It is believed that Morabaraba evolved thousands of years ago in South Africa. It was used to pass the time by young herders and to teach them strategies for protecting their herds. The pieces are still referred to as “cows”. Morabaraba boards have been found etched into flat rock surfaces. Players would have collected stones of two different colors and played. Although it is easy to learn the rules for the Morabaraba Game, learning the strategies can take longer to prefect. It is a fun game for children and adults alike.

Materials Needed to Play the Morabaraba Game

• game board
• 12 light tokens, 12 dark tokens
• 2 players

Making Your Morabaraba Game

Print the Morabaraba Game Board on cardstock.

Gather tokens. You can use tokens from other games, buttons, coins, etc. Just make sure the two teams’ pieces are easy to distinguish on the board.

How to Play the Morabaraba Game

Stage 1:

Players sit across from one another with the game board between them. They each have their unique 12 tokens.

Players take turns placing one of their cows on circle on the board. Players try to horizontally, vertically, or diagonally place 3 in a row, which is referred to as a mill. There can only be one cow per circle.

When a player achieves three in a row, a mill, they may remove (shoot) any one of the opponent’s cows that is not in a mill. If all the remaining cows are in a mill, then any one of the mill cows can be removed. This cow is removed from the board and cannot be used again.

Stage 2:

After all the cows have been place, play continues by moving one cow, one space, in any direction, into an unoccupied space.

Players make break up one of their own mills to create a new mill or simply to move into a new circle.

Players can move their cows back and forth to the same square repeatedly. This means a player can break a mill one move, then recreate the same mill the next turn, allowing them to remove one of the opponent’s cows. There is a nuance, however. If breaking a mill and moving into a new space creates a new mill where they can shoot a cow, a player cannot move back to the previous spot if it creates a mill again. (This prevents players positioning themselves where they can shoot an opponent’s cow every move.)

Stage 3

When a player has only three cows left, the player may move a cow to ANY vacant spot on the board.

How to Win the Game

The are two different ways to win the game. First, if a player cannot make a move, and second, if a player only has two cows left. Rules also state that if both players have three cows left and neither can shoot an opponent’s cow in ten turns, the game is a draw.