Choko is a two-player
abstract strategy board game
A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...
from Gambia Valley,
West Africa
West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...
. It is played specifically by the
Mandinka and
Fula tribes. It is related to
Yote.
Goal
The goal of choko is for a player to capture all the pieces of an opponent.
Equipment
5 x 5 holes set in the ground or on a board. Each player has 12 pieces. One plays the white pieces, and the other plays the black pieces; however, any two colors or distinguishable objects will suffice.
Rules and Game Play
1. The board is empty in the beginning. Players decide what colors to play, and who starts first. Players alternate their turns.
2. Players first drop their pieces. They drop one piece per turn.
3. The first player drops their first piece anywhere on the board. The first player has the ''drop initiative''. It is not necessary to drop on every turn, but as long as the first player continues to drop, ''then so does the second player''.
If the first player decides ''to make a move'' (non-capturing move or capturing move), then the second player has the option to drop or move. If the second player decides to drop, then he or she has the ''drop initiative'' until he or she decides to move. This means that the first player must continue to drop as long as the second player continues to drop.
However, if the second player ''had made a move instead'', then the first player has the option to drop or move, and has the drop initiative.
4. In a non-capturing move, pieces can move orthogonally one space per turn. Only one piece can be moved per turn.
5. In a capturing move, pieces capture similarly as in
Draughts
Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; Commonwealth English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve forward movements of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. ...
by the short leap, except they must capture orthogonally (not diagonally). The player's piece must be adjacent to the enemy piece, and leap over it onto a vacant space on the other side. Only one leap is allowed, and therefore only one capture by this method is allowed. The player, however, ''is to take another enemy piece from anywhere on the board''. Therefore, in a capturing move, two enemy pieces are taken each time.
6. After all pieces have been dropped, the second player moves first.
Related Games
*
Alquerque
Alquerque (also known as al-qirkat from ) is a Abstract strategy game, strategy board game that is thought to have originated in the Middle East. It is considered to be the parent of draughts (US: checkers) and Fanorona and the diagonals of its ...
*
Yote
External links
* http://www.two-paths.com/bg/choko.htm
Abstract strategy games
Traditional board games
African games