Tsoro

I shall concentrate on the main stone-games to be seen in the villages: tsoro (also called fuva and imbwe), tsoro yemutwelve, and nhodo.

NHODO
The game demanding least thought of these four is nhodo (also known as noda or kudoda), although it does demand some manual dexterity. The game is normally played by girls, but boys sometimes play. Those playing collect a pile of small stones (matombo), and scoop a semi-circular hole about six inches in diameter in the ground. The only other thing required is the nhodo itself, a large stone or small tree-fruit.

The first participant (to be referred to as A) puts some of the stones into the hole to begin. The remainder are kept to one side as a reserve. She throws up the nhodo, and while it is in the air, scoops out onto the ground all or some of the stones from the hole. She then catches the nhodo. If she drops it her turn is over.

She throws up the nhodo again, and this time pushes the stones back into the hole, all except one, and catches the nhodo. The hand must be flattened along the ground in order to perform the push most effectively, and considerable dexterity is to be seen among girls playing this game.

The one stone not returned to the hole is retained after each successful throw to form the nucleus for future turns. Once the nhodo is dropped, or anything other than the one single stone remains out of the hole, A's turn is over and it is the turn of B on her right.

Each competitor on starting must put her accumulated single stones into the hole. When she has used up all the stones in the hole with a succession of successful throws, she draws upon the reserve of small stones to one side.

When these are exhausted and she has all the stones before her as singles, if she manages to keep going so long, she turns to the competitor on her right (B) and with a triumphant "Ndakudya!" (I have eaten you) demands that the latter put all her stock of singles into the hole for her to carry on with. B, now having no reserve with which to start, retires from the game, which continues until all the competitors except one have been "eaten".

TSORO
This is the common game among African men. As it is impossible in a short article of this nature to describe all the possible variations. I will content myself with some of the most usual. The "board" for the game demands four parallel rows of holes (makomba) about three inches in diameter, hollowed in the ground. There can be any number of holes horizontally. Eight is probably the most common, but variations between six and 21 are commonly to be met with. 12, 15 and 18 are quite usual. The men are once again small pebbles (matombo).

The way in which they are set out in the variation which I shall take as basic (referred to as basic version) is as follows:

(a) The game starts when A picks up two stones from any of his holes. The basic principle is that after picking up he drops one stone into each successive hole, and if his last stone drops into a hole which is already occupied, he picks up all the stones in that hole and carries on until his last stone drops into a vacant hole. He moves in an anti-clockwise direction only around his own two horizontal rows, never into his opponent's.
(b) If the last stone (falling into a vacant hole) finishes in a hole in the inner row (Row ii for A, Row iii for B) and both holes vertically opposite him are occupied by his opponent's stones, he removes all those stones from the board. He can only take thus, however, if his opponent has a stone vertically opposite in the inner row. Thus if A is playing and his final stone drops into Row ii, hole 3, and B has stones In Row iii, hole 3, and Row iv, hole 3, B will lose all those stones. He cannot lose'his stones from iv, 3, however, if iii, 3 is not occupied.
(c) The object of the game is to take all one's opponent's stones.
(d) Until all his holes are occupied by single stones a player may only commence a move at a hole containing more than one stone.
(e) When he reaches the stage where all his occupied holes have not more than one stone in them, he may move any of these single stones, provided that it has an empty hole in front of it to move into. At this final stage a stone may never be moved into an occupied hole.

This is the basic game, but in actual fact tsoro is not usually played in such a simplified form. One or more of the following common variations are introduced:

Variant 1
Two of the back-row (i and iv) holes are nominated as "heads" (misoro). The ones usually chosen are i, I and 2 for A, and iv, 7 and 8 for B. If a player's final stone drops into one of his misoro, he need not pick up all the stones in it and move on as usual unless he chooses. It is thus possible to accumulate a tactical stock-pile ready for a lightning swoop along the front row at the right moment. There is one other advantage for stones in the misoro. See below (Variant 6).

Variant 2
Sometimes only one musoro is nominated. In this variation it is obligatorily hole 8 for A, and hole I for B. Three stones are put in this hole at the beginning instead of only two. The game then continues as before.

Variant 3
If playing Variant 1, and the two misoro chosen are holes 1 and 8 for both players, it is customary to have three stones at the beginning in No. 8 for A and in No. 1 for B, as in Variant 2.

Variant 4
After taking any of his opponent's stones the player drops them singly into his next holes and continues as before. Here the stones do not leave the board as is normal but are gradually amassed by one player until his opponent has none left. This is a long and complicated game.

Variant 5
After a take a player is entitled to make "additional takes" of further stones from any one, two, three (four or five), of his opponent's holes, number to be specified before the game starts. Four or five additional takes are normally only found in games such as Tracey's variation. (Variant No. 7 below.)

Variant 6
If playing a game with misoro, stones in the misoro cannot be removed in any privileged additional takes described above and are therefore in a position of considerable safety, being exposed only to the normal take.

Variant 7
The stones are set out as follows:

The normal basic rules are followed, but the usual first move is for both players to commence with the same hole (ii, 6 for A and iii, 3 for B). This will enable each player to take four stones from his opponent immediately and then as variant 5 is followed here, stones from five more holes as an additional take following the first take.

After the second take stones from three additional holes are acquired, and after the third and each subsequent take, from two more.

There are many additional variations, some of which only employ two single rows of holes.

NOTES ON THE COURSE OF THE GAME AND ON TACTICS
It will be obvious from what has been said that before beginning a game with a stranger one must agree upon what variation one is to play, as there are so many regional differences.

The basic difference between the good player and the poor one lies in how far ahead he can foresee the consequences of his moves. A practised player will not only be able to tell at a glance exactly how far his stones will take him (a matter which can require some calculation by an amateur in a complicated move), but can also forecast the moves which he will thus force his opponent to make.

This ability is especially important in Variants 5, 6 and 7, where such knowledge will tell one which holes to remove stones from in additional takes in order to hamper one's opponent most severely in his future moves.

The game has an opening, a middle game and an end game like chess (only not so complicated). The opening, especially in games using misoro, is devoted to building up a powerful position. The middle game continues this, but endeavors not to leave the opponent only with singles, for as long as he has one double that is the one he must begin his move with, so that his moves are predictable and his singles may be picked off at leisure.

The end-game, when only singles are left, is of vital importance, however, and many a promising game has been lost here as the result of a false move. It is vital to enter the end game in a good position so as to dictate the pace of the final stages of the game. The best possible position is, from the point of view of B, one blocking stone in iii, 8, which will take all A's singles as they finally advance along Row ii, and plenty of singles grouped around the left-hand ends of rows iii and iv which can be moved singly for a long time, so that the blocking stone docs not have to move until A is forced to advance along Row ii.

Tsoro is sometimes played with bottle-tops instead of stones on a board marked out in pencil or chalk.

TSORO YEMU TWELVE
This is another stone-game, usually played by boys and young men, although adults do play. It is played on a board marked as follows:

The board is usually scratched in the ground. Each player has twelve stones, but in this game A's stones must be distinguishable from those of B. Different material is the usual way of ensuring this.

The game is played in three stages:

Stage 1
Each player in turn places one of his stones at any intersection of any lines on the board not already occupied by his opponent's stone(s). His object is to form a line of three stones, either vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Each time a line is completed, the player takes any one of his opponent's stones. When a line has been formed a player may move away one of its component stones on his next go in order subsequently to complete the same line again by moving it back.

Stage 2
When all of each player's 12 stones have been placed on the board, play consists in moving around the stones on the board, one space at a time along any line, in order to complete rows of three stones as above and thus reduce one's opponent's number of men.

Stage 3
As soon as any player is reduced to three stones only, he has the right to move any of those stones directly to any intersection on the board, even though his opponent who has more than three may still be having to move one space at a time. As soon as either player is reduced to two stones he has lost, for he can no longer form lines of three.

It is interesting to note that a game played on an identical board is the Chinese game of Dig Dig (“Straight Line”). The rules are essentially the same, but differ in a few particulars from the African game.

Notable among these differences is that during Stage I it is possible to cancel out any man of one's opponent by placing one's own man on top of it (the Chinese game uses grass and twigs), and at the end of Stage 1 all cancelled men are removed from the board, and also that there does not seem to be any free moving in Stage 3.

The game is also played in Malaysia. There it seems to be regarded as a kind of poor man's chess, having given rise to the proverb

Chinese chess is for immortals, straight line for beggars

There are also some games played by European children which bear some resemblance to it.

TSORO YEMUTATU
This, in its various forms, is a very simple form of tsoro yemutwelve. Each side has only three stones, so that the first person to complete a line is the winner. The stones may be moved anywhere, not just one space. The two most commonly used boards are given below.

It will be noticed that in B, since there are seven intersections and six stones on the board, there is only ever one intersection to move into, and what determines whether the player affords his opponent a line is, which stone he moves. There is always a right and a wrong move available, and if both players are skilled, the game can go on for a very long time before either makes a slip.

Tsoro yemutwelve and yemutatu are also sometimes played with bottle-tops.