Oware!

There have been Mancala games with extremely simple graphics, or no graphics at all (Bantumi), while others have sported detailed graphics with realistic boards (Awale) or even space stations (Kalakh). Oware! falls in neither category: While it has detailed graphics, they are more of the kind you would expect in an application. There is no sound card support, a few signals are sent over the speaker. Oware! takes a scholarly approach. It was probably best summed up by Roger P. Kovach himself in a letter to the editor of Newsweek:

OWARE! is Sapient Software's computer version of the ancestral (Ashanti rules) Wari game. While most of the computer versions of Mancala or Wari employ an arcade game format and appearance, with more emphasis on the graphics than the game itself, OWARE! has a standard, Windows-like GUI (menu bar, drop-down menus, dialog boxes, etc.), which enhances familiarity with serious computer programs. The menus allow one to choose whether to play the computer or another person, to go first or second, to adjust the computer's strength of play (four levels), speed of play, to record the moves, save them, print them and semi-automatically replay them, choose the rules for ending the game, keep score over a series of games and so on and on.

Along with the game Sapient Software provides a 200 page book on its history, distribution and cultural significance, providing educational material for teachers and parents as well as children. The book is intended as the definitive source reference on Wari type games, containing important papers by anthropologists, historians and mathematical writers on the topic. Schools interested in adding to their multicultural programs should find the game and book most useful.

A few details:

• While the game itself states copyright 1996, the book claims copyright for both itself and the game 1995. The latter is probably the actual release date, while 1996 saw a new version, the enhancements of which I do not know.
• Roger P. Kovach claims the game will run on an EGA screen, but there is no menu that lets you choose between EGA and VGA. Obviously, as soon as it finds a VGA adapter, it runs in VGA.
• The game won't start under XP, but runs without problems in older Windows versions, and recognizes the Windows mouse driver.

Download Oware! (173kB)