MY favorite childhood game
My childhood game
Oware is an abstract strategy game among the Mancala family of board games (pit and pebble games) played worldwide with slight variations as to the layout of the game, number of players and strategy of play.
Its origin is uncertain[2] but it is widely believed to be of Ashanti origin Ayayo(2021).
Played in the Bono East Region, the Upper East, the Upper West Northern Region, the Upper East, the Ashanti Region, and several others.
In my area, which is in the north, we call it Wali (Dagbani), and other people call it Ewe (adji), Edo (Edo), and so on.
Its English name is Awari, but one of the first western scholars to research the game, Robbert Sutherland Rattery, gave it the name Wari.
Rules for the game
The rules are considered most appropriate for serious adult participating in the game.
Equipments
f e d c b a
A B C D E F
48 seeds are required for the Owari board of game.
In every typical Owari game it has two straight rows in which each row takes 24 seeds and also a large pits at the end of the board called “house” and each player has six house score on their side of the board game.
For the game to begin, it start by taking 4 seeds from a each of the twelve smaller given houses.
Some of the boards are plain curved and easy for functionality.
But in my local community most of the men and woman who engage themselves in the do keep the seeds in their hands instead of storing them in the larger pits at the end of the board called the scoring house.
The seeds are usually pebbles and shiny.
And some also used cheap Oval May rbles.