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Evidence in Ansaba
3 pieces of evidence found.
Id DLP.Evidence.1213
Type Ethnography
Game Gabata (Ansaba)
Date 1971-01-01 - 1971-12-31
Rules 2x6 board. Three counters in each hole. The players begin the game simultaneously sowing first from their rightmost hole, racing to be the first one to drop the last counter of a sowing into an empty hole. This player then begins the next phase where they alternate play. Sowing occurs in an anti-clockwise direction. When the final counter falls into an occupied hole, the contents of this hole are picked up and sowing continues. When the final counter lands into an empty hole in the row belonging to the player, the counters in the opposite hole belonging to the opponent are captured, and the counter that triggered the capture is moved to the following hole. This could trigger the further capture of more of the opponent's counters if the hole in which the counter is placed was empty and the opponent's opposite hole contains counters. If the hole is occupied, sowing continues. If the hole is empty and the opposite hole is unoccupied or it is one of the opponent's holes, sowing ends. When one player can no longer play because the holes on their side are empty, the opponent captures the remaining counters on the board. A new round begins. The losing player places three counters in each hole, beginning on the rightmost hole. If the player has remaining counters but cannot fill their holes with three, they must distribute the remainder to fill as many of the remaining holes as possible with at least one counter. The winning player from the previous round then matches this starting configuration, keeping any surplus for use in future rounds. Play continues until one player has one or zero counters, the opponent being the winner.
Content "This game based on two rows each of sic holes, with three balls per hole was reported by three Ansaba students of the Teachers' Training Institute at Asmara, Andom Takla Maryam, Isaq Habté and Yohannes Imar. This game, though played on two rows, follows the distinctive principles of Game 1. The two players, each starting from his extreme right hand hole this begin to play simultaneously, racing each other to be the first to reach an empty hole, the first to do so being the first to move in the ensuing stage of the game during which players move alternately. Captures, again as in Game 1, are effected whenever a player alights in one of his empty holes whereupon he captures the contents of his opponent's opposite hole, the piece effecting this capture being then moved on as part of the same move, and before the other player has a chance to play...When, in fact, at the end of the round, a player is left without counters in any of his holes the remaining counters, I.e. those on the opposite row, are appropriated by the owner of that row, a practice common in fact in most types of gabata. This game is, however, unusual in its procedure for starting the next or any subsequent round. The weaker player, I.e. the one with less counters, will start to refill his holes from the right. He will as far as he can place three balls in each hole, but being unable to do so in all, may place only two counters immediately to the left of his group or groups of three, and will if at all possible put single balls in one or more of the holes on the left, the objective being to have counters, if this can be done, in every hole. The more successful player will then refill his holes with an identical number of balls as his opponent, and will arrange them in the same manner, thus keeping aside the surplus balls in his possession for future use if needed, play continuing in this manner, round after round, until one of the players succeeds in monopolising at least all but one of the balls whereupon his opponent, unable to reoccupy a hole at the end of the round would be defeated." Pankhurst 1971: 169.
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Genders Male
Source Pankhurst, R. 1971. Gabata and Related Board Games of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia Observer 14(3):154-206.
Id DLP.Evidence.1296
Type Ethnography
Game Awagagae
Date 1971-01-01 - 1971-12-31
Rules 2x6 board. Play begins with four counters in each hole. A player picks up the contents of any of their holes and sowing them in an anti-clockwise direction, picking up the contents of the last hole in which his counters fall, and continuing sowing. This continues until the last counter falls in an empty hole. Then it is the other player's turn. A hole is captured when the last ball is dropped into an opponent's hole containing three counters, making it four. A player cannot then take from one of these holes that they have captured. Therefore, the player cannot begin a turn from their own captured hole nor can they continue sowing from it. If the last counter of a sowing falls into an opponent's captured hole, nothing happens on the first instance, but every time after that, one of those counters are removed from the board and placed in the store, and the sowing ends. Ownership of a hole continues even if it becomes empty. When a player cannot move (i.e., there are no counters in their holes except any that are in captured holes), the opponent continues to move until the player is able to move. Play continues until all counters are either placed in the store or in captured holes and thus cannot be moved. Players then count their pieces by placing four in each hole, and the player who has more than their original number takes ownership of one of the opponent's holes for every four counters more than the original number that have been taken. If no player took four more than the original, the player with three extra gets the hole, if each player has two extra the weaker player is given the two extra counters. Play then begins again as before. The game ends when one player owns all of the counters, and thus all of the holes. If toward then end of the game, when a player has been reduced to a single hole and it is captured by the opponent, the opponent captures the four counters involved in the capture. The hole remains in the possession of its owner, and is able to utilise any pieces falling into that hole on subsequent turns, but may also capture from this hole as though the hole had been captured by the opponent.
Content "Gabata II. This game, based on two rows each of six rows(sic), with four balls per hole is known as awagagae, I.e. "method of piercing," was played by Yohannes Imar and Isaq Habté. It embodies most of the features of Game 6 described above for Western Eritrea, but is not based on racing. On the contrary the players move alternately from the beginning. As in Game 6 it is, however, impossible for a player to "eat," or tax, a captured hole until he had first dropped a counter there, and would on that occasion say teseta "let her eat." A player subsequently "eating" from that hole thereby ended his move, and was not entitled, as in other variants of this game, to continue to move. The rest of the game is identical to Game 6." pankhurst 1971: 169.
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Genders Male
Source Pankhurst, R. 1971. Gabata and Related Board Games of Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia Observer 14(3):154-206.
Id DLP.Evidence.1298
Type Ethnography
Game Mewelad
Date 1971-01-01 - 1971-12-31
Rules 2x6 board. Four counters per hole. Play begins with a simultaneous racing move, where players attempt to be the first to drop the final counter of their sowing into an empty hole. Sowing occurs in an anti-clockwise direction. If the final counter falls into an occupied hole, these are picked up and sowing continues. If the final counter falls into an empty hole, the turn ends. At any time during the sowing, if a hole is made to contain four counters, the owner of the hole in which the four counters are located captures them, unless it is the final hole of the sowing, in which case the player who is sowing captures them. The captures happen immediately. If a player does not capture when they should have, and a subsequent sowing causes this hole to contain five counters, it becomes a Jen. Players can no longer capture from a Jen in the same manner as before. Captures are made from it when the final counter of a sowing lands in it, in which case the final counter and one counter from the Jen are captured by the player who is sowing. Play continues until a player can no longer move because there are no counters in their row, and the opponent captures the remaining counters. Players then count their pieces by placing four in each hole, and the player who has more than their original number takes ownership of one of the opponent's holes for every four counters more than the original number that have been taken. If no player took four more than the original, the player with three extra gets the hole, if each player has two extra the weaker player is given the two extra counters. Play then begins again as before. The game ends when one player owns all of the counters, and thus all of the holes. If toward then end of the game, when a player has been reduced to a single hole and it is captured by the opponent, the opponent captures the four counters involved in the capture. The hole remains in the possession of its owner, and is able to utilise any pieces falling into that hole on subsequent turns, but may also capture from this hole as though the hole had been captured by the opponent.
Content "Gabata III. This game, based on two rows each of six holes with four balls per hole, was played by Andom Takla Maryam is identical to Game 7, reported likewise for Western Eritrea." Pankhurst 1971: 169.
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
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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