El Arnab is a traditional
Arab
Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world.
Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...
solitaire
Solitaire may refer to:
Film and television
*'' Le Solitaire'', a 1987 French film
* ''Solitaire'' (1991 film), a Canadian drama film
* ''Solitaire'' (2008 film), a drama film
*''Solitaire'', 2016 Lebanese comedy film with Bassam Kousa
*"Solit ...
based on the general equipment and gameplay of
mancala
Mancala ( ''manqalah'') is a family of two-player Turns, rounds and time-keeping systems in games, turn-based Strategy game, strategy board games played with small stones, beans, marbles or seeds and rows of holes or pits in the earth, a board ...
games. It is played by the
Kababish people of
Sudan
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
. The name "El Arnab" means "the
rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...
".
Rules
El Arnab's board is a mancala board comprising 2 rows of 3 pits each, with an additional larger pits ("stores") located at each end of the board. The game setup is as follows:
* 3 seeds in the lefthand store;
* 1 seed in the righthand store;
* 2 seeds in each of the four pits at the extremes of the rows;
* 1 seed in each of the remaining pits.
3 , 2 1 2 ,
, - - - ,
, 2 1 2 , 1
To begin the game, the player takes all the seeds from the pit at the upper left corner of the rows, and
relay-sows them counterclockwise. Sowing also includes the stores.
This relay sowing (and thus the game itself) never ends; it is meant to be just a pastime. It happens that every 27 circuits of the board, the board goes back to its initial setup.
In his 1925 article R. Davies stated that the pattern repeats every 26 circuits; but he miscounted. His informant, an elderly Arab, seems to have been aware of this; when Davies said he counted 26 the informant made a joke that apparently went over Davies' head ('Ah, a skilled player could do it in less.').
References
*R. Davies, ''Some Arab Games and Puzzles''. In «Sudan Notes & Records» 8 (1925), pp. 137–152.
Traditional mancala games
Culture of Sudan