THINGS BAJAN: Warri – a game of capture

Warri is very much alive in some parts of the country. (FP)

Mon, November 28, 2011 - 12:00 AM

Warri is a game of the pit and pebble family which originated in Ancient Egypt 3 500 years ago, making it one of the oldest games in the world.

The word warri means houses, and this game is one in which a player tries to “capture” as many of his opponent’s houses as possible.

The warri board is approximately 24 inches long and eight inches wide. It has two rows of six hollows each, called houses; these are about the circumference of a teacup, though only a few centimetres deep, and at the beginning of a game, four pebbles or seeds are placed in each house to represent men, since like chess which followed later, warri is a simulated war game, ending when one player captures more than half the houses of the other.

It is played in Africa and the Caribbean, and it was said that at one time much property was gambled away in the game.

The game is declining in Barbados, where many people will remember playing it in shallow hollows beaten into the ground.

One of the few places where it was still very much alive was Speightstown, using warri boards and the traditional horsenicker seed.

The decline in this game has been attributed to the rise in popularity of dominoes, which was popularized by Barbadians returning home from the United States during and after World War II.

Taken from A-Z of Barbadian Heritage.