Talk:Morabaraba

Latest comment: 6 years ago by SMcCandlish in topic RfC

"similar to Nine Men's Morris"

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The lead reads "similar to Nine Men's Morris". There is another Morris game Twelve Men's Morris which has the same board and the same number of pieces as this game. Are these rules different for these two games? SmithBlue (talk) 13:24, 10 December 2008 (UTC)Reply

The game is exactly 12 Men's Morris, even the name Morabaraba is derivitive of "morris". Be warey of promotional sites which overemphasize popularity of the game in Africa and misrepresent it as some sort of indigenous game. Most people in South Africa have never heard of it. In cities those few who have heard of it would typically know of it as an old obscure English game and are not aware that Africans play it. Those in rural ares who do actively play are are typically unaware of its British origin. Kuratowski's Ghost (talk) 13:25, 12 December 2008 (UTC)Reply
The rules of the game slighly differ from British 12 Men's Morris. The name Morabaraba is NOT related to "morris" (a South African mancala game is called Moruba, btw), and while some sites may overemphasize its popularity, the statement above clearly downplays its importance. Morris variants played with 12 counters are also known from Zimbabwe, Somalia, Armenia, India and Mongolia. Actually Morris seems to exist in Africa as an indigenous game independent of European colonialism. There have been reports of South African Morris board scratched into the rock that are at least 800 years old. Maybe the legend of British origin is based on racist bias - white South Africans also claimed that the ruins of villages (archaeological sites) built of stone could impossibly be constructed by Black Africans and invented wild theories to explain them (e.g. the Queen of Saba made them).84.175.173.33 (talk) 06:42, 30 January 2013 (UTC)Reply

The only difference I can see is that in Morabaraba, if all of your counters/cows are in mills then you can shoot any of your opponent's counters/cows regardless of whether they're in mills or not. I don't believe this is the case in Twelve Men's Morris. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.89.170.66 (talk) 08:10, 24 May 2013 (UTC)Reply

RfC

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An RfC has been opened at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Capital letters#RfC: Capitalisation of traditional game/sports terminology, given the anti-guidelines editwarring that's erupted here.  — SMcCandlish ¢ >ʌⱷ҅ʌ<  00:20, 2 January 2018 (UTC)Reply