Rules
El Arnab's board is a mancala board comprising 2 rows of 3 pits each, with an additional larger pits ("stores") located at each end of the board. The game setup is as follows: * 3 seeds in the lefthand store; * 1 seed in the righthand store; * 2 seeds in each of the four pits at the extremes of the rows; * 1 seed in each of the remaining pits.
3 , 2 1 2 ,
, - - - ,
, 2 1 2 , 1
To begin the game, the player takes all the seeds from the pit at the upper left corner of the rows, and relay-sows them counterclockwise. Sowing also includes the stores.
This relay sowing (and thus the game itself) never ends; it is meant to be just a pastime. It happens that every 27 circuits of the board, the board goes back to its initial setup.
In his 1925 article R. Davies stated that the pattern repeats every 26 circuits; but he miscounted. His informant, an elderly Arab, seems to have been aware of this; when Davies said he counted 26 the informant made a joke that apparently went over Davies' head.
References
*R. Davies, ''Some Arab Games and Puzzles''. In «Sudan Notes & Records» 8 (1925), pp. 137–152. Traditional mancala games Sudanese culture