The awale
It is in Ethiopia that we could find the first traces of the, dating from the eighth century, it thus spread throughout Africa and then in the world in many variants and equally numerous names.
We call here this “awalé” game, name most often given in Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso to this game of sowing or mancala which leaves nothing to chance or luck.
The awale is undoubtedly one of the most played games in the world, under various rules depending on the country, the need being to have at least 48 small seeds or stones to play it for two. It is played in all the villages of Africa and therefore has many practitioners.
Due to the mastery that this game requires, in Africa, the great players are very respected and listened to, their opinion counts in daily decisions, it is a marker of intellect.
How to play awale
Often played on the ground, in the villages, with small pebbles or seeds, it comes to us in the form of two half-flutes of 6 holes each.
Four seeds are placed in each cavity, usually from the caesalpinia bonduc shrub, which are often found in pairs in what looks like a crushed chestnut.
It is played by two, each having a camp made up of a row of six holes, i.e. 24 seeds and each in turn, whatever the result of the move, you can move all the seeds contained in one of the 6 holes of his camps by depositing them in the following cavity one by one.
In the rule explained here, the goal of the game is to seize the maximum of seeds from the opponent, to do so, the last seed placed in the opposing camp, must mingle with one or two seeds already present, neither more nor less.
If the “sowing” carried out goes back through the square in which we took the seeds, we skip this one to continue depositing the seeds one by one.
We then pick up the seeds and the opponent plays in turn, if the “sowing” leads to “eating” all of the opponent's seeds, then none are taken.
The movement and operation is very simple, however, winning against a seasoned opponent can be very difficult, if not impossible.
The game is won from 25 seeds taken, but remains very interesting until the last possible catch. There are many techniques and moves, similar to chess or go, this game requires a great sense of strategy, mental calculation and observation.
The game ends when the loser has no more seeds in his camp and the opponent cannot give him any, it is also common practice to "give" at least one seed when one obtains all the remaining seeds in his camp.
This game therefore requires great skills to be a champion, you have to know how to memorize the breakdown of numbers, mentally calculate by addition, recognize at simple sight without counting a number of pawns.
