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Evidence in Ghana
3 pieces of evidence found.
Id DLP.Evidence.747
Type Ethnography
Game Achi
Date 1928-01-01 - 1929-12-31
Rules Two concentric squares with a line connecting their midpoints. Six pieces per player. Players alternate placing one of their pieces on the intersections of the lines. Whenever a player places three of their pieces in a row, they may remove one of the opponent's pieces from the board. Once all of the pieces are placed, players may take turns moving a piece to an adjacent point along the lines, attempting to place three of their pieces in a row. When one player is reduced to two pieces, that player loses.
Content "3.4.4. Gold Coast: Achi or Ati; Nigeria (Yoruba tribe): Akidada (K.C. Murray, who saw it played at Nopa in 1928 and 1929). Two players, on the first occasion Yorubas, and on the second from the Gold Coast, were playing on a board traced on the sand, each having six 'sticks' made from the fibres of palm leaves, one side green, the other brown. On the second occasion he learnt the rules of the game as given above." Murray 1951: 43.
Confidence 100
Source Murray, H.J.R. 1951. A History of Board-Games Other Than Chess. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Id DLP.Evidence.793
Type Ethnography
Game Oware
Date 1927-01-01 - 1927-12-31
Rules 2x6 board, with a storage hole on either end. The game starts with four counters in each hole. A player picks up all of the counters in one of the holes in their row and sows them one-by-one in a counterclockwise direction in consecutive holes from the hole the pieces originated. The starting hole is always left empty, even if a player sows in a complete circuit of the board, the original house is skipped and sowing continues in the next hole after it. Players capture counters when the final counter is sown in the opponent's row and the hole containing it has two or three counters (counting the counter just dropped into it). If the hole before it also has two or three counters, these are also captured and so on until reaching a hole without two or three counters or one not belonging to the opponent. A move which would capture all of the opponent's counters is not allowed. If an opponent's holes are all empty, the other player must make a move placing counters in the opponent's row. If not possible, the player captures all the counters in their row. The player who has captured the most counters wins. If the game continues in a repeating loop, the players can agree to end the game and capture the counters remaining in their row.
Content "The game of Wari, as played by the natives of the Gold Coast, is a game for two players using as apparatus 48 pebbles and a board hollowed out into two parallel rows of six cups. (a dozen patty-pans and four dozen marbles make a convenient substitute.) The plan of the board may be represented by the diagram... where the letters are inserted for convenience of reference in the description of the game now to be given.
The players P and p sit facing each other with the board between them. The six cups ABCDEF are on P\s side of the board, and are here named in alphabetical ordered from his left to his right hand; and similarly the six cups abcdef are on p's side of the board and are lettered from left to right as seen by him. The large extra cup Z at P's extreme right hand is for holding the pebbles won by P; and the extra cup z at the opposite end is, similarly, used by p to hold the pebbles won by him. When the board is set ready for play each of the twelve cups ABCDEF abcdef hold 4 pebbles (the cups Z and z being empty)...The players P and p then play alternately an observe the following rules.
Rules of the game
(I) When P plays he empties any one of the six cups ABCDEF on his own side of the board and deals them round the board cyclically until they are exhausted. In his cyclic sequence the cup F is followed by cup a, and the cup f by cup A...
When p plays he empties any one of the cups abcdef and deals round its contents according to the same cycle...
(ii) P wins pebbles by his dealing when (and only when) the last pebble falls into one of p's cups abcdef and, there falling, makes 2 or 3 pebbles in that cup. He then captures the 2 or 3 (whichever it is) and places them with his winnings in cup Z. Similarly p captures 2 or 3 pebbles from one of P's cups ABCDEF when the last pebble he deals produces a 2 or 3 when it falls in the cup...\
(iii) Captiures by P may consist of any number (up to six) of 2's and 3's, provided only that they are in consecutive cups of p's, and that the last of the series of cups receives the last marble dropped. That is, when P captures a 2 or 3 from one of p's cups he captures also the contents of the next cup of p's to his (P's) right if that also has become a 2 or 3; and so on for as many 2's and 3's are consecutive...Captures by p, similarly, are made from P's cups only, and consist of 2's and 3's consecutive with the 2 or 3 captured from the last cup...
(iv) A heavily loaded cup may in the course of play accumulate 12 or more pebbles, and the playing of this cupful will give a deal making more than one complete cycle of the board. For the cup emptied is always to be left empty. The cycle of cups which receive, by dealing, the contents of the cup emptied are therefore in effect the 11 cups remaining after the omission of the one emptied...
(v) An exception to P's free choice of any one of his own cups, from which to play its contents, occurs when p's cups are all empty. If P is able to play from a cup which feeds pebbles into p's cups he must do so: he may not play a cup which does not reach p's cups. If, however, no move of P plays pebbles into p's cups, then P captures the whole contents of his own cups...Similarly for player p. When P's cups are empty p must, if possible, play so as to feed P's cups; and if p cannot do so he captures the whole contents of his own cups.
If p's cups are empty and it is p's own turn to play (p's cups having just been cleared by P), then also P becomes owner of the total contents of his own cups...Similarly for P, with empty cups after p has just played; the contents of p's cups become p's.
(vi) When very few pebbles remain in play it may happen that they circulate in a cyclic and periodic chase with no captures possible for either player. Each player then takes the pebbles which are circulating through his territory." Bennett 1927: 382-385.
Confidence 100
Source Bennett, G.T. 1927. 'The game of Wari.' In Rattray, R. S. ed. Religion and Art in Ashanti. Oxford: Clarendon Press. pp. 382–390.
Id DLP.Evidence.2150
Type Ethnography
Game Wari
Date 1914-01-01 - 1927-12-31
Rules 2x6 board with two stores. Four counters in each hole. Players alternate turns sowing from one of the holes on their side of the board in an anticlockwise direction. When a counter lands in one of the opponent's holes, making it contain six counters, those counters are captured. The player who captures the most counters wins.
Content Rules from A.W. Cardinall, who lived in Ghana from 1914: "But the people play a far more serious game than any of those outlined in the preceding pages. This is the game of "Wari." It seems that its extent is general throughout West Africa, and I believe the name "Wari" is almost equally widespread. However, the Ashanti claims wari as his own, and explains that wari is an Ashanti word, meaning "far," and is derived from the fact that the tokens with which it is played have "far" to go before the game is finished...Wari can be played on mother earth. It is generally played on a specially constructed board. This takes the form of a small table about three feet long and eight inches wide. The sides are each provided with six cups or hollowed-out squares, and at either end of the board is a larger receptacle. These last two do not enter into the actual play; they are merely to hold the counters or tokens captured. There are only two players and each has one of these receptacles for his use. The two sides are allotted one to each player, who owns that nearest to him. In each cup there are placed four counters. These are usually stones, cowries or seeds. There are thus forty-eight counters in all, twenty-four on each side, at the beginning of play. The play, being purely one of mathematical calculation, lends itself to many variations; but the commonest is as follows. A player may move the contents of any one of the receptacles on his own side, which is the one nearest to him. He thus has six squares each containing four counters. He must take all the counters in one square, and then drop one counter into each successive square to his right, following across into the squares of his opponent if necessary. His opponent does likewise, and as soon as six counters-no more, no less- are in one of his adversary's squares-the total of six being reached by his dropping one counter therein-he lifts those six from that square and puts them into his "prison" receptacle. If he makes six in his own squares, he cannot lift those." Cardinall 1927: 253-254.
Confidence 100
Ages All
Genders Male
Source Cardinall, A. 1927. In Ashanti and Beyond. ondon: Seeley, Service and Co. Limited.
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