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Mancala is the oldest known board game played in its
original form. It consists of a carved wooden board
with seeds or stones, but is often improvised using hollows scooped
into the earth with pebbles or rings in the sand. It is a
purely mathematical game and in some versions as complex as
Chess. Stone Mancala boards have been found carved into the
roofs of temples in Memphis, Thebes and Luxor - the game was
definitely being played in Egypt before 1400BC. The game
probably evolved in Egypt from boards and counters which
were used for accounting and stock taking; evidence for such
record keeping boards having been found in even more Ancient
Sumeria as well as Ancient Egypt. The two best known Mancala games are Ayo from Nigeria and Wari which is played
without much variation across West Africa and much of the
Caribbean. |