| Abstract: | In Azania (14 (1979), p. 108-138), a long account has been published by Ph. Townshend of the widely distributed game known most commonly as mankala (bao in Swahili). The present article presents a regional analysis of the varieties of the game played in north-eastern Africa (Ethiopia and the Horn). Sum.: The board-games of Ethiopia, Somalia and the Sudanese borderlands display elements of both similarity and diversity. These may be analysed in terms of the number of rows, holes and balls used, as well as on the basis of various opening gambits, and, above all, the objective of the game. The latter may be directed primarily towards the capture of holes, the acquisition of balls irrespective of 'territory', or in some rare cases a combination of both, or else towards a player's survival on the board after his opponent's supply of counters is exhausted. Some games take the form of a series of rounds in each of which a player by capturing balls can increase his control of the board, while in others the outcome is determined by the actual number of rounds won. Other games again consist only of a single, all decisive, round. Notes, ref. |
AfricaBib 
Periodical article
Leiden University catalogue
WorldCat
