Board games from the city of Vijayanagara (Hampi ... - Gioco dell'Oca.

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B OARD G AME S TUDIES 6, 2003
torical connections with Zanzibar, the game of Hawalis is unlikely to have been a recent
import. The absence of Africans in the game, a tradition of champions and clearly distinct
rules which have developed in such a way that calculating abilities and strategic
insight matter indicate that this game entered the Arabian Subcontinent and stayed to
develop into a championship game. Similar game rules from other parts of East Africa
have not yet come to my attention but could clarify the history of this game. The dhow
trading routes have traveled the East African coasts for many centuries and could provide
a first explanation of the presence of four-row mancala in the Middle East.
This account should convince readers and researchers of the importance of game
descriptions. In the case of mancala it is particularly important to make note of games
in the Middle East and Asia. Apparently, four-row mancala is played outside of Africa.
It is the lack of research that made Townshend think otherwise. It cannot be argued,
even with the above evidence, that mancala originated in Africa, Asia or the Middle
East. It clearly shows that such a question cannot yet be answered if it can be answered
at all. Instead, we may draw a line along the East African coast to connect similar boards,
rules and playing practices and perhaps link their shared history to the dhow trade in the
Indian Ocean.
Literature
Deledicq, A. & A. Popova 1977. Wari et solo. Le jeu de calculs africain. Paris: Cedic.
Eagle, V.A., 1995. On some newly described mancala games from Yunnan Province,
China, and the definition of a genus in the family of mancala games. In: A.J. de
Voogt (ed.), New approaches to board games research: Asian origins and future perspectives.
Leiden: IIAS (Working Papers Series 3): 48-62.
Murray, H.J.R. 1952. A history of board games other than chess. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Schädler, U. 1998. Mancala in Roman Asia Minor?, In: BGS 1: 10-25.
Townshend, Ph. 1979. Mankala in Eastern and Southern Africa: a distributional analysis,
In: Azania, XIV: 109-138.
Voogt, A.J. de 1995. Limits of the mind: towards a characterisation of Bao mastership.
Leiden: CNWS Publications.
Voogt, A.J. de 1997. Mancala Board Games. London: British Museum Press.
Voogt, A.J. de 2001. Mancala: games that count. Expedition, Vol. 43: 38-46.
Voogt, A.J. de & J. Donkers 2002. Mancala, a digital catalogue. CD-Rom co-production
Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam.