Oh-Wah-Ree

The World's Newest Oldest Game

Oh-Wah-Ree is one of a series of games known as "pit and pebble" games. They are known more formally as Mancala games after another specific example. The game in general consists of several "pits" into which "pebbles" have been placed.

There are several variations in play, but most of them have the same basic features. A turn, or "lap" starts when a player scoops up all of the pebbles in one pit and "sows" them, one at a time, into pits moving counterclockwise around the board. If the last pebble sowed brings the number of pebbles in that pit to either two or three, then the player "captures" all of the pebbles in the pit and removes them from the board. Play continues until no moves are possible, at which time the player with the most captures pebbles wins.

Variations on this game have been in existance for around 3500 years. This version of the game comes with five or six variations, representing versions of the game played from arabia to the orient. It also has a modern version of the game which allows for three or four players.

This is an interesting game. While I feel that some type of optimal strategy should be able to be worked out the fact that the game has been around for over three millenia strongly implies that there isn't one. The board is plastic, and therefore not as nice as some of the other Mancala sets I have seen, but it makes a nice addition to the bookshelf game lineup.