[Nfb-krafters-korner] {Disarmed} Re: What is Mancala?

[Terrence van Ettinger]

Wow! Lots of stuff there! Will have to read through some more of it when I'm not still spaced from novicane or whatever they used on me this morning.

Terrence the temporary space cadet

Twitter: www.twitter.com/terrencevane
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On Dec 23, 2010, at 11:18 AM, Blindhands at aol.com wrote:

> 
> Mancala
> 
> From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> Jump to: _navigation_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#mw-head) , 
> _search_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#p-search)  
> Mancala is a family of board games played around the world,  sometimes 
> called "_sowing_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sowing) " games, or 
> "count-and-capture" games, which  describes the game-play. Mancala games play a role in 
> many African and  some Asian societies comparable to that of _chess_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess)   in the West, or the game of _Go_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game))   in Eastern Asia. The list of mancala games 
> best known in the Western  world includes _Kalah_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalah)  and _Oware_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oware) . Other games are 
> _Congkak_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congkak) , _Omweso_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omweso) , _Ünee tugaluulakh_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ünee_tugaluulakh) , _Bao_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bao_(mancala_game)) , 
> _Sungka_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sungka)  and _Igisoro_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igisoro) . 
> The word mancala comes from the _Arabic_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language)  word naqala meaning literally "to move."  There is no one game 
> with the name mancala; instead mancala is a type, or  designation, of game. 
> This word is used in Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt, but is not  consistently 
> applied to any one game. 
> In the USA, however, "mancala" is often used as a synonym for the game  
> _Kalah_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalah) .     
> 
> Contents
> [_hide_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#) ]
>    *   _1 General  gameplay_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#General_gameplay)   
>    *   _1.1 Equipment_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#Equipment)   
>    *   _1.2 Object_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#Object)   
>    *   _1.3 Capturing_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#Capturing)  
>    *   _2 History_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#History)   
>    *   _3 Psychology_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#Psychology)   
>    *   _4 See  also_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#See_also)   
>    *   _5 Bibliography_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#Bibliography)   
>    *   _6 References_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#References)   
>    *   _7 External links_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#External_links)  
> [_edit_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=1) ] General gameplay
> Mancala games share a common general game play. Players begin by placing a  
> certain number of seeds, prescribed by the variation in use, in each of the 
> pits  on the game board. A player may count their stones to plot the game. 
> A turn  consists of removing all seeds from a pit, sowing the seeds (placing 
> one  in each of the following pits in sequence), and capturing based on the 
> state of  board. This leads to the English phrase "Count and Capture" 
> sometimes used to  describe the gameplay. Although the details differ greatly, 
> this general  sequence applies to all games. 
> [_edit_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=2) ] Equipment
> 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Igoware.JPG)  
> Wooden Mancala Board from West Africa
> 
> 
> Equipment is typically a board, constructed of various materials, with a  
> series of holes arranged in rows, usually two or four. Some games are more 
> often  played with holes dug in the earth, or carved in stone. The holes may 
> be  referred to as "depressions", "pits", or "houses". Sometimes, large holes 
> on the  ends of the board, called stores, are used for holding the pieces.  
> Playing pieces are seeds, beans, stones, cowry shells, or other small  
> undifferentiated counters that are placed in and transferred about the holes  
> during play. _Nickernuts_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickernut) are one 
> common example of pieces used. Board  configurations vary among different 
> games but also within variations of a given  game; for example _Endodoi_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endodoi)  is played on boards from 2 × 6 to 2 × 10. 
> With a two-rank board, players usually are considered to control their  
> respective sides of the board, although moves often are made into the 
> opponent's  side. With a four-rank board, players control an inner row and an outer 
> row, and  a player's seeds will remain in these closest two rows unless the 
> opponent  captured them. 
> [_edit_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=3) ] Object
> The object of mancala games is usually to capture more stones than the  
> opponent; sometimes, one seeks to leave the opponent with no legal move or to  
> have your side empty first in order to win. 
> At the beginning of a player's turn, they select a hole with seeds that 
> will  be sown around the board. This selection is often limited to holes on the 
> current player's side of the board, as well as holes with a certain 
> minimum  number of seeds. 
> In a process known as sowing, all the seeds from a hole are dropped  
> one-by-one into subsequent holes in a motion wrapping around the board. Sowing  is 
> an apt name for this activity, since not only are many games traditionally  
> played with seeds, but placing seeds one at a time in different holes 
> reflects  the physical act of _sowing_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sowing) . If 
> the sowing action stops after dropping the  last seed, the game is 
> considered a single lap game. 
> Multiple laps or relay sowing is a frequent feature of mancala  games, 
> although not universal. When relay sowing, if the last seed during sowing  lands 
> in an occupied hole, all the contents of that hole, including the last  
> sown seed, are immediately resown from the hole. The process usually will  
> continue until sowing ends in an empty hole. Another common way to receive  
> "multiple laps" is when the final seed sown lands in your designated hole. 
> Many games from the _Indian_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India)   
> subcontinent use pussa-kanawa laps. These are like standard multilaps,  but instead 
> of continuing the movement with the contents of the last hole  filled, a 
> player continues with the next hole. A pussakanawa lap move will then  end 
> when a lap ends just prior to an empty hole. If a player ends his stone with  a 
> point move he gets a "free turn" 
> [_edit_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=4) ] Capturing
> Depending on the last hole sown in a lap, a player may capture stones  from 
> the board. The exact requirements for capture, as well as what is done with 
> captured stones, vary considerably among games. Typically, a capture 
> requires  sowing to end in a hole with a certain number of stones, ending across 
> the board  from stones in specific configurations, or landing in an empty 
> hole adjacent to  an opponents hole that contains one or more pieces. 
> Another common way of capturing is to capture the stones that reach a 
> certain  number of seeds at any moment. 
> Also, several games include the notion of capturing holes, and thus all 
> seeds  sown on a captured hole belong at the end of the game to the player who 
> captured  it. 
> [_edit_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=5) ] History
> 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AksumGebeta.jpg)  
> 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AksumGebeta.jpg) 
> Ancient Gebeta (i.e. mancala) holes in the base of an _Aksumite_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Aksum)  _stele_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stele) ,  _Axum_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axum) , _Ethiopia_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia) .
> 
> 
> One of the earlist evidence of the game are fragments of a pottery board 
> and  several rock cuts found in _Aksumite_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Aksum)  _Ethiopia_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia)  in 
> _Matara_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matara,_Eritrea)  (now in _Eritrea_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrea) ) and _Yeha_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeha)  (in  Ethiopia), which are dated by archaeologists to between the 6th 
> and 7th century  AD; the game may have been mentioned by _Giyorgis of Segla_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Giyorgis_of_Segla&action=edit&redli
> nk=1)  in his 14th century _Ge'ez_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge'ez_language)  text "Mysteries of Heaven and Earth", where he  refers to a game 
> called _qarqis_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Qarqis&action=edit&redlink=1) , a term used in _Ge'ez_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge'ez_language)  to refer to both Gebet'a (Mancala) and  Sant'araz (modern sent'erazh, 
> Ethiopian _Chess_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess) )._[1]_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#cite_note-0)  The similarity of  some aspects of the 
> game to _agricultural_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture)  activity 
> and the absence of a need for  specialized equipment present the intriguing 
> possibility that it could date to  the beginnings of _civilization_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization)  itself; however, there is little  
> verifiable evidence that the game is older than about 1300 years. Some purported 
> evidence comes from the _Kurna  temple_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurna_temple)  _graffiti_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti)  in Egypt, as 
> reported by Parker in 1909 and  Murray in his "Board games other than 
> chess". However, accurate dating of this  graffiti seems to be unavailable, and 
> what designs have been found by modern  scholars generally resemble games 
> common to the Roman world, rather than  anything like Mancala. 
> Although the games existed in pockets in _Europe_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe)   -- it is recorded as being played as early as the 17th 
> century by merchants in  _England_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England) 
> [_citation needed_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed) ] -- it 
> has never gained much  popularity in most regions, except in the Baltic 
> area, where once it was a very  popular game ("_Bohnenspiel_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Bohnenspiel) ") and Bosnia, where it is called Ban-Ban  and 
> still played today. Mancala has also been found in Serbia[_citation needed_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed) ], 
> Bulgaria[_citation needed_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed) ], Greece 
> ("Mandoli",  Cyclades) and in a remote castle in southern Germany (_Schloss 
> Weikersheim_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weikersheim_Castle) ). 
> The _USA_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States)  has a larger 
> mancala playing population. A  traditional mancala game called Warra was still 
> played in Louisiana in the early  20th century. In Cape Verde, Mancala is known 
> as "ouril". It is played in the  Islands and was brought to America by Cape 
> Verdean immigrants. It is played to  this day in Cape Verdean communities 
> in New England. 
> [_edit_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=6) ] Psychology
> Like other _board games_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_game#Psychology) , Mancala games have led to psychological  studies. Retschitzki has 
> studied the cognitive processes used by awale  players._[2]_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#cite_note-1)  Some of  Restchitzki's results on memory and 
> problem solving have recently been simulated  by Gobet with the _CHREST_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHREST)   computer model._[3]_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#cite_note-2)  _De  Voogt_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_de_Voogt)  has studied the psychology of Bao playing._[4]_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#cite_note-3)  
> [_edit_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=7) ] See  also
>    *   _List of mancala games_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mancala_games)  
> [_edit_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&a