kiiga

Kiiga is a traditional East African board game played by the Akamba people of Kenya. It is a two-player abstract strategy game, often described as a race game or a territory game. The game is played on a board typically made of wood or a depression in the ground, with a specific arrangement of holes or pits. The number of holes can vary, but a common configuration is two rows of seven holes each.

The objective of Kiiga varies slightly depending on the specific rules used, but generally involves moving pieces, often called seeds or stones, around the board to capture opponent's pieces or to reach a designated area first. Players typically start with a set number of pieces in each hole. On their turn, a player chooses a hole containing their pieces and distributes them one by one into subsequent holes, moving in a counter-clockwise direction. If the last piece is sown into a hole that already contains pieces, the player continues sowing from that hole.

Capturing pieces can occur when a player's sowing action results in a specific arrangement of pieces in a hole. For example, if a player sows their last seed into a hole that then contains two or three seeds, they may capture all the seeds in that hole. The game ends when one player has captured all of the opponent's pieces or when one player cannot make a valid move. Kiiga requires strategic thinking, planning, and an understanding of probabilities. It has been played for generations, passing down through families and communities, and is an important cultural element for the Akamba people.