What is Bao la Kujifunza?
Bao is played on a board of four rows of eight pits. You own the two rows nearest you, an inner row facing your opponent and an outer row behind it, and there are no stores. Every pit starts with two seeds, 64 in all. A move takes all the seeds from one of your pits holding at least two and sows them one by one round your own sixteen pits, clockwise or anticlockwise as you choose.
Capturing is compulsory. A turn is a capturing turn (mtaji) when its first lap ends in an inner-row pit that already held seeds and faces an occupied pit in your opponent's inner row. You take your opponent's seeds from that pit and sow them into your own row from a kichwa, one of the two end pits of your inner row. Sowing then goes on: a lap that ends in another such pit captures again, one that ends in an occupied pit is picked up and sown on, and one that ends in an empty pit ends the turn.
When no capture is possible the turn is a takata. You must start from your inner row if any pit there holds two or more seeds, nothing is captured, and the sowing relays on until a lap ends in an empty pit. You win when your opponent's inner row is empty or your opponent has no legal move.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Mancala | Bao la Kujifunza |
|---|---|---|
| Board | Standard MancalaTwo rows of six pits and two stores; you own one row. | Bao la KujifunzaFour rows of eight pits and no stores; you own an inner and an outer row, 16 pits. |
| Seeds | Standard Mancala4 seeds in each pit, 48 in all. | Bao la Kujifunza2 seeds in each pit, 64 in all, all on the board from the start. |
| Moves | Standard MancalaSow from any non-empty pit, anticlockwise round the whole board. | Bao la KujifunzaSow from a pit with at least two seeds, in either direction, round your own 16 pits only. |
| Capturing | Standard MancalaOptional result of a move: last seed in an empty pit of yours with seeds opposite. | Bao la KujifunzaCompulsory: if a move can end its first lap in an occupied inner pit facing an occupied opponent pit, you must capture. A pit with more than 15 seeds never starts a capture. |
| Captured seeds | Standard MancalaGo into your store and stay there. | Bao la KujifunzaAre sown back into your own row from a kichwa: the nearer one after a capture in the two end pits at either side (kimbi), otherwise the one the sowing direction starts from. |
| Turns without a capture | Standard MancalaSow once; extra turn if the last seed lands in your store. | Bao la KujifunzaTakata: start from your inner row if it has a pit with two or more seeds, never capture, and keep sowing from occupied pits until a lap ends in an empty pit. |
| How to win | Standard MancalaHave more seeds in your store when one side runs out. | Bao la KujifunzaEmpty your opponent's inner row, or leave them without a legal move. |
History
Bao, Swahili for board or board game, is played across East Africa, in Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, Burundi, Rwanda, the Comoros and parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and it is most popular among the Swahili people of Tanzania and Kenya. Its early history is poorly documented. A 1658 account by the French governor Étienne de Flacourt of a game played by the Sakalava of Madagascar is sometimes cited as the first mention, though scholars are cautious about calling it Bao. In the 1820s the Mombasa poet Muyaka bin Haji celebrated the game in his poem Bao Naligwa. The oldest surviving Bao board, from Malawi and now in the British Museum, dates from no earlier than 1896.
The full game, Bao la Kiswahili, opens with a namua stage in which seeds held in hand are brought onto the board, and gives special powers to a square pit called the nyumba. Bao la Kujifunza, Bao for beginners, leaves both out: all the seeds start on the board, two per pit, and play begins directly with the mtaji stage. Both games can be played here; the full game has its own page, Bao la Kiswahili.
The best-known transcription of the rules is by the board game scholar Alex de Voogt, who learned them from Bao masters in Zanzibar between 1991 and 1995. Bao societies such as Chama cha Bao, founded in 1966, keep the game organised, and official tournaments are held in Tanzania, Zanzibar, Lamu in Kenya, and Malawi. A strong player is honoured with the title bingwa, master.