B.- GAMES

Without a doubt, the most widespread game in Africa, although with different names is the AWALÉ. Although it seems to go back more than a thousand years it is difficult to specify the age of awalé or mankala, a game that is widespread throughout Africa, with different names but practically the same rules. It’s a game of adult men, a game of skill, strategy and intelligence that is often played at the end of the afternoon. The essential part of the game, despite its different modalities, is that two players sit face to face, starting from an equal number of chips (usually 24 seeds), will win the first one that manages to place the same number of tiles in each box, balancing for this purpose the cells of the opponent. Moving the arm from left or right or from right to left must release chips, two, three, four or none, depending on the tiles in each box. The concentration is maximum. It is observed, they act with astounding speed. The chips fall with mathematical precision. Tic, tac of the chips when falling, is rhythmic, sustained, cadencioso, worthy to see. The frame of the one-piece awalé, goes from a simple wooden plate in which they have carved the twelve squares to a true work of art in the most diverse forms. The modern portable Awalés, lighter, are made of two pieces joined by two small hinges. Awalé is, at its origin, a sacred game. The seeds were the symbol of fertility and during the game a seed could not remain alone, isolated. Gathering as many as possible in a box represented filling in the reserve barn. It is a game spread throughout almost all of Africa, with small variations within its different modalities and with different names according to geographical areas, such as akong or songo.