Bohnenspiel ("the bean game") is a German mancala game described in the 1937 '' Deutsche Spielhandbuch''.

Rules

''Starting position for ''Das Bohnenspiel

The field consists of two rows of six pits each. The game starts with six beans in each pit. Each player "owns" the six pits closest to himself. The player whose turn it is to play chooses any one of his pits which contains at least one bean. He removes all the beans from this pit and ''sows'' them counterclockwise. Sowing is accomplished by selecting a pit, removing all the pieces from that pit, and dropping them one by one in each subsequent pit (leaving out the stores), until all have been used. If the last bean ends up in a pit which, after sowing, contains exactly two, four, or six beans (but no other number), all beans in this pit are captured. If any capture is made, the preceding pit is checked (and its beans possibly captured) according to the same rule, and so forth. If the player whose turn it is to move cannot move, the game ends and all beans on the board go to the other player. The goal is to capture more beans than the opponent.

History

The ''Bohnenspiel'' was first mentioned by Fritz Jahn his book ''Old German Games'' (1917). In it he describes a 1908 trip to

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

to visit Baron von Stackelberg. There he discovered a replica of a game board which to this day is kept in the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...

in St. Petersburg. The original board had been a gift from the

Shah Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...

of Persia to Empress

Catherine the Great , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

. The game spread in German-Baltic and Prussian noble families until it was popularized by Jahn in the entire German-speaking world and in all population strata. Jahn also pursued adult-pedagogical goals with the game: He wanted to educate the working class and improve the lives of wounded German

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

veterans. His variant of the game is also called Baltic bean game, while another variant, which used a bigger board, is called German bean game. A detailed analysis of the rules of the game shows the bean game to be very similar to Central Asian and Arab mancala games, such as

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

mangala Mangala (Sanskrit: मङ्गल, IAST: ) is the personification, as well as the name for the planet Mars, in Hindu literature. Also known as Lohita (), he is the celibate deity of anger, aggression, as well as war. According to Vaishnavism, ...

, Palestinian Al-manqala, and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

i Halusa. This fits very well with the likely origin of the game. The resemblance to African mancala games on the other hand is probably coincidence. In the 19th century, the game was most popular in the Baltic States, East and West

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

and

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

. In the Baltics, the game disappeared after the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

, due to the expropriation, expulsion, and execution of the German noble families in 1917. In

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, several books were written about the game. Plastic game boards were made in the 1980s, with the name of the game changed to ''Sabo'' or ''Badari''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bohnenspiel, Das Traditional mancala games

Rules

History

Further reading

References