A Barbadian Game

A Barbadian Game

Warri

The game Warri was introduced to Barbados when Africans were brought to the Caribbean as slaves on the tobacco and sugar plantations, it is one of our island’s oldest surviving games. Sometimes referred to in other parts of the world as Ayo, Adi, Adji, Owele or Gabat, it is a game in which chance plays no part at all. What is required however is strategy and calculation with the most useful skill being mathematics.

The Object of the Game

The object of the game is to capture the majority of the forty eight (48) seeds used to play the game. All seeds have the same value, and the winner of the game is the player who gets more than half the number. Actually, the game ends as soon as one of the players has captured 25 seeds. A draw is declared if both players capture 24 seeds. In a tournament, the first player to win six games is the champion.

The Rules of the Game

1. Warri is played with 48 seeds on a rectangular board that has twelve receptacles or ‘houses’ arranged in six pairs along the length of the board. The players sit with the board crossways between them. At the start of the game, 4 seeds are placed in each house.
2. Players decide who opens the game, then make their moves alternately
3. A player may only move from a house on his/her side of the board
4. There is no limit to the number of seeds you may accumulate in a house.
5. When a house contains a count of one or two seeds, it is said to be vulnerable, and when a vulnerable house occurs on the opponent’s side of the board, there is an opportunity for the player to make a capture                                                                                              

A Barbadian Game

Warri

1. A player may only make a capture from a vulnerable house on the opponent’s side of the board.
2. There is a penalty for leaving the opponent without seeds to move with. If the opponent’s side of the board has no seeds remaining on it when his /her turn to play, the player forfeits all of the remaining seeds.    

The once popular game played on plantations, among stevedores and fishermen has diminished in popularity; however some senior folks who remain faithful to the game can be seen in Round-the-town, St.Peter keeping its memory alive.

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Barbados Warri Game