Kolowis Awithlaknannai (also known as fighting serpents) is a two-player

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...

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 the Zuni

Native American Indians Native Americans (also called American Indians, First Americans, or Indigenous Americans) are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of the United States, particularly of the Contiguous United States, lower 48 states and A ...

. It was described by

Stewart Culin Robert Stewart Culin (July 13, 1858 – April 8, 1929) was an American ethnographer and author interested in games, art and dress. Culin played a major role in the development of ethnography, first concentrating his efforts on studying the A ...

in his book ''Games of the North American Indians'' (1907), and may have been the first publication of the game. It was later described in R.C. Bell's book ''Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations'' (1969). R.C. Bell coined the term ''fighting serpents'', but provides no explanation for it. Perhaps the black and white pieces are laid out in the beginning of the game in such a way that it looks like two serpents fighting. The game is a relative of

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. ...

and

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 ...

. Captures are done by jumping over pieces. The Spanish are thought to have brought the game of alquerque to America several centuries ago, and the game's development may have been influenced; however, there is no conclusive proof. Furthermore, the board is neither a square board or an alquerque board. The board's length far exceeds its width. To say the least, fighting serpents is a unique variant. The game is actually more related to alquerque than draughts, because pieces can move in any direction from the start of the game, and there is no back row or promotion to king. Moreover, the board is made up of linear patterns instead of squares.

Goal

The goal of the game is to eliminate the other player's pieces. If that's not possible, then the player with the most pieces left in the game is the winner. Another way to win is to block the other player's movements. A player cannot pass their turn.

Equipment

The board consist of three parallel horizontal lines (also called rows) joined together by several leaning (left and right) diagonal lines. A curve line also connects the ends of the board. There are 16 intersection points on the top and bottom row. There are 17 intersection points in the middle row. The intersection points are where the pieces can be played at. Each player has 23 pieces. One plays the black pieces, and the other plays the white pieces. However, any two colors or distinguishable objects are appropriate.

Rules and gameplay

# Each player's 23 pieces are initially placed on all the intersection points of the row closest to him or her. They are also placed on the right-half side of the middle row from the view of each player. Only the middle point, and the two points on the ends are empty at the beginning. # It is arbitrary which player starts first. The first player however must move their piece onto the middle point which will then be captured by the other player as captures are compulsory. For this reason, it is thought that the first player has a disadvantage. # There are two types of movements: non-capturing moves, and capturing moves. A piece can be moved one space (non-capturing move) per turn. The move must follow the pattern on the board. Or a piece can capture an enemy piece (capturing move). This move must also follow the pattern on the board also. Captures are similar to those in Draughts and Alquerque. A player's piece jumps over an adjacent enemy piece, and lands on a vacant spot beyond it. The jump need not be straight as long as it lands on a spot immediately beyond the enemy piece and follows the pattern on the board. Captured pieces are removed from the board. Captures are compulsory. # Multiple captures are allowed, however the player can decide how many captures to be made.

References

*{{cite book , last=Bell , first=R. C. , authorlink=Robert Charles Bell , title=The Boardgame Book , publisher=Exeter Books , year=1983 , chapter=Fighting Serpents , pages=38–39 , isbn=0-671-06030-9

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20081203151052/http://www.pbm.com/pipermail/hist-games/2000/000479.html Abstract strategy games Traditional board games Zuni culture

Goal

Equipment

Rules and gameplay

See also

References

External links