Moruba
Moruba (also: Maruba ) is an African board game .
It is a four-row Mancala variant that is played by the Pedi (formerly: Bapedi ) in the South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga , in the former Transvaal . Through migration , the game also in the provinces of Gauteng and Western Cape spread. It is closely related to games described in Mozambique , such as: B. Tchouba and Njombwa. The game was first studied in 1917 by the British ethnologist PA Wagner. It's traditionally a men's game.
Since 2003 Moruba has been promoted as an indigenous sport by the CSIR's National Product Development Center and the South African Sports Commission (SASC) . Since then, tournaments have been held at the Indigenous Games Festival in Polokwane and the Indigenous Games Competition in Tzaneen. The game is also supported by the Mpumalanga Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture and the Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture of the Province Gauteng , as it is an important expression of indigenous identity and, as it is called, a "healthy lifestyle." " represents. The best players, including D. Shikwambam and Petrus Shibambu, are organized in the South African Wargamers Union (SAWU) . In addition to Moruba, other games are also gaining in popularity, e.g. B. Morabaraba , Diketo, Injuba, Izingeda and Ingcathu. This renaissance of African games results from the much- noticed call by Thabo Mseki , President of Boxing South Africa (BSA) , "to rediscover what the indigenous people (Africa through colonialism ) have lost" .
Today Sasekani and Bolobedu are centers of the game. The daily Mopani News reports regularly on Moruba tournaments. Already at the game, high school is used by Bolobedu in the classroom should be introduced at all schools in the Limpopo Province, soon. Dickson Mpofu, the coordinator for indigenous games in the Mpumalanga province, also wants to make Moruba an Olympic discipline.
Rules of the game
The size of the board depends on the number of players. The most commonly used board is made up of four by eight game hollows (mekoti) , but there are historical photographs of boards that even had four by 16 hollows. The hollows are dug into the ground. The game pieces are mostly small stones called mathlapa .
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- Starting position
Each player only plays on his half of the board, which consists of two by eight hollows. In each move, the contents of a hollow containing at least two stones are distributed individually counter-clockwise on your own side of the board. If the last stone falls into a filled trough, its contents are taken together with the last stone distributed and distributed further in the same direction. The move only ends when the last stone is placed in an empty hollow.
If the last stone falls into an empty hollow of the inner row and the opposing inner hollow of the opponent contains stones, these opposing stones are "killed" (tlaba) . In addition, the stones of the opponent's outer hollow directly behind it are "caught" (tlola) and the contents of any other opposing hollow. The killed or caught opposing stones are removed from the board.
If a player only has single stones left in his hollows, he can also move individual stones, but only in empty hollows.
The winner is whoever has stones left until the end. You lose if you have no more stones in your hollows. A tie is not possible.
literature
- ER Santos Silva: Jogos de Quadrícula do Tipo Mancala com especial Incidência nos Practicados em Angola . Instituto de Investigação Cientifíca Tropical, Lisbon (Portugal) 1995.
- PA Wagner: A Contribution to our Knowledge of the National Game of Skill of Africa . In: Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa 1917; 6 (1): 47-68.
Web links
Historic photo by anthropologists Eileen and Jack Krige (1936–38), South African Museum