Igisoro
From Wikinfo
| Igisoro |
| Other Names: Gisoro Ibisoro, Ikisoro, Ikiwu- guzo, Kubuguza, Ku- suro, Kuwaguza |
| First Description: J. M. M. van der Burgt, 1903 |
| Cycles: Two |
| Ranks: Four |
| Sowing: Multiple laps |
| Region: Burundi, Rwan- da, Uganda |
Igisoro is a two player game in the mancala family. This variant is played primarily by the Tutsi (also known as Abatutsi or Batutsi) in Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. Igisoro, like Omweso, is played with an 4×8 board (igisoro) of pits (icúba) and 64 seeds. A player's territory is the two rows of pits closest to them.
Cow vocabulary is used metaphorically in Igisoro: players try to capture each other's "cows" (inká) and a board position with many singletons are known as "a line of calves" (urunyána).
Boards are carved (there are even game tables) or holes in the ground are used.
Igisoro masters do never outwardly count the seeds in a pit in plotting a move and a player who counts with his finger would be the subject of much ridicule. Some experts play blindfolded and may even play multiple opponents simultaneously.
In December 2007, an Igisoro tournament was organized by Umurage (a culture center of Rwandian migrants) in Montreal, Canada.
Contents |
Rules
Each player controls the two rows of eight pits on his side and starts with four seeds in each pit in the inner row of their territory.
Initial Position
On his turn, a player chooses a pit in their territory containing at least two seeds and sows them placing one seed in each pit as he moves counter-clockwise around his territory.
If the last seed is sown into a non-empty pit of the outer row, the player picks up all seeds from this pit and begins to sow again, starting from the next pit.
If the last seed is sown into an occupied pit of the inner row and one of the opponent's opposite pits or both of them are empty, the turn also continues with another sowing as just described.
If the last seed is sown into an occupied pit of the inner row and both opponent's opposite pits are not empty, the player may pick up all seeds from these two pits and sow them.
- When the player chooses to pick up his opponents seeds, the sowing begins again from the pit where the player originally began his turn.
- If the player in his turn chooses not to pick up his opponents seeds, he has to say it: "I pass" (ndahise). To which the opponent may reply "I retreat" (ndakubye) and then immediately retreats the seeds that were not picked. The player retreats his seeds by picking the seeds in his pit at the inner row and adding them to his adjacent pit in the outer row, this is done while the other player is still sowing.
Only for a direct pick or catch, a player starting from, or arriving at the pits highlighted in grey below may choose to move counter-clockwise. When he starts from any other pit, he may only move counter-clockwise.
Reverse Pits
If the last seed falls into an empty hole, the turn ends.
The game is over and a player has lost when he cannot sow any of his seeds.
Variants
According to Coupez and Benda the first moves are performed simultaneously in Astrida (Rwanda) until the first capture is made.
In some areas players are obliged to capture (ndahise is not permitted).
References
- Burgt, J. M. M. van der
- Un Grand Peuple d'Afrique Equatoriale. Bois-le-Duc (France) 1903, 69-71.
- Coupez, A. & Benda, V.
- Terminologie du Jeu d'Igisoro en Rwanda. In: Africa-Tervuren 1963; 9 (2): 37-41.
- Kimenyi, A.
- Cow Metaphors. Paper read at Yale at 29 Annual Conference on African Linguistics. California State University at Sacramento, Sacramento CA (USA) 1999.
- Merriam, A. P.
- The Game of Kubuguza among the Abatutsi of North-East Ruanda. In: Man 1953; 53 (11): 169-172.
- Murray, H. J. R.
- The Game of Kubuguza among the Abatutsi (Correspondence). In: Man 1953; 53 (12): 194.
External Links
Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Igisoro", used under the GNU Free Documentation License.
