14 - MERU, KIOTHI The
following section is copied, by permission, verbatim from "Kiothi, the Most
ancient Game of Africa", a two page handout written prior to 1972 by Fr.
Botta of the Materi Catholic Mission in Kenya.
The board, seeds and rules are according to the original game of KIOTHI played by the MERU tribe of Kenya.
For any information, please write to The Kiothi Club, Box 73, Meru.
Rules: the kiothi board has twenty "bomas" (cup-like hollowed out depressions), ten on each side and some boards also have large bomas to be used as prisons.
The game can only be played by two people at a time. Each player is given 30 warriors (seeds that look like acorns – or stones or what have you.) They are placed in the six right hand bomas on each side – five warriors to a boma.
The objective of the game is to capture the opposition warriors and put them in prison. The player who captures the majority is the winner. The supreme victory is to win by a margin of one. [Actually two. One's gain is the other's loss therefor the difference between any pair of scores is always an even number in all mankala games. - Ed.] Some tribes rate a one warrior victory as equivalent to two normal victories; some rate it as high as ten victories by any other margin.
To begin the game, each player is permitted to take the five men from each of two of his bomas and place them in any of the cups – on either side of the board. The battle to be fought is presumably between clans so that there is nothing to identify one warrior from another. (Some tribes play the game or "fight" for cattle – so the seeds represent cattle rather than warriors.) So all the warriors or cattle that are in the bomas on one side of the board belong to the player on that side. But as the game begins, he finds it strategically desirable to move some of them into enemy bomas where they are safe unless captured according to the rules of the game.
The order of play (who goes first) can be determined by various means but a toss of a coin is as good a way to decide as any. The first player may move any of the warriors in any of his bomas, provided he moves always to the right depositing one warrior in each of the cups beginning with the cup immediately to the right of the one from which he has taken the warriors and provided the last warrior does not land in a boma that is already occupied by one or more warriors. Usually at the early stages of the game, this means that he will have to select a group of warriors large enough to "go around the end"--that is, into enemy territory. Once he has gone around the end distributing one warrior in each cup, he will probably end placing the last warrior in an enemy encampment-that is in an enemy occupied boma. If this happens (and it usually does) he collects all the warriors in that boma and continues depositing them one at a time in the following bomas. (He does not put one in the boma he has just emptied.) However if he should place the last man in an empty enemy boma, he is finished and the opponent makes his move.
If however, he picks up enough warriors to come around the other end (back to his own side of the board) he is the hoping that the last warrior in his hand will be deposited in one of his own enemy [I believe this word is mistaken. - Ed.] bomas. When this happens, he then has captured the warriors in the enemy boma opposite the one in which he has landed. He also retires the warrior he used to make the capture and puts that warrior plus the ones he has captured in his prison. They are now out of the game and cannot be used again. There is one exception to this "capture" procedure. It is unlawful to capture an enemy boma that has not been moved. In other words, if in the early stages of the game, a player lands (with the last warrior of the group he is moving) in an empty boma on his own side of the board opposite an enemy boma that has not been moved, he cannot claim the warriors of that boma-nor can he retire the warrior with which he landed in that boma. But in a short time all the bomas will have been moved and then any warriors in enemy bomas are vulnerable and can be captured.
Finally, the cup or boma on the left (extreme left) side of a player’s row of bomas has special significance. Landing in that hole with the last warrior of a group you are moving when that hole is unoccupied, entitles you to capture all the warriors in the opposite or enemy boma as well as those in the three adjacent enemy bomas. Again, you can only do so if the enemy bomas have been disturbed (moved.) Also, you are only entitled to the warriors in bomas adjacent to the captured one provided each of the bomas is occupied. If the second boma from the enemy’s right (your left) on his side is empty, then you cannot capture the men in the third boma and so on. Landing in this hole is rather rare. One such "coup" when the enemy bomas are heavily occupied can often determine the outcome of the game.
Towards the end of the game, the strategy changes to this extent. Each player will attempt to keep a number of warriors (even one to a hole) in the left hand bomas on his side of the board. This will allow him to make a number of moves on his side (by landing in empty bomas) without placing any of his men in enemy territory. Eventually, one of the players will have no moves left other than the one in which he places warriors in the enemy camp. When one player has no moves left, the game is over and all the warriors remaining on the board (they will all be on one side) go to the opposition; i.e., the man who can still make a move. Then the captured warriors are counted and the one with the greatest number wins.
The word ‘kiothi’ comes from the Meru verb for putting or placing. The seeds are called njodthie. The racing start is sometimes used to determine the beginner. The game is often played using same seeds as described in kombe except that they are the colour of milk chocolate and look extremely like chocolate covered almonds. If some are left in a bowl on any table of a western household, someone is sure to try to eat one!
Photos 13 and 14 - A kiothi board and a detail of the chocolate coloured seeds.
15 - BUKUSO, LUKHO. Lukho is played by the Bukuso subtribe of the Baluya on the slopes of Mount Elgon. It is played only by mature males. Herd boys or school boys are strictly forbidden from playing as it distracts them from their duties. It is played in a rather orderly fashion between two opponents, a third person serving as referee and score keeper. It is felt that the Maasai method of team playing leads to fights. The playing board is often of wood but may be a series of holes dug into the ground or, in some cases, into solid rock. The counters are generally stones. A board has two rows of eight, ten or twelve in each row. The normal complement of stones is three for each pit, however they are not distributed uniformly. As is quite common in East Africa, the counters are called "cows". The name of the board is the same as that of the game – lukho.
Lukho is rather different than most games in that the entire game depends on the initial setup. One starts with three stones in each pit. Then each player removes whatever number of stones he decides from whatever holes he likes, on his own side.
Diagram n - One possible result of a lukho first move.
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2 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
|
1 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
At this point each player has the remainder of the counters in his hand. Then each player places whatever number of them he decides in any one hole on his opponent’s side. This could be considered to be move two of the "opening" phase of the game. Once this has been done both players simultaneously sow the stones remaining in their hands starting from the far left hand end of the opponent’s side. (This is at each player’s right.) The sowing is done counter clockwise. The moves chain in the same way as in mweso. This simultaneous move may be considered as move three of the opening phase. . Captures are permitted during this three of this phase. The first player to sleep while carrying out this racing move begins the "execution" phase.
Before explaining the second phase, note that captures are made by exactly the same means as rules 3 and 4 of enkeshui. A move is over after a capture.
Phase two, the execution phase, has no decision points for either player. Every move must begin at the non-empty pit which is farthest left on one’s own side of the board. The rules for carrying out these moves are the same as those used for the simultaneous move with one addition: Once a player has made a capture and later lands, with the last of handful, in a pit containing one stone, this pit is termed a "knife". It has exactly the same significance as a bull in enkeshui. That is, it can neither be moved nor captured and any move ending there sleeps. At the end of the game the contents of a knife are added to the winnings of the player to whom it belongs.
The game is over when one player has no stones, except perhaps in knives, left on his own side. The winner is the one with the most captured stones.
It can be seen that the purpose of the execution phase is only to determine the merits of the opening phase as all the moves are automatic. The game is entirely determined by the opening phase. There is one possible variation of this phase. One player may place all his stones wherever he likes on his opponent’s side. The opponent then starts his move from any pit on his side. From there the game continues in the execution phase.
Games are often played in sets of twelve using the following scoring system:
2 points - Both players have captured stones but the one with the most wins.
4 points - Only one player has made any captures at all, or one player has won by exactly two stones. The winning stone is called a "bull" and the winner taunts the loser with it making bovine noises and thrusting the bull at his face.
12 points - If the first game of a set is won by a bull.
16 - FUTURE WORK. Mankala games are played throughout Africa, however there are considerable differences in rules and styles of playing. Presumably these rules and styles disseminated themselves by a process of diffusion and mutation similar to that in which languages spread. Therefore the study of mankala games might be of value in the service of tracing the interactions of various tribes and cultures. The first step in such a study would be to develop a table of affinities in which degree of similarity between any two versions can be given some sort of guide number. The second step would be to plot a map showing the prevalence of the various versions. From the information already available it can be seen that the mweso, four-by-eight, type games seem to be associated with Arab contact. These are found up and down the entire Indian Ocean coast but also in the vicinity of Kampala. It was a surprise to me that they are also common in the Congo. On the other hand, the long two-by-twelve boards, of which enkeshui is a good example, are most common amongst the pastoral peoples of East Africa. I have not seen them in any other place. West Africans and Southeast Asians prefer the two-by-six arrangement. (Not dealt with in this article.)
Finally, a more systematic compilation of rules from a broader election of informants could then be added to this database. Inevitably insight would emerge from such an association of information. This the author concludes with a request for contributions from as broad a base as possible. His e-mail address is walter(at)driedger(dot)ca.
17 - METHODOLGY. Rules for the various michezo ya mbao were collected simply by asking. A typical expedition would take place on a Sunday afternoon when the author would drive out into the countryside and stop at whatever village bar struck his fancy. His motorcycle was helpful in attracting attention without distancing the local people. In the bar he would seat himself not too far from one of the patrons and order a beer. He would then light a cigarette and offer one to his neighbour, thus initiating a conversation. From this, the subject would gradually turn to mbao. The conversation would generally catch the attention of other patrons and a search for a suitable demonstration board was begun. Sometimes one could be found promptly; other times not at all. The author deliberately did not bring a sample board with him because there was a tendency for local people to attempt to accommodate the author by adapting their rules to his board. That would, of course, defeat the purpose of the research.
Once a board was found, or created by scooping pits in the ground, a game was begun. As explained in the section on enkeshui, learning the rules was not always a straightforward process. Eventually this was expedited by asking a series of structured questions:
i) What is the name of the game
ii) Who (what tribes) play the game?
iii) Who (old, young, men, women) play the game?
iv) Does the game have any other names?
v) How many rows in the board?
vi) How many pits in each row? Are there other options?
vii) Are there end pockets? Do they play an active part in the game?
viii) How many seeds in each row?
ix) How are they initially distributed? Are there other options?
x) In what direction may the seeds be sown? Under what circumstances may there be a reversal?
xi) What is the object of the game?
xii) What are the rules?
Photo 15 - The author, at left, conducting research at Wakaba’s bar in Ngong.
It was not unusual for the various patrons, informants, onlookers, etc. to start buying the author drinks before much time had passed, although in one case it was necessary for the author to bribe his informant by playing for beer. Interestingly, this produced rather suspect results as the informant seemed to be very vague about some of the rules that allowed him to win so consistently! When the author had absorbed about as much as he thought he could handle, he drove back to his flat in Nairobi and wrote down as much as he could remember in a standard form. Next he would select a suitable board from his collection and attempt to play the game in solitaire to verify the validity of the rules he had written down. Sometimes a second trip was required.
18 - BIBLIOGRAPHY
1 - Count and Capture, Cooperative Recreation Services, Inc., 1955.
This little booklet contains descriptions of a large variety of mankala games. They were written by foreign students who happened to be in the United States at the time. Care must be exercise in using it, however, as there is great variety in the quality of the articles.
2 - Omweso, a Game People Play in Uganda, M. B. Nsimbi, Uganda Publishing House, 1969.
This is an excellent account of the game as it is played by the Baganda.
3 - Standard Swahili-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 1967.
This was used in checking the apparent derivations of some of the names.
4 - White African, L. S. B. Leaky, Schenkman Publishing House.
An entire chapter is devoted to giuthi.
5 - Uganda Journal, Vol. 2, Mweso—The Board Game, R. S. Shackell.
Gives an early description of the game.
6 - Uganda Journal, Vol. 3, More About Mweso, R. S. Shackell.
Discusses various strategic considerations and various proverbs related to the game.
7 - Uganda Journal, Vol. 4, Notes on the Board Game Known as "Mweso" in Uganda, E. T. Wayland.
This article contains a large number of random observations concerning mankala games throughout the world.
19 - PHOTOGRAPHY
Photos 1, 9, 10, 11 and 27. Taken by Richard Beatty in 1971
Photo 2. Taken by the author in Kampala, Christmas 1970.
Photos 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 13 and 14. Taken by the author on March 4, 2001 of materials in his personal collection
Photo 15. Taken by a bystander in 1972 under the author’s direction.
20 - INTERNET RESOURCES. A large and accumulating body of information is becoming available on the World Wide Web. It is futile to attempt to catalogue them all. The ones listed have been found useful but many others can be found through the use of search engines.
http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/classic/mancala.html The home page of the Mind Sports Olympiad has a section on mankala games that includes owari, bao, conglak, omweso, kalah, and others.
http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~awari The University of Alberta has an online version of awari.
http://www.gamecabinet.com/rules/Bao.html Rob Nierse of Holland presents detailed rules and strategies for Zanzibari bao at this site. He also provides a lot of links to other sites with more information.
http://members.aol.com/GBShare/awalink.htm Edward Brisse provides a large number of links especially to downloadable shareware versions. His site includes a very long list of names for mankala games from throughout the world.
http://www.geocities.com/omweso The International Omweso society can be found here.
http://daphne.palomar.edu/wayne/nicker.htm Wayne Armstrong provides detailed information about caesalpinia bonduc, the seeds used in much of the world to play the local versions of mankala.
