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Evidence for Qelat (Beni Amir-Mensa)
1 pieces of evidence found.
Id DLP.Evidence.1387
Type Ethnography
Location 15°42'34.93"N, 38°37'39.11"E
Date 1971-01-01 - 1971-12-31
Rules 2x6 board. Four counters in each hole. Sowing occurs in a clockwise direction when starting from the three holes on the left of the board, and in an anti-clockwise direction when starting from the three holes on the right. Sowing ends when the final counter is dropped, regardless of whether the hole is occupied or not. When the final counter is dropped into a hole containing three counters, thus making it contain four, the hole is captured. This can only be done if the hole is one of the end holes on either side of either row, or the penultimate holes on either side of the opponent's row. Sowing is not allowed from a captured hole. When no player is able to move, the player with the most counters in their captured holes wins.
Content "...were played by Debesay Genda of the Mensa Bet Abraha people, and Fre Mikael Hajji from the Elabaret area, and Grazmach Merese Fekhakh...Qelat II This game is also based on two rows each of six holes, with four balls per hole, and, according to the above-mentioned players, was the variety generally played by the elders for large stakes, such as a hundred cows or a piece of land. The game resembles Game 8 in that players move in a clockwise direction when starting from any of their three left-hand holes and in an anti-clockwise direction from their three holes on the right. Each player starts his move by picking up the entire contents of any of his holes and then drops these balls one by one into the ensuing holes, his own or his opponent's. The move comes to an end when the last of these balls has been dropped, for one does not pick up balls to continue a move as is so common in Ethiopia as a whole. The object of the game is to capture holes, which is done, as in many games, by dropping the last ball in any hand into a hole containing three balls which are thus increased to four. Such captured holes, corresponding to the weg of other areas, are known as walda, but can only be captured in certain parts of the board. Each of the two players can thus only make a walda in one or other of his own end holes, or, on his opponent's side, in the two end holes and the two penultimate holes from either end. There is no "eating" or taxing, from such holes as in many games, the winner being the player to accumulate the largest number of balls in his walda(s)." Pankhurst 1971: 171.
Confidence 100
Ages Elder
Genders Male
Source Pankhurst, R. 1971. Gabata and Related Board Games of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia Observer 14(3):154-206.
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