Talk:Oware

Untitled
Oware, Ayoayo, Awale, Our i, Warri, Adji-Boto, Wari, Awari or Awele? How was it decided which of its alternate names was to be chosen as the main article title? Perhaps we should take the name is it is dominantly called by people in the area or language where it is most dominantly played, if not already the case.--Sonjaaa 20:27, Sep 7, 2004 (UTC)
 * I was responsible for naming this page. The names Warri and Wari are very commonly lifted in English to apply to completely different games, so I thought would not uniquely identify the game enough.  Most of the others are fairly local spellings. I chose 'Oware' since Ghana has chosen this as their national game, and that is apparently the spelling there. -- Kevin Saff 21:53, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Potentially a little POV
This section:

"The only pieces are 48 undifferentiated seeds. In the Caribbean, these are typically nickernuts, which are smooth and shiny seeds of sprawling coastal shrubs. Beads and pebbles are also sometimes used. In the West, marbles are sometimes used in cheap sets, but these do not have the feel or ease of play of traditional seeds. In tourist sets cowrie shells are sometimes seen, but they are not comfortable to play."

I think the 'do not have the feel or ease of traditional seeds' is POV and should be replaced. Similarly with the 'not comfortable to play' for the Cowrie Shells. Merely a reference that sets exist that replace the seed with either marbles or cowrie-shells would be more factual and less personal opinion.

That said sounds like a good game, stumbled across this from Scrabble. ny156uk 19:16, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
 * POV removed. Zojj 19:36, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Wari, the computer game
There was a computer game about this, but that was like 1990's game. You play against animals with different skills. Giraffe is the weakest, Zebra & Lion are intermediate, then Elephant is the master.


 * No, this isn't Oware - not even a variation of it. - 89.55.7.41 (talk) 07:18, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

One more rule I learned: If your opponent have no seeds in any of his/her 6 houses, you can capture all seeds in your houses, and they are yours, and that will automatically win the game.


 * See Grand Slam variations in the article. Wizzy&hellip; &#9742;   09:58, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

In India
This game is played in India as well. Known by different names ('AttaguNi maNe', 'ChennemaNe' etc) it is one of the oldest and popular games played in rural India. Pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hpnadig/4452554103 --H P Nadig \Talk \Contributions 15:36, 26 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Oware isn't played in India. First think, then write.---93.193.72.5 (talk) 16:43, 15 July 2010 (UTC)


 * My family has a board, My grandmother (expired), was said to play it very-well in her younger days, as seen by my mother when she was little. So this dates the board to only as much to 1960. how it came to be acquired I'm afraid we'll never know. I played some simplified version of rules as a kid. I don't recall branding, advertisement, name or marking of any sort on the wood to give away if it was made by a manufacturer, and seemed to be the handcrafted sort of thing. That it had a hinge to close the two halves shut indicates that it might not be too old. I wouldn't be too surprised if this game were played in south India, western coast. That the game is not played in India might not be totally falsifiable. Historically, India, west Africa did have trade via the Arabian-sea. The conch shells or well-rounded pebbles, are non-local, meaning they are intentionally different and distinguishable from any other inland stone one might commonly find inland whether it be Africa on India. I feel it is likely something that African/Indian sailors may have invented to spend leisure time while sailing ships. It's also possible however that it was a introduction in the recent past of pre-modern-india. No one I knew while growing ever knew about the game, indicating that it was more of specialty. 67.249.245.96 (talk) 00:03, 7 July 2015 (UTC)


 * No, it isn't. You confuse Oware with mancala (a generic term). Some members of the mancala family are played in India, but NOT Oware. - 84.175.137.235 (talk) 08:16, 9 June 2019 (UTC)

Unclear Capture diagram.
The capture diagram is unclear. A is not captured as indicated by the caption, but it is coloured the same as the other shells, which are captured. I might download it and change it. 86.156.42.89 (talk) 11:17, 12 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Changed. Any objections? 86.156.42.89 (talk) 11:24, 12 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Wizzy&hellip; &#9742; 12:49, 12 April 2010 (UTC)

Claims of Ashanti origin.
- I am not contesting Oware exists. It quite obviously does. The problem is content that was inserted here by user:Boqino which attributes this to Ashanti origin - all over the article (including mentioning a non-existent Ashanti city state (this is part of Ghana)). I reverted some of his other work in this regard - where it was easy to do so. In this case - the Ashanti origin (as opposed to a wider possible Akan] origin) and use in Ashanti is more difficult for me to do with subsequent edits. Many of the Ashanti attributions are probably false - but I don't know enough to cut them out here.Icewhiz (talk) 22:25, 21 June 2017 (UTC)
 * You used the wrong tag which indicated that the entire article was a hoax. I have marked that part as "dubious" which will direct people who click on the link to this talk page. Intervening edits, as was as the distinction between a region called Ashanti and the people of that group make it difficult and unwise to just revert all.  Thanks for starting discussion.--Dmol (talk) 23:11, 21 June 2017 (UTC)

PS, I renamed the section to make it easier to find this particular discussion. Hope you don't mind. --Dmol (talk) 23:13, 21 June 2017 (UTC)
 * Sorry for the wrong tag - I was applying this across quite a wide number of articles (+reverting some - where it was easy). No prob with the title change. The user (actually at least 3 - user:Boqino user:Flusus user:Zopssin) - changed (all with "minor edits" and with innocuous edit descriptions - here it was "default fix/corrected") a large amount of articles from Akan to Ashanti as well as, more notably, moving geographic locations from the state of Ghana into Ashantiland or the City State of Ashanti. He also created a number of articles referring to companies that supposedly act in Ashantiland (which is what got me involved in the first place - an AFD on one of them that appeared to me as a hoax (not because of Ashanti, but because this was a UCAV (drone) manufacturer I never heard about and it sounded fishy). Content was reverted (on several other articles) by other editors as well. So - I suspect it is wrong here too (esp. since the article prior to Boqino's involvement doesn't mention the Ashanti at all) - but given intervening edits on the one hand, and on the other hand this being a more complex thing to check than a geographic location in a non-existent state (or at least a non-existent de-jure state) - it is best someone with better knowledge of the subject matter take this up.Icewhiz (talk) 23:30, 21 June 2017 (UTC)

Merge from Ayoayo
There is nothing to merge, frankly (no references), so really I suggest a redirect. Anyway, the disambig at Ayo notes that it is an alt name for Owari. The academic article at lists ayo, ayoayo, and oware itself as simply different names of Awari (which redirects here). We may need to look into whether some other articles need merging too (see the links in my comment in Articles for deletion/Eson xorgol), but for now, I suggest redirecting ayoayo here for good start. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus&#124; reply here 02:35, 19 February 2021 (UTC)

Don't merge – The opening paragraph certainly makes it sounds as if these are the same, but that's not bourn out by the rest of the article. The may have the same board and general mechanic but have different enough rules to have different strategies. If you're concerned about references to Ayoayo, add some references or add a comment about that. Bennetto (talk) 15:26, 24 April 2021 (UTC)


 * - which article do you mean? After reading the articles carefully I can't see any reason to keep them separate. Slimy asparagus (talk) 09:32, 21 August 2021 (UTC)

Oppose. There appear to be enough differences in play and cultural components. —¿philoserf? (talk) 12:27, 9 August 2021 (UTC)


 * , please could you elaborate? Slimy asparagus (talk) 09:31, 21 August 2021 (UTC)

Merge - I was coming here to see if I could just remove the merge tags. But reading the articles at least that just does not seem to be born out. The Ayoayo article says nothing about the cultural aspects and the play aspects seem identical. I can't read the pdf behind a paywall as yet. I have got various connections to universities and libraries so maybe I should see if I can get free access somehow. But based upon what I can see merge is obvious. I don't think a redirect is quite enough. There is a little extra information.Slimy asparagus (talk) 08:04, 19 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Support merge, on the grounds that any differences can be explained on the Oware page. I also note that the one current referenced on Ayoayo doesn't meet the usual referencing standards; it seems to be self-published OR. Klbrain (talk) 14:35, 31 August 2021 (UTC)


 * Yikes what a minefield -I used to play this - never looked on wikipedia articles on this before. Damn - weak merge? Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 02:05, 4 September 2021 (UTC)

Comment I believe Ayaoyo should be merged with Mancala considering it is a variant of that game instead. However, there's still room for the article to be expanded upon.((Kwesi Yema (talk) 19:58, 24 March 2022 (UTC))

Spoons or getting married?
Both translations can be found in the text. What does it mean? --46.114.221.16 (talk) 12:19, 8 April 2023 (UTC)
 * Different languages use words differently; apparently "spoons" is a translation from Ga, while "he/she marries" is from Twi. Just plain Bill (talk) 12:56, 8 April 2023 (UTC)

Oware is solved?
It might be interesting to add a section to this article concerning strategy and game analysis. Namely, it seems worth noting that this game has been theoretically solved. That is, with perfect play, Oware (or Awari) is a draw. Calvinerd (talk) 13:05, 11 September 2023 (UTC)