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Evidence in Grande Comore; Anjouan
1 pieces of evidence found.
Id DLP.Evidence.1167
Type Ethnography
Game Bao Kiswahili (East Africa)
Date 2018-06-01 - 2018-06-30
Content "Mraha wa tso is a popular game on Grande Comore...and Anjouan (Ian Tattersall, pers.comm 2019).Contrary to the other regions in which Bao is found, it is absent or at least uncommon in the main city, in this case Moroni. Instead, many villages were seen to have a board owned by the community. The board was often found near the local mosque or central square (see Photo 1a). On late afternoons, players would gather to play and take turns, the loser of a game usually giving up his seat. Teenage boys would only play when the men were absent. No women were seen to play and privately-owned boards were rare. In one village, Foumbouni, it was considered inappropriate to play on the public square during Ramadhan but some players of this village who happened to have a privately-owned board were happy to demonstrate a few games on a bench near their house (see Photo 1b). The wooden boards always showed four rows of holes but the characteristic square holes in the center of the board were not always present. Also, storage holes were only optionally found on the far end of the board (see Photo 1c). The players used Caesalpinia bon- duc seeds like the ones used by players of Bao elsewhere on the East African coast.
The rules of the game have been described in detail by de Villeneuve(2003:8–19) but they are notoriously complex to describe in full (see Town- shend 1986; de Voogt 1995:35–43). The rules on Grande Comore did not differ significantly from those attested, for instance, on Madagascar, Zanz- ibar, or those known for Tanzania and Kenya. Some specific variations can be attested that often have to do with the level of the player or the circum- stances of play. For instance, the complex rule known in Swahili as takasia (Townshend 1986:118, de Voogt 1995:41–43) was only vaguely familiar to most and did not have a name. Only one expert player was able to give some details about its application in the game. Endless moves (see Kro- nenburg, Donkers & de Voogt 2006) were a loss for the player who started one, according to one player, but this would be a difficult rule to enforce. In another instance, a player allowed the return of a takasa move (a move without capture) if a player still had one seed in hand, but only in friendly matches." de Voogt 2019: 2-3.
Confidence 100
Ages Adolescent, Adult
Spaces Outside
Genders Male
Source de Voogt, A. 2019. 'The Comoros: A confluence of board game histories.' Board Game Studies 13: 1–13.
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