|
Evidence in Kababish
3 pieces of evidence found.
Id DLP.Evidence.703
Type Ethnography
Game Um el Banât
Date 1925-01-01 - 1925-12-31
Rules 2x6 board.
Four counters in each hole.
Players sow from any of the holes in their row in an anti-clockwise direction.
When the final counter of a sowing falls into an occupied hole (except in the scenario below), these are picked up and sowing continues. If the final counter falls into either an empty hole or one of the opponent's holes with three counters, making that hole now have four counters, the sowing ends.
When the final counter falls into a hole in the opponent's row containing four counters after sowing concludes, this hole is marked.
If a player sows their final counter into their opponent's marked hole. the final counter and one of the counters in the hole are captured. The player then gets another turn. If the final counter falls into a player's own marked hole, the turn ends.
The contents of marked holes cannot be sown.
The game ends when only marked holes contain counters. These are then captured by the players who marked them.
A new game begins. The player with the most counters places four in each hole beginning from the left hole in their row. Each hole that contains four counters is owned by that player for the new round. If the player has three counters remaining after filling as many holes with four as possible, they borrow one counter from the opponent to make four and own the corresponding hole. If there are two or one remaining, the opponent borrows these to fill and own the last hole.
Play continues until one player owns no more holes.
Content "4. Um El Banât, or The Game of Daughters
"This game is for two players, each of whom has six houses containing initially four counters each (Fig. 8). It introduces a new principle in counter-distribution, in that a player, picking up the contents of one of his own houses and dropping them one by one in an anti-clockwise direction, does not end his move with the fall of the last counter unless (a) it falls into a house previously empty, or (b) it falls on to three others in one of his opponent's houses. In other cases he picks it up, together with any together with any other counters contained in the house into which it just fell, and goes on distributing these counters, often moving several times round the board, until he is brought to a standstill by one of the happenings (a) or (b). In case (b) the player is said to have "begotten a daughter" in his opponent's house and the house has a mark put against it to indicate the fact. The "birth" to one player or the other, of one or more "daughters," introduces a new factor into the game, and that the determining factor. For if, now, A can so move that the last counter dropped falls into the house of B's daughter, he removes it and one other from that house and from the board and plays again. In doing so he is said to "peck" her. Also, if either player drops the last counter from his hand into the house of one of his own daughters, he is said to have "given her a drink" or to have "nourished" her and his move stops.
Daughters, it will be observed, are a source for profit and a loss to their father, but all are not equally so. Fig. 9. shows a stage of the game at which B has two daughters in houses D1 and D2. If A is to move, he can begin with the two counters in house X, drop one into W and the other into D1, from which he then removes two from the board. Moving again, he can pick up the one counter just dropped into W, drop it into D1 and again remove two. Playing again from Y, he again removes two, after which he can again score by playing from W.
D2, on the other hand, is much more immune from "pecking." It is true that by moving from Z, A can "peck" at her once, but he cannot repeat the process, while, also, practically every move which B makes adds to the counters in D2.
The contents of a daughter's house cannot be piked up and moved, so that a stage of the game is completed when the board is left with no counters in it except those in the various daughter's houses. Each player then removes the counters pertaining to his own daughters, adds them to those previously removed by him from the board and divides them into fours. In the result, B has perhaps gained eight counters from A. The game is, however, by no means ended at this point. The board is reset, only this time B has eight houses and A only four, a state of affairs indicated by a deep groove in the sand (Fig. 10).
If B has gained three counters, over and above some multiple of four from A, he borrows one more from A to make up a complete house, but if B has gained a multiple of four plus two counters or one, A borrows these back to make up his last house.
Play proceeds until one player has driven the other off the board altogether, and therefore it may last for hours; for as the result of the second stage of play A may win back a house or more, and so the fortunes of the game may fluctuate for many successive stages.
In practice, it requires great skill, or, rather swift and accurate calculation, to foresee the result of a given move. Some Arabs are quite extraordinarily good at it, notably Sheikh Ali El Tom, the Nazir of the Kababish, who, with hardly any hesitation, will accurately predict the result of a move which takes him three or four times round the board." Davies 1925:143-144.
Confidence 100
Source Davies, R. 1925. 'Some Arab Games and Puzzles.' Sudan Notes and Records. 8: 137–152.
Id DLP.Evidence.1252
Type Ethnography
Game Li'b el-Merafib
Date 1925-01-01 - 1925-12-31
Rules The board is a square spiral of any number of spaces. Each player begins with one piece. Three casting sticks, each with a round and a flat side, are used as dice. The throws are as follows: One flat side up = 1; two flat sides up = 2; three flat sides up = 4, zero flat sides up = 6. The pieces begin on the outer end of the track, and must throw a 1 to begin play. Once a player has left the starting spot, they move according to the throws, except on throws of 1, which are tabulated for use later. Players continue to throw until they throw 2. Players must land on the last space of the track, I.e. at the center of the spiral, by an exact throw, and may use one of their accumulated throws of 1 if a 1 is required. The player must then roll 1 five times before leaving this space and proceeding back to the starting point. Accumulated rolls of 1 may be used for this. If the player must wait, they may accumulate individual throws of 2, 4, or 6 to use later. The first player to reach the starting space by an exact throw releases the hyena, which cannot move until 1 is thrown twice, or paid from the accumulated throws. The hyena proceeds along the track in the same manner, but moving twice the value of each throw. When the hyena reaches the end of the track, it must throw or pay 1 ten times. The hyena captures any piece it overtakes on the return to the starting space, eliminating that player from the game.
Content " Li'b El Merafib, or the Hyaena Game (Kababish) The hyaena game is both more ingenious and more amusing than any race game played with dice by English children which I have seen. The dice consist of three pieces of split stick, each about six inches long, on which the bark has been left, so that each stick has one rounded green surface and on flat white one. The three sticks are thrown up and may fall:— Two green and one which, which is called a tâba, Two white and one gree, which is called yômên, Three white, which is called rabî', Three green, which is called séta. The board is made by scooping a spiral groove in the sane and making a random number of hollows along its course. The bigger the spiral, of course, the longer the game will last. Fig. 11 shows a board set for four players. The middle hollow X is the well. the hollow Y at the other end of the spiral, is the village. The sticks 1, 2, 3, 4 represent the mothers of the players. The following are the rules of play :— 1. The players throw the dice in turn, each player throwing time after time, during his turn, until he is brought to standstill by a throw of yômên, when he hands the dice to the next player. 2. A player has to throw a tâba to enable his mother to leave the village at all, just as in race games played by English children one must throw a six to start. 3. After she has left the village, a tâba having been thrown by her son, she moves two "days" (I.e. hollows) for a throw of yômín, four "days" for a rabî' and six for a séta. She does not move for a tâba, which is, however, marked down on the sand to the credit of the player, for a use which will appear presently. 4. a mother must reach the well exactly. Thus if she is an odd number of "days" away from it she will arrive one day short of it, and may then use one of her son's credit of tâbas to complete the journey. 5. At the well, she required two tâbas to drink, one to wash her clothes and two to come away with. If a player has not this number of tâbas to his credit, his mother has to wait until he has scored them. If she has to wait there, however, the player is allowed to mark down for later use any other scores of two, four, or six, which he may throw in the meantime. 6. On coming down from the well, the women make their way back, in the same manner, to the village, from which the first to arrive lets loose the hyaena. 7. The hyaena (represented by the player whose mother first arrived at the village) is enabled to leave it on payment of two tâbas, after which he moves towards the well at double rates, I.e. four " days" for a yômên, eight for a rabî', twelve for a séta. 8. Arrived at the well he is held up, for it costs him ten tâbas to drink and come away again. 9. on leaving the well he still moves at double rates and eats any woman whom he overtakes. He cannot eat before drinking. In this game, the hyaena may be said to be the winner, but there are degrees of defeat. The player whose mother gets eaten by the hyaena is rudely mocked by the one who manages to get the old lady safely back to the village." Davies 1925: 145-146.
Confidence 100
Source Davies, R. 1925. 'Some Arab Games and Puzzles.' Sudan Notes and Records. 8: 137–152.
Id DLP.Evidence.1410
Type Ethnography
Game Sijat El Taba
Date 1925-01-01 - 1925-12-31
Rules 4x6 board. Six pieces per player, with one piece places on each of the three spaces on either end of the long row closest to the player. Three casting sticks, each with a round and a flat side, are used as dice. The throws are as follows: One flat side up = 1; two flat sides up = 2; three flat sides up = 4, zero flat sides up = 6. A player must throw a 1 to move each piece for the first time. Players move according to the throws, except on throws of 1, which are tabulated for use later. Players continue to throw until they throw 2. Pieces move along a boustrophedon path, beginning from left to right in the row closest to them. Pieces are captured when an player's piece lands on a spot occupied by an opponent's piece. Players may used tabulated throws to supplement a throw in order to make a capture. The player who captured the most pieces wins.
Content "2. Sijat El Taba. The board for this game consiste of six rows of ten "houses", or of four rows if a shorter game is desired. The two players, A and B, each have six counters, disposed as shown in Fig. 12. Those of A (XX) move as indicated by the single-headed arrows and those of B (OO) as indicated by the double-headed arrows. It will be noticed that the counters of the two players, as they moves, never meet each other, but they may catch each other up. The dice are thrown, and score, as in the Hyena game, a throw of "yômên" stopping the player. Tâbas are marked up to a player's credit, and one is required to enable each of his counters to move from its original position. After the counters have begun their course, the player is free to move any one of them, with a view to overtaking the counters of his opponent. A counter is "eaten" when overtaken and removed from the board. Spare "tâbas" may be used to assist in overhauling an opponent's counter. The player who "eats" most, wins." Davies 1925: 146-147.
Confidence 100
Ages Adult
Source Davies, R. 1925. 'Some Arab Games and Puzzles.' Sudan Notes and Records. 8: 137–152.
|
