[Nfb-krafters-korner] {Disarmed} Re: What is Mancala?
River Woman
riverwoman at zoominternet.net
Thu Dec 23 22:59:11 UTC 2010
OH, temporary Space Cadet, huh? Well, I am a permanent Space Cadet, and it's
not so bad. haa Lynda
----- Original Message -----
From: "Terrence van Ettinger" <terrencevane at gmail.com>
To: "List for blind crafters and artists" <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 23, 2010 4:38 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] {Disarmed} Re: What is Mancala?
> 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
> Skype: LandrasPhaelan
> Words with Friends ID: terrencevak
>
>
> 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§ion=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§ion=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§ion=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§ion=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§ion=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§ion=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§ion=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
>
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