#029 - Awari: Mainframe Mancala

Release Date: July 1973

Platform: Mainframe (BASIC type-in)

Genre: Board Game

Developer(s): Geoff Wyvill

Publisher(s): Digital Equipment Corporation

Sorry that it's been a while since the last article. I haven't had the best of times since then, and I think I've experienced significant burn-out. I don't want to go into more detail than that, as I prefer to keep personal matters just that - personal. Just know that the blog has still been on my mind, but with all that's happened recently, I just haven't had the energy to work on it until now. I have a couple of weeks off of work, and some of that time and energy I'll direct towards getting back into the blog.

Now, on with the show.

It's fascinating how some of the world's most well-known and popular board games have ancient roots. Chess has been around for centuries, and Backgammon for millennia. Another ancient game still played today is Mancala. It's a board game with many, many regional variations played all across the world. One of the more modern variants is called Kalah. This version was created in the USA back in the 1950s.

If you've ever seen a game board like this, you've played Mancala. Source: https://www.thesprucecrafts.com

The basic objective of Mancala and all its variants is that two players compete on a special board to collect more stones (or seeds) than the other. Each player has six "houses" on their side of the board, which are circular indentations, with two larger elliptical indentations on the edges, called "stores". Players take turns "sowing" their stones into their houses and, based on the variant rules, players can capture their opponents stones. In Kalah specifically, a player can capture the stones in the house immediately opposite if their last stone is sown in an empty house. They also can get an extra move if the last stone lands in their store. The game ends when one player runs out of stones.

Why am I bringing all this up? And why am I talking about Kalah specifically? Well, that's what today's game is about. Awari is a digital, text-based implementation of the Kalah variant of Mancala. It's a bit odd that's it's named Awari, which is an alternative name for Oware, the variant played across Africa and the Caribbean, which has very different rules from Kalah. 101 BASIC Games ('78 edition) even describes Awari as "an ancient African game," despite using the Kalah rules. I did read up on those rules, but I'll be honest in saying that I really don't understand them at all. Oware is far more complex than Kalah. Perhaps just because I'm more of a visual/doing learner, simply reading the rules often doesn't get the point across to me. All that to say that I won't be explaining the rule differences between Kalah and Oware here because I don't understand them.

Technically, this isn't Awari, nor is it ancient (unless you think the 1950s are "ancient.")

Now, Kalah also made its way from the United States over to the United Kingdom, which is important because that's where Awari was created. It's the first British-made game that's appeared for quite some time, too. The most recent one on my Master List prior to Awari is a missing version of Bulls & Cows called Moo, from 1968. The last British game I actually wrote about is the second game ever made - OXO, from 1952! That was in only my second-ever article from March last year!

Awari's location can be further centred, courtesy of the information provided in 101 BASIC Computer Games. Bradford University is Awari's origin point, up north in Yorkshire, England. A single individual authored the game, that being Geoff Wyvill. Awari is the first of his games we've come across; he has a couple more games on my list, and even his brother, Brian, has one. Wyvill's information is surprisingly easy to come across online, as he's currently Professor Emeritus of the University of Otago's (that's in New Zealand, for those who don't know) School of Computing. During his time at Bradford, he earned a PhD in Artificial Intelligence, and also possesses a BA in Physics from Oxford. Wyvill notes on his self-maintained website that he completed his PhD in 1978, and - given his majoring in AI - it's likely that Awari, featuring a computer opponent, was developed as part of his studies.

Wyvill's attempt at explaining the rules, part 1.

I came at this game with a bit of trepidation, as I wasn't fully understanding how the game worked from the explanation given in 101 BASIC Games. Once I played a full round, though, the general game flow began to clear up for me. 

Part 2. I think my explanation is better. But I'm biased, after all.

It goes like this - you have the field set up as standard for Mancala and all its variants: 3 stones (apparently 4 is the standard, according to Wikipedia) in each of the 6 pits for each player. Each turn, the player will select which pit they want to sow from. The stones from that pit will then be sown, one stone per pit, in a counter-clockwise direction from the selected pit. The selected pit is left empty, a stone is not sown in it. If the last stone sown lands in the player's store (in-game called "home"), then they get another turn.

For taking stones, the way that works is that, if the last stone is sown in an empty pit, then it and all the stones from the pit opposite it are taken an placed in the player's home. Once a stone is in the player's home, it cannot be removed. This loop continues until one player has no more stones on their side of the board, and whoever has the most stones in their home at that stage wins. Part of the reason I write out an explanation is to try and explain the game to myself in a way that makes sense to me. Hopefully it also makes sense to you.

As for how you select a pit in game, this is rather simple. Each pit on your side is numbered from 1-6, in that order, just like on your keyboard. That actually makes it really easy to remember which pit is which.

No instructions. Figure it out yourself. Ouch.

I didn't record my first attempt at Awari, as I just wanted to get to grips with the rules before I had a proper go at it. Wyvill was quite merciless to the new player, bucking the usual trend and providing no in-game instructions. For a game like this, it could really use them, too. Somehow, despite having no idea what I was doing, I won this first attempt, 15-14. The only strategic idea I had was to get two moves at the start, and then I just winged it after that.

My thoughts regarding strategy after that were that it seemed to make sense to try and keep my number of stones per pit low, and to sow the pits closer to my home first, giving me options to take stones and react to whatever the computer does. I know there's a "mathematical best" way to win, like with Nim variants, but I preferred to remain unspoiled on that for now. I think it's more rewarding in most cases to figure out strategies on my own. Also like Nim, the player going first is at an advantage, and can be unbeatable if they know what they're doing.

Action shot. It's hard to do play-by-play commentary for Awari.

The second game was far more enjoying and satisfying, having had more clarity around my strategy. I found a useful ploy to build up to 3 stones in pit 5, all of which could be claimed in one turn thanks to how the game rules work. I used that several times through the game, and ended up winning the round 19-15, after several sharp swings and lead changes.

Victory. You can also sort-of-see my pit 5 strategy at work.

Apparently, according to Wyvill, the computer is designed to learn to play better as you go on. This does appear to be the case, as I played several games in a row to test, and that ended up with a 2-2 draw, with the computer beating me by 1 point, then soundly by 9, only for me to learn and come back to throttle him by 10 in the last game. All that's included in the video up top. I think near the end I realised that it's important to not only count your own moves, but what your opponent might do in response. Focusing on getting double moves and blocking let me have such a strong win in that last game.

And with that, let's move onto the scores.

Time Played: 20 minutes

Difficulty: 4 (Mild)

This is one of the simpler variants of Mancala, after all. The computer also evidently isn't too hard to beat, as I beat him having no earthly idea what I was doing. The computer does learn and get more difficult to beat with each passing game, though in my experience it didn't become overbearingly challenging.

Gameplay: 5

Awari is decent in the sense that it retains all the distinctives of Kalah. I wouldn't say it's a terribly in-depth game, but there's a small amount of strategic depth available. One has to consider not only their own moves, but their opponent's, and there's also limited opportunities to work both offensively and defensively, with the extra move being an incentive and a tool for further strategic play.

Controls: 6

It's set up quite nicely, having the pits' numbers lined up the same as a regular keyboard. Makes easy remembering which pit is which.

Visual: 2

I'll give Awari a point for having a fairly clear representation of a Mancala game board.

Functionality: 5

I didn't run into any technical issues.

Accessibility: 2

I must confess, I did procrastinate a little on playing Awari, as I felt confused and put off by the written explanations of the game rules. Didn't make a whole lot of sense, and made approaching the game challenging.

Fun Factor: 5

My subjective thoughts don't stray too far from the gameplay score on this one. I feel kind of indifferent about it, despite there being some strategic depth to enjoy. The computer's learning to play better is an incentive to keep trying, but it's limited in its appeal. I think in this case playing the real thing is preferred.

Tallying up the numbers gives Awari a total of 25. It's a higher E-tier finish, which I think is adequately representative of my thoughts. It's a decent go at making a digital version of a classic board game for the time. "For the time" being the key phrase there. It's still very, very primitive and limited in what it can offer. For reference, as of this article Awari is in 19th spot on the Tier List.

Next time we take to the skies and help with the war effort by blowing stuff up. Sounds like good fun!

Question of the day: Here's something fun for this article. Do you have a version of this game where you live? Have you played it? If so, let us know in the comments how it differs from what I played here.

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