At St Mungo’s Museum we are holding an interactive and international board games day during Refugee Week on Sunday 26 June 1:00 – 6:00pm, outside in the Catherdral precinct. We need people who know how to play Warri, Mancala or Awari, the oldest surviving board games in the world to come and help us out.
Warri
Warri is a pit-and-pebble strategy game that originated in the Sudan over 3600 years ago when accountants and engineers of the ancient Kush Civilisation of the Upper Nile (today’s Sudan) used counters on a tablet with depressions to carry out mathematical calculations.
Mancala
Mancala can be easily played with whatever happens to be around. In Africa, people often play with pebbles using hollows scooped into the earth, with cowrie or other seashells in rings in the sand or specially carved wooden board with seeds.
Awari
Awari, or the Bean Game, originated as a game played on the ground by scooping handfulls of dirt to form two rows of six shallow pits. The playing pieces could be pebbles, beans, or whatever was handy.
Try it for yourself – join in the fun
We would love to hear from anyone who would like to learn these games or has played them before. These are ancient games that have lasted because they are simple to play but the subtleties of winning take a long time to master. As such, Warri, Mancala and Awari could be called ancestors of the first computer game.
If you are interested in playing contact carrie.newman@glasgowlife.org.uk or martha.findlay@glasgowlife.org.uk for more information.
