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Evidence in Darod Somaliland
1 pieces of evidence found.
Id DLP.Evidence.701
Type Ethnography
Game Bosh
Date 1931-01-01 - 1931-12-31
Rules 2x5 board.
Four counters in each hole
Players move by picking up all of the counters in any of the holes in their row and sowing them anti-clockwise. If the next hole after the one in which the final counter is dropped contains counters, these are picked up and sowing continues. If the next hole after the one in which the last counter was sown is empty, the counters in the hole after this one are taken and the turn is over. If that hole is empty, none are taken.
When all of the holes in one row are empty, the player whose row still contains counters captures these counters.
A new game begins. Each player fills as many of the holes in their row with four counters. The player which cannot fill all of their holes with four counters removes from play all of the holes that cannot be filled, and sets aside the extra counters.
The game ends when one player must close all of the holes in their row, thus being unable to play.
Content "6. bòsh (Daròd).
This game belongs to the same class as the preceding one. (Some of the details below need confirmation.)
Ten holes arranged in two rows are dug in the ground. At the outset of the game, each of the two players is provided with 20 stones, and places four of them in each of the five holes, which are on his side. The first player lifts up the four stones from any one of his own holes, e.g., E, and distributes them, one in each of the following pits, F. G> H. I, then he takes the contents of the hole which follows next, J, and distributes them likewise in A,B,C,D. The following hole, E being empty after he finishes his turn, and takes as his winnings the contents of the next pit, F. Then the other player starts, by picking up the contents of one of the holes on his own side, and proceeds in a similar way. When the pit where a player has dropped his last stone is followed by two empty stones, he naturally gets nothing (bosh).
As in leyla gobale, when a person, whose turn it is to play, finds that all the pits on his side are empty, he foreits all the remaining stones to his opponent.
As soon as all the holes are cleared, each player must replenish from his winnings the pits on his own side. The one who is unable to pay the full amount of four stones into each of his five pits, must close down with sand or earth those holes which he cannot keep going; they are considered as non-existent for the time being, but can be re-opened later, should the owner increase his wealth.
The aim of the game is to reduce one's opponent's provision to less than four stones, in which case he is unable to continue the game, all his pits having to be closed." Pankhurst 1971: 181.
Confidence 75
Source Marin, G. 1931. Somali Games. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 61: 499-511.
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