A Dan Oware-Gameboard, "awale", with 50 Nicke... Lot n° 16

Oware game board, "awale", with 50 Moluccan beans Dan, Côte d'Ivoire Ohne Sockel / without base Wood. H 14,5 cm. W 62 cm. Provenance: - Jean-Pierre Laprugne, Paris. - Swiss private collection (1993). The origin of this bean game is unknown. The oldest game boards include archaeological finds from the Red Sea in Egypt (4th century AD). The game can be found under various names and in different forms throughout Africa. Oware (Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria), Songo (Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea), Moruba (South Africa), or Omweso (Uganda) are just a few names of the game in which game pieces are redistributed in troughs. In total, there are probably well over 1000 different games. In the absence of boards, the troughs are also dug out of the ground, and the rules of this game of entertainment and skill for two people are as varied as the elaboration of the boards. However, the principle of the game is always mathematical: each of the two opponents has a certain number of checkers, which he moves from tray to tray, trying to "capture" the checkers of his opponent in order to make him unable to move. The stones thus captured are collected in the hollows at the ends of the cube standing on four legs. Further reading: Ballou, Kanga (1984). Rules and strategies of the Awale game. Abidjan: Les Nouvelles Editions Africaines. CHF 400 / 800 EUR 400 / 800