Thursday, March 28

Kazakh national game “Togyz Kumalak”

Google+ Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr +

One of the oldest Kazakh national games is the game “Togyz kumalak”. Togyz Kumalak is a board game on a board for logic and ingenuity, designed to develop logical mathematical thinking and endurance. The game belongs to the mancala family, which includes games such as vari or kalah. The game is based on the number 9 (9×9 = 81 and 2x9x9 = 162), which was considered sacred by the ancient Mongols and Turks. In the scientific world, it was called the “algebra of shepherds”, since during the game the opponents have to use all four basic mathematical actions. The game is based not only on the speed of counting, but also on tactics.

According to the rules of the Kazakh game “Togyz Kumalak”, two players participate in it, each of whom has 9 holes on the board (that is, a total of 18 holes, called “otau”) located opposite each other. Each hole has its own name: 1 – art, 2 – tekturmas, 3 – atotpes, 4 – atsyratar, 5 – bel, 6 – belbasar, 7 – kandykakpan, 8 – kokmoin, 9 – mandai. In addition, there are two more accumulative holes on the board, called “cauldron”.

Each of the players has 81 balls of their own color at the beginning of the game, that is, 9 balls for 9 holes.

The main task of the game is to shift the pebbles in the game holes, collect them as much as possible in your “cauldron”. The collected pebbles are put into a storage hole. Players take turns making moves. The player who got the right of the first move by lot takes out all the balls from any hole in his row, except one, and transfers them from left to right, dropping one into each subsequent hole so that the last ball hits the opponent’s hole. If the number of balls in this hole turns out to be even after the end of the turn, then all of them are “prey” of the player and are transferred to his cauldron. The right of the next move passes to the opponent. If there is not a single ball left in the holes of one of the players, then his opponent transfers all the balls of his row to his cauldron. The game is played until one of the two players collects more than 81 pebbles in his cauldron (this player wins), or they both collect 81 pebbles (draw).

In the game “Togyz Kumalak” there may be some game situations that are worth describing:

If, after a move, there are three pebbles in a hole, then this hole is declared a “tuzdyk”. Subsequently, each pebble that gets into the tuzdyk goes into the cauldron of the player on whose side this tuzdyk is located, but the player cannot get himself a tuzdyk on the 9th, as well as on the hole under the number of which the opponent took the first “tuzdyk”. Each player can have no more than one ace at a time.

If after a move one of the players has all the holes empty, then he gets into the situation of “atsyz kalu” (kaz. “to be left without a knight”). In this case, he cannot walk as long as he remains “on foot”. In this situation, the game ends, the opponent’s stones go into the opponent’s cauldron and the stones in the cauldrons are counted.

The game “Togyz kumalak” could last for four or five hours. This game was popular as in ancient times, when players, even without a game board, could simply dig holes for playing in the ground. Togyz Kumalak is popular in our time and gradually the number of its admirers is growing every year.

A source  https://www.soyle.kz/article/view?id=176

Share.

Leave A Reply