Playing Games

Recently I got the chance to learn a local game that men play while they’re chatting under a tree in the afternoon. Our guard was intent on me learning how to play this “Dara” game from an “expert,” but couldn’t find one around, so decided to demonstrate himself with a friend. Being somewhat of a “gamer” and intelligent chap, I was a little humbled that I watched them play six rounds with no explanation and still couldn’t figure out the point of the game or any significant rules. The game involved making a “board” by making a grid of 30 depressions in the sand. Then each player gets 12 small sticks or pebbles (the game pieces) and proceeds to alternate in slapping them down into the depressions. It was immediately apparent that this game has similarities to checkers and tic-tac-toe, but beyond that I couldn’t get an inkling of why they would sometimes pick each other’s pieces up and sometimes move their own. I think part of this was because they got into the flow of the game and were using some shortcuts like you might take when you’re playing cards with friends and everyone understands why it’s not necessary to play the last card in a round that’s already been decided. The one thing that was apparent is that part of the fun of the game is seeing how hard you can slap your piece down with an appropriate grunt and still make sure you it falls in the right place.

But soon they had me try to play with an “advisor” looking over my shoulder, and I realized most of the key aspects. Once you lay out your full 12 pieces, you get a turn to move one piece one space at a time (no diagonals). The goal is to make three of your pieces align in a row, and then you get to pick up one of your opponent’s pieces before they take their next turn. The key strategy is to decide whether you should make a move to block your opponent from getting three in a row, or move to get three in a row yourself (in which case you could block your opponent by picking up the one they hoped to move next). This continues until one’s opponent has no more pieces, or no more hope of getting three in a row before you defeat them. If you have three in a row you can simply move one piece and then move it back in the next turn if your opponent doesn’t find a way to stop it. Overall, a nice level of complexity for a game you can play in the shade over tea with only the equipment that’s sitting in the sand around you.