Zamma is a two-player abstract strategy game from Africa. It is especially played in Mauritania. The game is similar to alquerque and draughts. [1]
The game goes by several names such as damma, and in Mauritania as srand or dhamet, where it is a national game. Mauritania's version is different from the other variants in that the pieces captured are instantly removed from the board, whereas in other variants, the removal of captured pieces is deferred.
Board sizes vary, but all are square grids, including 5×5 or 9×9 square grids with left and right diagonal lines running through several intersection points (or "points") of the board. The initial setup is also similar to alquerque, where every space on the board is filled with each player's pieces except for the middle point of the board. Furthermore, each player's pieces are also set up on their respective half of the board.
One could think of the 5×5 board as a standard alquerque board, but with additional diagonal lines, and the 9×9 board as four standard alquerque boards combined, but no additional diagonal lines.
The 5×5 square grid has left and right diagonal lines running through each point of the square grid. Depending on the rules being used, the additional points created by the intersection of the left and right diagonal lines within each square may or may not be considered a point on the board for pieces to be placed on.
The 9x9 square grid is four standard Alquerque boards arranged in a square array to form a larger square grid, with no additional diagonal lines.
Each player's pieces are distinguishable from the other player, for example, one plays with black pieces and the other with white pieces. Every point of the board is occupied by a piece except for the central point. Each player's pieces are placed on their respective half of the board; on the central row, each player places their pieces to their respective right of the central point. In Mauritania, the black pieces are referred to as men, and the white pieces as women. In the Sahara, short sticks represent the men, and camel dung represent the women. [2]
The game specifically resembles draughts in that pieces must move in the forward directions until they are crowned " Mullah " (also known as "Edhayam" or "Sultan"), which is the equivalent of the king in draughts. The Edhayam can move in any direction.
Alquerque is a strategy board game that is thought to have originated in the Middle East. It is considered to be the parent of draughts and Fanorona and the diagonals of its grid are the predecessor of the checkering of the draughts board.
Checkers, also known as draughts, is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve forward movements of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers is developed from alquerque. The term "checkers" derives from the checkered board which the game is played on, whereas "draughts" derives from the verb "to draw" or "to move".
Permainan-Tabal is an Indonesian two-player abstract strategy board game. The game is sometimes referred to as a cross between alquerque and draughts. It is essentially draughts played on an expanded alquerque board. It is especially similar to draughts in that the moves of the pieces are strictly forward and sideways until they are promoted to kings by reaching the other player's first rank. The game is also referred to as dama.
Kolowis Awithlaknannai is a two-player strategy board game from the Zuni Native American Indians. It was described by Stewart Culin in his book Games of the North American Indians (1907), and may have been the first publication of the game. It was later described in R.C. Bell's book Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations (1969). R.C. Bell coined the term fighting serpents, but provides no explanation for it. Perhaps the black and white pieces are laid out in the beginning of the game in such a way that it looks like two serpents fighting.
Egara-guti is a two-player abstract strategy game from India, specifically from Central Provinces, and it was described by H.J.R. Murray in A History of Board-Games Other Than Chess (1952). The game is related to Draughts and even more so to Alquerque. Pieces are captured by leaping over them. Egara-Guti consists of a Lau kata kati board, but with the addition of two lines connecting the two triangles and running through them. Egara-guti belongs to a specific category of games called Indian War-games; some other games in this category are Lau kata kati, Dash-guti, Pretwa, Gol-skuish. All Indian War-games have one important thing in common, and that is that all the pieces are laid out on the grid patterned board in the beginning, with only one vacant point in the center. This forces the first move to be played on the central point, and captured by the other player's piece.
Felli is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Morocco. It is related to Alquerque and draughts as pieces leap over one another to capture. Felli's closest relatives are several thousand miles away in the form of Lau kata kati from India and the game called Butterfly from Mozambique. One main difference is that the Felli board has only one horizontal line across its breadth as opposed to two found in the other two games.
Liberian Queah is a two-player abstract strategy game from Liberia. It is specifically from the Mamba, Queah and Bassa tribes. The game is played on a slanted or diagonal square board with only 13 spaces. Pieces move "orthogonally" along these slanted or diagonal square boards. Another unique feature is that each player must have maximum four pieces on the board. Player's captured piece may resupplied with a piece from their reserve.
Kharbaga is a two-player abstract strategy game from North Africa. In a way, it is a miniature version of Zamma; however, there are more diagonal lines per square on the board as compared to Zamma. The game is considered part of the Zamma family. The game is also similar to Alquerque and draughts. The board is essentially an Alquerque board with twice the number of diagonal lines or segments allowing for greater freedom of movement. The initial setup is also similar to Alquerque, where every space on the board is filled with each player's pieces except for the middle point of the board. Moreover, each player's pieces are also set up on each player's half of the board. The game specifically resembles draughts in that pieces must move in the forward directions until they are crowned "Mullah" which is the equivalent of the King in draughts. The Mullah can move in any direction.
Dablo is a family of two-player strategy board games of the Sámi people. Different variants of the game have been played in different parts of Sápmi.
Italian Damone is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Italy. It belongs to the draughts (checkers) family, and it is specifically a diagonal checkers variant. Each player's pieces are initially placed on two opposite corners of the board and move towards the opposite corner with the possibility of promotion for most of its pieces. The flow of the game is generally between these two opposite corners hence the diagonality of the game. Each player only has eight pieces to start the game, which is relatively small compared to most checker variants. Unlike the undifferentiated pieces as found in most checker variants at the beginning of the game, the pieces in Italian Damone are already differentiated by rank. The pieces are ranked from high to low as Damone, Damas, and Pedine. The Damone is sometimes referred to as Imperatore. The standard game has 1 Damone, 2 Damas, and 5 Pedines for each player. A player's piece can only capture an opposing piece if the opposing piece is the same rank or lower; therefore, it cannot capture a higher ranked piece.
Tiger game played with forty, translation of meurimueng-rimueng peuet ploh, is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Sumatra, Indonesia. The last part of the name, ploh, is sometimes spelled "plo". It is specifically played by the Acehnese. The game was described in The Achehnese by Hurgronje, O'Sullivan, and Wilkinson in 1906. The game is basically an enlarged version of alquerque, played on four adjoining alquerque boards arranged as a square array, resulting in 81 intersection points. The same board is used in zamma. The rules are exactly those of alquerque, except that captures are not compulsory.
Fetaix is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Morocco. It is very similar to Alquerque. The only difference is that pieces cannot move backwards until they are promoted to Mullah which is the equivalent of King in draughts. Furthermore, Mullahs can move any number of vacant points on the board, and capture enemy pieces from any distance similar to the Kings in International draughts. Another name for the game is qireq.
High jump is a two-player strategy board game from Somalia. It is related to draughts and alquerque as pieces hop over one another for capture; however, pieces move and capture orthogonally and not diagonally. Moreover, the game is played on a 5×5 square board. A feature of high jump is that the central square offers a kind of sanctuary; a piece occupying the central square cannot be hopped over and captured. The same board is used in the game Seega.
Tûkvnanawöpi is a two-player abstract strategy board game played by the Hopi native American Indians of Arizona, United States. The game was traditionally played on a slab of stone, and the board pattern etched on it. Tukvnanawopi resembles draughts and Alquerque. Each player attempts to capture each other's pieces by hopping over them. It is unknown how old the game is; however, the game was published as early as 1907 in Stewart Culin's book "Games of the North American Indians Volume 2: Games of Skill".
Tiger and buffaloes is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Myanmar. It belongs to the hunt game family. The board is a 4x4 square grid, where pieces are placed on the intersection points and move along the lines. It is one of the smallest hunt games. Three tigers are going up against eleven buffaloes. The tigers attempt to capture as many of the buffaloes by the short leap as in draughts or alquerque. The buffaloes attempt to hem in the tigers.
Terhüchü is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Nagaland in Northeast India and is played by the Angami Naga ethnic group.
Sua ghin gnua is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Thailand, formerly known as Siam. Another name for the game is tigers and oxen. It is a hunt game played on a 5x5 square grid with only orthogonal lines. One player plays the three tigers, and the other player plays the twelve oxen. The board is empty in the beginning. Players first drop their pieces onto the board, and then are able to move them. The tigers can capture the oxen by the short leap as in draughts and alquerque, but the oxen attempt to elude and at the same time hem in the tiger.
Astar is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Kyrgyzstan. It is a game similar to draughts and Alquerque as players hop over one another's pieces when capturing. However, unlike draughts and Alquerqe, Astar is played on 5×6 square grid with two triangular boards attached on two opposite sides of the grid. The board somewhat resembles those of kotu ellima, sixteen soldiers, and peralikatuma, all of which are games related to astar. However, these three games use an expanded alquerque board with a 5×5 square grid with diagonal lines. Astar uses a 5×6 grid with no diagonal lines.
Chesquerque is a chess variant invented by George R. Dekle Sr. in 1986. The game is played on a board composed of four Alquerque boards combined into a square. Like Alquerque, pieces are positioned on points of intersection and make their moves along marked lines ; as such, the board comprises a 9×9 grid with 81 positions (points) that pieces can move to.
Keny is a draughts game played in the Caucasus and nearby areas of Turkey. Keny is actually the Ossetian name for the game as it is most popular in Ossetia, a region in the Caucasus. In Armenia, it is called Vayut tama. The game is also known as Caucasian checkers. There may be slight variations of the game, but the rules described here are from Nikita Sokolov from his article "It's been a while since we took checkers into our hands..." (2005).