Dara is a two-player

abstract strategy Abstract strategy games admit a number of definitions which distinguish these from strategy games in general, mostly involving no or minimal narrative theme, outcomes determined only by player choice (with no randomness), and perfect information ...

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

played in several countries of West Africa. In

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

it is played by the

Dakarkari people Dakarkari people also known as Lena are one of the ethnics group in Nigeria with approximate population of 136, 000. They are mainly found in Zuru Donko-Wasagu, and Sakaba Local Government Areas of Kebbi State (formally part of Sokoto state) and s ...

. It is popular in

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesZarma, who call it dili, and it is also played in Burkina Faso. In the

Hausa language Hausa (; /; Ajami: ) is a Chadic language spoken by the Hausa people in the northern half of Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Benin and Togo, and the southern half of Niger, Chad and Sudan, with significant minorities in Ivory Coast. Hausa is a member ...

(Niger and Nigeria), the game is called doki which means horse. It is an alignment game related to

tic-tac-toe Tic-tac-toe (American English), noughts and crosses (Commonwealth English), or Xs and Os (Canadian or Irish English) is a paper-and-pencil game for two players who take turns marking the spaces in a three-by-three grid with ''X'' or ''O''. T ...

, but far more complex. The game was invented in the 19th century or earlier. The game is also known as derrah and is very similar to

Wali A wali (''wali'' ar, وَلِيّ, '; plural , '), the Arabic word which has been variously translated "master", "authority", "custodian", "protector", is most commonly used by Muslims to indicate an Islamic saint, otherwise referred to by the ...

and Dama Tuareg.

Goal

To form three-in-a-rows, and eliminate enough of your opponent's pieces so that they can no longer form three-in-a-rows.

Equipment

The board is a 5x6 square board. Each player has 12 pieces. One player plays Black and the other plays White, however, any two colors will do. In Niger, people simply dig out 30 holes in the sand; one side takes doum nuts, the other short sticks.

Game play and rules

# Players decide among themselves who starts first. # The board is empty in the beginning. Players take turn placing their stones onto the empty cells of the square board. This is known as Phase 1 of the game or the Drop phase. # After all 24 stones have been dropped, Phase 2 or the Move phase begins. Players will then take turns moving their pieces orthogonally into an adjacent empty cell. # Players attempt to make a three-in-a-row with their own pieces. The three-in-a-row must be orthogonal and not diagonal. Furthermore, it must be strictly three pieces in a row, and not four or more pieces in a row; four or more pieces formed in a row are illegal. If a three-in-a-row is made by a player, they can remove one enemy piece from the board which is not part of a three-in-a-row itself. # If a player can no longer make three-in-a-rows with their remaining pieces (e.g. if the player only has two pieces left), that player is the loser, and the other player is the winner. Three-in-a-rows made during the Drop phase do not count. Therefore, a player cannot remove another player's stone during the Drop phase even if one were to make a three-in-a-row. (In Niger, it is not allowed to make a three-in-a-row during the Drop phase.) Moreover, the rule that four or more pieces in a row are illegal to form also applies in the Drop phase. If a player were to successfully form two three-in-a-rows ''in one move'' during the Move phase, only one enemy piece can be removed.

External links

* *http://homepages.di.fc.ul.pt/~jpn/gv/dara.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20080908004700/http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/SLsup5actb.txt {{DEFAULTSORT:Dara (Game) Abstract strategy games Traditional board games African games

Goal

Equipment

Game play and rules

See also

External links