This is a game of transfer for two players. It is called Umel Tuweisat in northern Sudan, a country in northeast Africa. It is an easy version of the Cow Game (see page 37). Children dig holes in the sand and gather seeds to use as counters. Playing this game on a flat sheet of paper helps you to see exactly what happens with each move.
• Sheet of heavy paper or cardboard
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Marker
• 2 small bowls or cups
• 12 counters of one kind (buttons, beans, pebbles, or shells)
1. Draw a rectangle measuring 6 inches by 4 inches (15 cm by 10 cm).
2. Divide the rectangle into six small squares measuring 2 inches by 2 inches (5 cm by 5 cm).
3. Go over the lines with a marker.
4. Place one bowl or cup, called the storage bowl, at each end of the game board. Figure 6
1. The players sit facing each other with the game board between them. Place two beans or other counters in each square. The three squares, called cups, on each side of the board belong to the player nearest them. The storage bowl to the right of each player belongs to that player. Figure 7
2. To move, Player One picks up the beans in any one of her cups and drops one bean into each cup. This is called sowing the seeds. The arrow shows in which direction the move is made. Figure 8
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Player Out is ready to move
Figure 9a
Player One has moved
Figure 9b
Player Out has captured four beans
Figure 9c
A move from the right-hand cup goes to the right and around the corner to Player Two’s side. A move from the left-hand cup goes to the left and around the corner to the opposite side. A move from the center cup can go in either direction.
3. Then Player Two picks up all the beans in any one of his cups. He drops one bean in each cup in the direction shown by the arrow. The players take turns in this way. Do not sow beans into the storage bowls.
4. Captures are made from the opponent’s side of the board. If the last bean in any move makes a group of two in a cup on the opponent’s side, the player captures these two beans and places them into her storage bowl. Then, going backward, if the cup just before the captured beans also has two beans, the player may capture them and place them in her bowl. Continue to capture as long as each cup has just two beans and is on the far side of the board.
Suppose that the board is set up as in Figure 9a. Player One is ready to move. She can capture four beans and place them in her bowl. Figure 9b and Figure 9c
5. The game ends when one person has no beans left on his or her side of the board. The other player puts the remaining beans in his or her bowl. Then the beans in the storage bowls are counted. The player who has captured more beans is the winner.
Practice playing this game by yourself to learn how to make good moves. Practice different kinds of moves and see how many beans you can capture.
Sudanese children start the game with three beans in each cup. They capture by twos.
