Igisoro is a two-player variant of the

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 ...

family. It is a variant of the

Omweso Omweso (sometimes shortened to Mweso) is the traditional mancala game of the Ugandan people. The game was supposedly introduced by the Bachwezi people of the ancient Bunyoro-kitara empire of Uganda. Nowadays the game is played and enjoyed by peo ...

game of the

Baganda The Baganda (endonym: ''Baganda''; singular ''Muganda''), are a Bantu ethnic group native to Buganda, a subnational kingdom within Uganda. Traditionally composed of 52 clans (although since a 1993 survey, only 46 are officially recognised), th ...

people (

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

), and it is played primarily in

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

and

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

. Igisoro, like Omweso and other mancalas from

Eastern Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

such as

Bao (game) Bao is a traditional mancala board game played in most of East Africa including Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Comoros, Malawi, as well as some areas of DR Congo and Burundi. It is most popular among the Swahili people of Tanzania and Kenya; the name i ...

, is played with a 4×8 board of pits and 64 seeds. A player's territory is the two rows of pits closest to them.

Start

The usual starting position is shown below. Each player starts with 4 seeds in each pit in the back row of their territory. However, any player may decide to start with seeds in their front row, or with some seeds in either row depending on their wishes.

Turns

On his turn, a player chooses a pit containing seeds in their territory and sows them placing one seed in each pit as they move counter-clockwise around their territory. The board below shows the state after the first player moved the seeds from the pit highlighted in yellow.

At the end of a turn, there are two ways in which the players turn may continue: # If the pit where the last seed is sown is not empty, the player picks up all seeds from this pit and begins to sow again, starting from the next pit. # If the pit where the last seed is sown is not empty ''and'' both opponent's opposite pits are not empty, the player may pick up all seeds from these two pits and begins to sow again. When the player chooses to pick up their opponents seeds, the sowing begins again from the pit where the player originally began their turn, thus sowing seeds in the same pits as the original move. If the player in his turn chooses not to pick up his opponents seeds, they have to say it: "I pass" (ndahise). The opponent may reply "I retreat" (ndakubye) and then immediately retreat the seeds that were not picked, by picking the seeds in their pit at the front row and adding them to the adjacent pit in the last 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 yellow below may choose to move counter-clockwise. Starting from any other pit, they may only move counter-clockwise.

Completion

The game is over and a player has lost when they cannot sow any of their seeds.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Website on Igisoro

Igisoro on android

Igisoro.fr
Traditional mancala games Culture of Burundi Culture of Rwanda