World Nomad Games: How to play games of strategy
The World Nomad Games is a unique international event that brings together participants from different countries to participate in traditional nomadic games.
Kazinform News Agency invites readers to take a closer look at strategy board games, called Mancala, that require players to think tactically, make quick decisions and anticipate the actions of their opponents. Three mancala games will be played at the World Nomad Games.
What is Mancala
Mancala refers to a group of two-player board games where players use small stones, beans, or seeds and rows of holes or pits, typically arranged on a board, in the ground, or on another playing surface, where players "sow" and "capture" seeds.
There are numerous variations of mancala played around the world. In West Africa it is "Oware", among the Kazakhs it is "Togyz Kumalak", and among the Turkish people it is Mangala.
According to scientists, the first game of Mancala appeared on the Guinea Peninsula and spread among the tribes of Africa. Some scientists believe that this game appeared 7,000 years ago. Oral transmission of rules led to the emergence of different versions of the game. Arabs, who were engaged in trade in the western regions of Africa, contributed to the spread of the game in the Middle East and Central Asia.
The game reached India via the Great Silk Road under the name of Pallanguzhi. Through India, Mancala games reached the peoples of the Pacific region. In Sri Lanka, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, the game was called Sungka, Dakon and others.
The Secretary General of the World Togyzkumalak Federation, Honored Trainer of Kazakhstan and author of numerous books on Togyzkumalak Maksat Shotayev notes that scientists associate the age of the game with the Neolithic era. Because archaeological data, taboos and symbols in the rules of the game point to this period.
In the Neolithic era, agriculture and livestock farming developed in parallel. According to its needs, humanity during this period cut down forests and prepared the land for crops in their place. New views on the surrounding world, a new social order, changes in consciousness contributed to the emergence of types of games that developed thinking, not physical movements.
Mangala
Mangala is an intellectual and strategic game of the Turkish people. The game is played by two players. The playing field consists of two rows of six holes in each row. Each player also has large accumulation holes - storages, in which the players will collect stones. The game "mangala" is played with 48 stones. Players distribute all 48 stones by four pieces in each of the 12 holes, the accumulation holes remain empty.
The six small holes on one side of the board are the player's field, and the six holes opposite are the opponent's field.
Gameplay
The player making the move takes all the balls from any hole on his side and, starting from the same hole, places one ball at a time in the holes counterclockwise. It is not allowed to jump holes or place two or more balls in one hole.
If a move is made from a hole where there is only one ball, the ball is placed in the next hole, and the hole from which the move was made remains empty. Each time the last ball lands in a storage, the player must make another move. There are different ways to win balls, for example, if the last ball lands in a hole on the opponent's side, and the number of balls in the hole is even, all the balls are removed and placed in a large storage hole.
Also, if the last ball lands on its side in an empty hole, and there are balls in the hole opposite, all the balls in both holes are removed and placed in the big hole. In this way, players try to collect as many stones as possible in their storage. The winner of the game is the one who collects the most stones.
Togyzkumalak
One of the oldest Kazakh national games is the game "Togyz kumalak". The history of the origin of the game togyz kumalak covers a 4,000-year period. Perhaps even more. The lack of direct facts of the origin of the game prevents a more detailed study of this issue.
Gameplay
Unlike Mangal, in the game "Togyzkumalak" each player has 81 balls of their own color at the beginning of the game, that is, 9 balls for 9 holes. When sowing, you need to drop one ball into each subsequent hole so that the last ball falls into the opponent's hole.
If after a move there are three balls in a hole, then this hole is declared a "tuzdyk". Subsequently, each ball that gets into the tuzdyk goes to the storage, called kazan, of the player on whose side this tuzdyk is located, but the player cannot get a tuzdyk on the ninth hole, as well as on the hole under the number of which the opponent took the first "tuzdyk". Each player can have no more than one tuzdyk at a time.
The game is played until one of the two players collects more than 81 balls in his kazan (this player wins), or they both collect 81 pebbles (a draw).
Oware
Oware is one of the most popular and widespread mancala games, especially famous in West Africa.
It is believed that the game Oware, which literally means "he/she marries", got its name from a legend in the Ashanti and Ashanti Twi languages of the Ashanti people. According to this legend, a man and a woman played the game endlessly, and in order to stay together and continue playing, they decided to get married.
Gameplay
The Oware game board also consists of two rows of six holes for each player, but each player does not have large holes. Instead, they use separate bowls where they put the stones that are out of the game. Each small hole contains four stones.
The rules are also similar to Mangala, but there are differences. So, in Oware, if the last stone in the layout falls into the opponent's hole, and the total number of stones in it becomes 2 or 3, the player takes all the stones from this hole, along with his own.
Moreover, if in the previous hole in the sowing process there are 2 or 3 stones on the opponent's side, the player takes them too. The same thing happens with the hole that precedes the previous one - and so on until in the next previous hole there are either more than three stones on the opponent's side, or only one stone.
