Learn Morabaraba

Morabaraba is a two-player strategy board game, played across Africa. It is accessible, easy to learn, and games can be played quickly - but the strategic and tactical aspects of the game run deep. While Morabaraba may be played on specially-produced boards (or computer software!) it is simple enough that a board can easily be scratched on a stone or into sand, and coins or pebbles (or whatever!) used as the pieces. It's easier to learn that Chess or Draughts (the rules can be picked up in just minutes), but the game is not just a variation of noughts and crosses: it is subtle and thought-provoking.

These rules have been used for thousands of years, and were written based on my own experience of Morabaraba as a child, and discussions with other Morabaraba players. While there are bodies which claim ownership of the game, the rules clearly predate them!

The game is played on a board like this:

There are three main phases to the game:

• Placing the cows
• Moving the cows
• Flying the cows

Placing Cows

• At the beginning, each player has 12 cows (pieces); one player has Black cows, the other player has White cows. The board is empty to start with.
• The player with the White cows moves first.
• Each turn consist of placing a cow onto the board. The cows are placed onto the intersections of the red lines in the diagram above. Cows can only be placed on empty locations.
• The aim is to create a "mill" of cows - three cows connected on a straight line. Mills can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal.
• If a player forms a mill, he or she may shoot one of the opponent's cows. The shot cow is removed from the board and not used again. A cow which is in a mill may not be shot, unless all of the opponent's cows are in mills - in which case, any cow can be chosen.
• Even if the move completes more than one mill, only one cow can be shot in a single move.

Moving Cows

• After all the cows have been placed, each turn consists of moving a cow to a free location. The cows move along the red lines to a location which is directly adjacent to their starting-point.
• As before, completing a mill allows a player to shoot one of the opponent's cows. Again, this must be a cow which is not in a mill, unless all of the opponent's cows are in mills.
• Players are allowed to break their own mills - either to reposition cows or to make new mills.
• Players may break their own lines of three-in-a-row in order to make new lines, or simply reposition their cows.
• A mill may be broken and remade repeatedly by shuffling one of the cows back and forth. Each time the mill is remade, one of the opponent's cows is shot. Of course, by breaking the mill the player exposes the cows which were in a mill to the risk of being shot by the opponent on his or her next turn.
• Most players add a rule prohibiting "machine gunning", the process of shuffling a single cow between two mills so that a cow is shot with each move. If a cow is moved from one mill to another, another move must be made before it can be moved back, capturing a second piece.

Flying Cows

• When a player has only three cows remaining, desparate measures are called for. This player's cows are allowed to fly to any vacant location - without needing to worry about the red lines.
• If one player has three cows and the other player has more than three cows, *only* the player with three cows is allowed to fly.

Finishing The Game

• You win if your opponent has no moves on his or her turn
• You win if your opponent only has two cows left
• If either player has only three cows left and neither player shoots a cow within ten moves, the game is drawn