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Evidence for ||Hus (Damara)
2 pieces of evidence found.
Id DLP.Evidence.773
Type Ethnography
Game ||Hus (Damara)
Location Namibia
Date 1923-01-01 - 1923-12-31
Rules 4x8 board. Play begins with two counters in the outer row of each players' holes and two counter in each of the four holes on the right hand side of both players' inner row of holes. Play begins with a stylized move. Player picks up contents of any hole containing two or more counters and sows them anti-clockwise. If the final counter of the sowing falls into an empty hole, the turn is over. If the last counter falls into an occupied hole, sowing continues by picking up the counters in that hole and continuing in the same direction. If the last counter falls into an occupied hole in the player's inner row, and the opponent's two holes opposite it are occupied, these are captured and sowing continues using these counters beginning at the next hole after the one which caused the capture. Play ends when one player cannot move; i.e. when they have only single counters in holes or all their counters have been captured.
Content "Das beliebteste Spiel der Bergdama, an dem sie sich stunden-, ja tagelang ergötzen können, ist ein Steinchenspiel, das |hus genannt wird. Es werden vier Lochreihen hergestellt. Die Anzahl der Löcher schwankt zwischen 12 und 24 in den geraden Zahlen. 13, 15, oder 17 Löcher in einer Reiche sind also ausgeschlossen. Das Spiel kann von nur zwei Personnen ausgeführt werden. Diese können aber eine Gruppe von befreundeten Spielgenossen zur Unterstützung laden. Die Spieler sitzen einander gegnüber. Jeder hat zwei Reihen Löcher, eine äußere und eine innere, für sich. Die Steinchen werden so angesetzt, daß in den beiden äußeren Reihen je zwei liegen. Von den beiden inneren Reihen darf nur je die recht Hälfte der Lochreihen mit zwei Steinen versehen werden.
Die Spielregeln sind folgende:
1. Der Spieler bezweckt seinem Gegner möglichst viele Steine abzugewinnen und ihn so zu schwächen, daß er nicht mehr ziehen kann.
2. Es wird in den inneren Reihen von rechts nach links, in den äußeren Reihen von links nach rechts gespielt. Kommt der Spieler mit seinen Steinen am linken Ende der inneren oder am rechten Ende der äußeren Reihe an, so geht er in seine andere Reihe über.
3. Jede Partei kommt abwechselnd zum Spiel.
4. Nur wenn zwei oder mehr Steine in einem Felde liegen, dürfen sie zum Spiel benutzt werden. Im übrigen steht es dem Spieler frei, die Steine jedes seiner Felder zu benutzten.
5. Die aus irgend einem seiner Felder aufgenommenen Steine sind so zu verteilen, daß der Reihe nach in jedes folgende Feld ein Stein zu legen ist.
6. Kommt der letzte der aufgehobenen Steine in ein Feld, in dem nooch kein Stein liegt, so hört der Spieler auf, und der Gegner kommt ans Spiel.
7. Befinden sich in dem Feld, in das der letzte der aufgenommenen Steine gelegt wird, bereits ein oder mehrere Steine, so spielt der Spieler weiter, und zwar handelt es sich
a) um die innere Felderreihe, und in dem entsprechenden Felde der innered Reihe des Gegners befinden sich ein oder mehrere Steine; dann nimmt der Spieler diese und auch die Steine weg, die sich in dem entsprechenden Felde der äußeren Reihe des Gegners etwa befinden, und spielt mit ihnen weiter;
b) es handelt sich um die äußere Reihe, oder es befindet sich in dem entsprechenden Felde der inneren Reihe des Gegners kein Stein, dann hebt der Spieler die zwei oder mehreren eigenen Steine auf und spielt mit ihnen weiter.
Die Spiel regeln verdanke ich der Freundlichkeit des Bezirksamtmannes Herrn von Zastrow" Vedder 1923:95-96.
Confidence 100
Source Vedder, H. 1923. Die Bergdama. Hamburg: L. Friederichsen and Co.
Id DLP.Evidence.1171
Type Ethnography
Game ||Hus (Damara)
Location Namibia
Date 1916-01-01 - 1916-04-19
Rules 4x8-12 holes.Play begins with two counters in the outer row of each players' holes and two counter in each of the four holes on the right hand side of both players' inner row of holes. Play begins with a stylized move. Player picks up contents of any hole containing two or more counters and sows them anti-clockwise. If the final counter of the sowing falls into an empty hole, the turn is over. If the last counter falls into an occupied hole, sowing continues by picking up the counters in that hole and continuing in the same direction. If the last counter falls into an occupied hole in the player's inner row, and the opponent's two holes opposite it are occupied, these are captured and sowing continues using these counters beginning at the next hole after the one which caused the capture. Play ends when one player cannot move; i.e. when they have only single counters in holes or all their counters have been captured.
Content "The game of ||Hus or Otjitoto". The game of ||Hus (holes) is played under that name by the [Nama] and Berg Damaras of South-West Africa, and under the name Otjitoto (also meaning holes) by the Hereros or Cattle Damaras. The Berg Damaras and Hereros are said to have learned the game from the [Nama]. The writer has heard it stated that the same game is played by the Ovambos inhabiting the extreme northern portion of South-West Africa, but has not succeeded in obtaining any definite information on this
point. The rules of ||Hus are briefly described by Leonhard Schultze in his
admirable work Aus Namaland und Kalahari, but so far as the writer is aware no detailed account of the game has hitherto been published. It is played in four parallel rows of holes made in the ground or scooped out of sand, there being an even number of holes in each row. When only two players participate it is not customary to have more than twelve holes in a row, but when there are two or more players on each side, as is frequently the case, there may be twenty-four or more holes in a row. The players squat or kneel on opposite sides of the board facing one another. At the beginning of a game each player places two pieces—small stones, seeds, or fragments of dried dung—in each of the holes of his outer row, and the same number in each of the holes in the right half of his inner row as shown in Fig. 1, I.
The object of the game is to capture all the pieces of one’s adversary or to put him ill a position in which he is no longer able to move any of his pieces. The moves are made alternately. The mode of progression consists in each of the players in turn taking up the contents of any of the holes on his side of the hoard, in which there are two or more pieces, and distributing these one at a time in a counter-clockwise direction in the succeeding holes of the same row. If the last of the pieces thus taken up and distributed by one of the players is dropped into an empty hole, his move comes to an end and his opponent plays. If, on the other hand, it is dropped into an occupied hole, one of two things happens:
(a) If the hole in question is in his inner row and has opposite it in the inner row of his opponent an occupied hole he is entitled to capture ( ||am) the pieces in this hole, together with those in the corresponding hole of his opponent’s outer row; the “men” thus captured being distributed one at a time in the succeeding holes of his inner row.t Thus in Fig. 1, III 1, for example, the player Q has just finished a move by dropping a “last man” in hole c—7. As this hole was occupied—it now contains three( pieces—
and the hole b—7 in P’s inner row is also occupied, he is entitled to capture the single piece in b—7 and the two pieces in a—7. He does so, the appropriation being represented by a black rectangle, and drops the captured pieces one at a time into c—6, c—.5 and c—4 (Fig. 1, III 2) where his move comes to an end. (b) If the hole in his opponent’s inner row, opposite to the one in which his last piece was dropped, is not occupied; or if the last of the pieces he took up is dropped into one of the holes in his outer row contain ing one or more pieces, he has to continue his move by taking up all the pieces in the hole in question, including the one that he dropped, and distributing them as before. A number of instances of this occur in the game described on the following pages.
Under no circumstances may a move be inaugurated from a hole containing a single piece. When, therefore, a player has only one piece in each of his occupied holes, he can no longer move and loses the game. ||Hus differs in this respect from all the games to lie subsequently dealt with." Wagner 1918: 49-50.
Confidence 100
Source Wagner, P. 1918. "A Contribution to out Knowledge of the National Game of Skill of Africa." Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa 6: 47-68., Wagner, P. 1918. "A Contribution to out Knowledge of the National Game of Skill of Africa." Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa 6: 47-68.
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