Oware Board Game

African Art Collection
DESCRIPTION: The wood board has two straight rows of six pits, called houses and two large score houses, one at each end. The board is very old and is said to have been used since the 1940s. The Players take turns moving the seeds. On a turn chooses one of the six houses under his control. The player removes all the seeds from that house and distributes them, dropping one in each house counterclockwise from this house. Players capture seeds when there are two or three seed remaining in the opponent’s hole when the last bead is dropped. The board is in good condition except for normal ware and tear.
GEOGRAPHY / CULTURE GROUP: African. Oware is a board game played worldwide with slight variations as to the layout of the game, number of players and strategy and play. The origin of the game is not known. However, the Ashanti of Ghana claim to have invented the game over 1,000 years ago and shared with the rest of the world. Oware has many names throughout West Africa including ayo, awale, wari, ouriwali and awari. Oware is closely associated with the Mande cultural groups that migrated from ancient Mali into West Africa in the 15th century.
Unknown African Read Biography
No
African
Africa
Wood, dried beads
Other
2022.01.084
May 2022
Reginald and Celeste Hodges
May 2022
PROVENANCE: Created around 1940, the oware board was a gift from Lahai Hull, Sembehun, Moyambe District, Sierra Leone in 1971