- Collection type
- Object
- Description
- Wooden darra (mancala) board with twelve square compartments and a rounded compartment at either end. For fifty-one seeds used as gaming counters see [1922.23.81.2-.52] [JC [OPS move] 18/07/2016]
- Geographical reference
- Cultural groups
- Hausa
- Date / Period
- Date made: Before 1922
- Date collected
- By 1922
- Acquisition information
- Donated: 1922
- Materials and processes
- Material Wood Plant, Material Plant Seed, Process Carved
- Dimensions
- Width: max 143 mm total, Depth: max 48 mm total, Width: max 143 mm, Length: max 718 mm, Length: max 718 mm total, Depth: max 48 mm
- Object numbers
- Accession number: 1922.23.81.1
- Associated publications
- These objects [.2 - .52] were featured in the Museum's on-line fact sheet ‘Games’ produced during the DCF-funded 'What's Upstairs?' project, 2004–2006. [BR 'DCF 2004-2006 What's Upstairs?' 8/11/2005] These objects [.2 - .52] were featured in the Museum’s ‘web gallery’ (‘Selected Objects from the Lower Gallery’) produced during the DCF-funded ‘What’s Upstairs?’ project, 2004–2006, with the following caption: These seeds were used for playing a board game called mancala, which is played in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, parts of South America, and the Middle East. Mancala boards are most often made from wood, but can also be made from clay, pottery, animal dung, metal, or ivory. Seeds are usually used as counters, but cowrie shells, little stones, pottery fragments, clay balls, or marbles can also be used. Mancala is often in fact played without a board, with holes simply scooped out of the ground to create a playing surface.
Search terms: Toy and Game, Board Game