Ancient Games: Toguz Kumalak

While I was doing some follow-up research tonight on the "other" Kumalak (a form of divination practiced in Kazakhstan and Central Asia), I came across this game. It is a mancala game. I don't know how long it has been played in Central Asia, but my guess is that it is related to the "other" Kumalak.

Mancala-type games are very old, but I don't know how far back they've been traced. I have only a vague idea about how the game is played - mancala is not a subject I've studied. I can relate some general information: the earliest games were played on "boards" scooped out of the ground (therefore leaving no trace, and therefore dating is problematical) and I believe were first played in sub-Sarahan Africa. Mancala-type games have been found carved in the stone blocks at Kurna in Egypt (dating to c. 1400 BCE) and lots of boards carved in stone blocks have been found in Petra (in Jordan). Mancala-type games have not gone extinct (such as Senet and 20-squares) and continue to be very popular today.

This information is from "Wikimanqala.org":

Тоғызқұмалақ (toğızqumalaq, sometimes spelled toghyzqumalaq or togyzqumalaq, according to different transliterations, or toguz kumalak, "nine balls") is the Kazakh name of a mancala game also known as toguz korgool in Kyrgyz.

It is played traditionally in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, parts of Russia (Altay, Khakassia, Tuva), Western Mongolia and in China in regions close to the aforementioned countries.

There are regular toğızqumalaq championships held in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. The first western tournament was in August 2006 at the Mindsports Olympiad (MSO) in London, England. It was won by Aidos Seitzhanov from Kazakhstan.

Complete rules are given at Wikimanqala, with illustrations. I've abstracted the rules here, without the illustrations:

Rules

Toğızqumalaq is played on a wooden (nowadays also plastic) board made of two rows of nine holes, plus two kazans ("boilers"), either in the middle of the board or one at each end of it. The players own the kazan at their right, if at the ends, or the one on the other half of ther board, if in the middle.
As captures are made by pairs, the holes are usually made in a way so it is evident whether the contents are odd or even.

To begin the game, there must be nine balls per hole, except the kazans, which are empty. That is, 162 balls are needed.

The game is played by taking turns.

On his turn, a player takes all the balls of a hole on his side of the board, and distribute them anticlockwise, one per hole, on the following holes, starting from the very same hole he has taken them.

If the last ball falls into a hole on the opponent's side, and the contents of this hole become an even number of balls, these are captured and stored on the player's kazan.

If the movement is done from a hole containing just a single ball, it is moved to the next hole, leaving the starting hole empty.

Tuzdyq
If the last ball falls into a hole on the opponent's side, and the contents of this hole number then three balls, the hole becomes your тұздық, tuzdyq, (or түз үй according to Maksat Shotayev, tüz üy, i.e. "sacred place" in Kazakh; or tuz in Kyrgyz which means "salt") and it is marked as such.

Only a tuzdyq per player can be made in a game.

A tuzdyq cannot be done on the opponent's last hole (ninth, the one on his right).

A tuzdyq cannot be done if it is symmetrical to the opponent's one (if the opponent has his tuzdyq in our first hole, we can not make ours on his first hole).

In the cases a tuzdyq cannot be done, we can finish a movement there, but the hole does not become a tuzdyq.

A movement cannot begin from a tuzdyq.

The balls that fall into a tuzdyq are captured by his owner. If it is overcharged, we can take the balls and store them in the kazan.

End of the game
The game ends when a player cannot move at his turn, because all the holes on his side (except a possible tuzdyq) are empty.

When the game is over, the player who has still balls on his side (except in a possible tuzdyq) gets them and adds them to his kazan.

Both players add the contents of their tuzdyq (the one on the opponent's side) to their kazan.

The winner is the player with more balls at the end of the game. If both players have captured 81 balls, the game is a draw.

Well, I confess, I can't make heads nor tails out of the rules. I can only learn a game by actually having it shown to me by someone who knows how to play! I plan on doing some more posts about some interesting aspects of this game - as time permits.