''Shax'' (pronounced /shah/), also known as ''jar'', ''djelga'' or ''mororova''{{clarify, date=June 2018, reason=In what languages? Provide proper language markup, or provide info on talk page so someone else can. in some areas, is a
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 the
Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...
, particularly in
Somalia
Somalia, , Osmanya script: ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐; ar, ุงูุตูู
ุงู, aแนฃ-แนขลซmฤl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
. With its origins dating back centuries, it is still popular today.
The game is usually played by marking a board on the ground, and using stones or sticks as pieces. ''Shax'' has had a significant influence on
Somali literature
Somali literature is the literature used by the ethnic Somalis of Somalia, Somaliland, Djibouti, Yemen, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Kenya.
Somali poetry
Nation of Bards
Due to the Somali people's passionate love for and facility with poetry, Somalia ...
, which often mentions gameplay and strategies. In the historical
nomad
A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...
ic lifestyle of the
Somali people
The Somalis ( so, Soomaalida ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ar, ุตูู
ุงูููู) are an ethnic group native to the Horn of Africa who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The Lowland East Cushitic Somali language is the shared ...
, ''shax'' was also utilized as a means of communication between different clans.
Rules
''Shax'' is similar to the game
nine men's morris
Nine men's Morris is a strategy board game for two players dating at least to the Roman Empire. The game is also known as nine-man morris, mill, mills, the mill game, merels, merrills, merelles, marelles, morelles, and ninepenny marl in English. ...
and uses the same board. However, in ''shax'', mills formed during placement do not immediately result in the removal of opposing pieces. When placement is finished, if any mills have been formed, the player who formed the first one may remove one opposing piece, and the other player may do the same whether they formed a mill or not. Play then continues as before. If no mills were formed during placement, the second player to move during placement is the first to move after it.
If at any time a player has no moves, their opponent is required to open an intersection by moving. If this freeing movement happens to form a mill, no piece may be removed. The "flying" rule is not used.
See also
*''
Turup
''Turup'', also known as ''arpaa turup'', is a card game played widely in Northeast Africa. In Somalia, it involves four players, usually using a 144-card pack made up 4 identical 36-card packs.
Game play
The game uses a standard French deck of pl ...
''
References
*Davies, R.
"An introduction to Shax: A Somali Game"Mogadishu, Somalia; December 1988.
*Jama Musse Jama; ''Shax: the preferred game of our camel-herders and other traditional African entertainments''. Rome: Sun Moon Lake 2000.
*Marin, G.; "Somali Games"; in ''Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute'' 1931; 61: 499โ512.
External links
program: Shax v. 1.0 (released in 1997)
Traditional board games
Morris games
Somali games