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Evidence for Ovalhu
1 pieces of evidence found.
Id DLP.Evidence.2047
Type Ethnography
Location Maldives
Date 2000-01-01 - 2000-12-31
Rules 2x8 board, with a store on either end. Each player owns the store to their right. Eight counters in each hole. PLayers alternate turns sowing in an anti-clockwise direction from one of the holes on their side of the board. Sowing always includes the player's store (but not the opponent's store), and sowing cannot begin from the store. When the final counter lands in an occupied hole, the contents of that hole are picked up and sowing continues. If the last counter lands in the player's store, they may choose any of the holes on their side of the board and continue sowing from it. When the final counter lands in an empty hole, the counters in the opposite hole are captured. Play continues until all of the counters are captured. A new round begins. Players fill the holes on their side of the board with their captured counters. If a player cannot fill a hole with the required number of counters, the hole is closed and is out of play for that round. Play continues as before. Play continues in successive rounds until one player closes all of their opponent's holes and wins.
Content Account of Ovalhu given by de Voogt: "Ovalhu, meaning "eight holes", is a popular board game in the Maldives, and is played by both men and women. The game is played in-house and is extra popular during holidays such as Ramadan...Each player owns one side of the board. The board consists of two rows of eight holes with eight counters in each hole...In addition, each of the players own an enlarged hole on the right far-end side of their row, a so-called end-hole or shop. A move is played in the same way as in the Olinda game of Sri Lanka with the important exception that the content of a hole which receives the last counter of a sowing is picked up to continue the sowing...In a move of a player, the right end-hole also comes into play. Counters are sown into this hole if the last counter of a spreading enters this end-hole the end-hole will not be emptied. Instead of emptying the end-hole, the player is allowed to choose any other hole on his own side and start another sowing. This way it is possible to make multiple sowings without the opponent getting a turn. The counters in the end-hole make up the captured counters. There is a second mode of capturing. If the last counter ends in an empty hole (different from the end-hole) the counters on the opposite side are captured and added to the end-hole. The player who has the move may capture on either side of the board. After the game is finished with one player owning the remaining counters and starting the next game as in Olinda, the counters are planned on the board and some holes are closed, if necessary. The winner is the player who closes al the holes of the opponent. " de Voogt 2000: 178-179.
Confidence 100
Spaces Inside
Genders Female, Male
Source de Voogt, A. 2000. "Mancala Rules and Cultural Changes in Maldivian History." Journal of Indian Ocean Studies 7(2-3): 174-182.
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