board games are older than writing and most religions, and the discovery of game boards in Ur, which are 4,500 years old, supports their ancient origins.
Where to find it · Paragraph A “Board games are among the oldest of all human pastimes, older than writing, older than most of the world's religions, older than nearly everything we think of as civilisation.”
- 8
In ancient Egypt the game of Senet was
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Answer: B — linked to beliefs about the journey after death.
Why: The passage states that in ancient Egypt, the game of Senet symbolized the soul's journey through the afterlife, indicating its connection to beliefs about the journey after death.
Where to find it · Paragraph B “In ancient Egypt the game of Senet, played on a grid of thirty squares, came to be seen as a symbol of the soul's dangerous journey through the afterlife, and fine sets were placed in tombs so that the dead might play their way safely to the next world.”
- 9
Chess is thought to have begun in India
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Answer: C — as a game named chaturanga.
Why: The passage states that chess is believed to have originated in India as a game called chaturanga, which matches the information in option C.
Where to find it · Paragraph C “It is thought to have begun in India, around fifteen hundred years ago, as a game called chaturanga that represented the four divisions of an army.”
- 10
The game we call Snakes and Ladders was originally
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Answer: D — designed to teach players about virtue and vice.
Why: The passage states that Snakes and Ladders began in India as a lesson in morality, with ladders representing virtues and snakes representing vices, illustrating its original purpose to teach players about virtue and vice.
Where to find it · Paragraph D “The game known in English as Snakes and Ladders began in India as a lesson in morality: the ladders that carried a player upward stood for good deeds and virtues, while the snakes that dragged them down represented sins and vices, so that the passage across the board became a small parable of a life lived well or badly.”
- 11
Monopoly grew out of an earlier game that was meant
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Answer: E — to warn people against the greed of landlords.
Why: The passage states that Monopoly originated from The Landlord's Game, which was designed to highlight the negative impact of landlords' greed, aligning with the option that it was meant to warn against this greed.
Where to find it · Paragraph E “Monopoly, in which players grow rich by buying property and charging rents, grew out of an earlier game called The Landlord's Game, patented in 1904 by an American woman named Lizzie Magie.”
Questions 12–14: Sentence Completion
Complete the sentences below using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
- 12
The ancient Egyptian board game played on thirty squares was called ______.(max 2 words)
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Answer: Senet
Why: The answer is found in section B, where it mentions that the ancient Egyptian game played on a grid of thirty squares was known as Senet.
Where to find it · Paragraph B “In ancient Egypt the game of Senet, played on a grid of thirty squares, came to be seen as a symbol of the soul's dangerous journey through the afterlife, and fine sets were placed in tombs so that the dead might play their way safely to the next world.”
- 13
Chess reached Europe after passing through ______ and the Islamic world.(max 2 words)
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Answer: Persia
Why: The answer is found in section C, which states that chess originated in India and was carried westward through Persia and the Islamic world before reaching Europe.
Where to find it · Paragraph C “Carried westward through Persia and the Islamic world and on into Europe, it slowly transformed: pieces were renamed and their powers altered to fit each new society, so that the weak counsellor who once stood beside the king became, in Europe, the most powerful piece on the board, the queen.”
- 14
The Landlord's Game was patented in 1904 by ______.(max 2 words)
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Answer: Lizzie Magie (also accepted: Magie)
Why: The answer is found in section E, where it states that The Landlord's Game was patented in 1904 by an American woman named Lizzie Magie.
Where to find it · Paragraph E “Monopoly, in which players grow rich by buying property and charging rents, grew out of an earlier game called The Landlord's Game, patented in 1904 by an American woman named Lizzie Magie.”
Estimated band score for this test
Your raw score out of 14 scaled to the 40-question IELTS Reading (Academic) conversion table. This is the same estimate the practice page shows after you submit. A single passage is a small sample, so treat it as a guide.
| Correct answers | Estimated band |
|---|---|
| 14 / 14 | 9.0 |
| 13 / 14 | 8.5 |
| 12 / 14 | 7.5 |
| 11 / 14 | 7.0 |
| 10 / 14 | 6.5 |
| 8–9 / 14 | 6.0 |
| 7 / 14 | 5.5 |
| 6 / 14 | 5.0 |
| 5 / 14 | 4.5 |
| 4 / 14 | 4.0 |
| 3 / 14 | 3.5 |
| 2 / 14 | 3.0 |
| 1 / 14 | 2.0 |
| 0 / 14 | 0.0 |
Full-test score? Use the IELTS band calculator.
Tips for the question types in this test
Matching Headings
- Read the list of headings first so you know the options, and notice how they differ from one another — often two headings are deliberately similar.
- Read the first paragraph and ask yourself: "In one sentence, what is this paragraph mainly saying?" before you look back at the headings.
Common trap: Picking a heading because it repeats a word from the paragraph, when that word only appears in a minor detail.
Full Matching Headings strategyMatching Sentence Endings
- Read each beginning and predict its grammatical and logical continuation.
- Eliminate endings that cannot fit grammatically before consulting the text.
Common trap: Choosing an ending that is grammatically smooth but unsupported.
Full Matching Sentence Endings strategySentence Completion
- Circle the word limit before reading anything else.
- Predict the missing word class: noun, verb, adjective, number or short phrase.
Common trap: Exceeding the word limit.
Full Sentence Completion strategyPractise “A History of the World in Board Games” under exam conditions
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