Bechi is played in Pankurst in the African country of Eritrea by the Kunama people. The game is played with simple laps on a 2×4 board with 6 seeds in each hole at the start of play.

Now, let us briefly explain to you this interesting game. The main feature of this game is that the direction of a move depends on the hole chosen to begin this move.

In the following diagram you can see a schematic representation of the Bechi board. The top row belongs to player A. The bottom row belongs to player B.

The direction of play depends on the chosen hole to start. Moves from either of a player’s two right-hand holes (3A, 4A, 3B and 4B) moves right in a counterclockwise direction (–>) and moves from either of a player’s two left-hand holes (1A, 2A, 1B and 2B) moves left in a clockwise direction (<–).

This game is also played on a shorter board: 2×3. In this kind of board, the seeds contained in the middle holes can be sown in either direction, counterclockwise or clockwise direction.

A player may not begin a move from a hole containing only 1 seed. Once a player has chosen the hole on his side of the board from which to begin his move, he picks up all the seeds and lets down one seed into the hole where the seeds are just picked up and moves in the appropriate direction as we have explained before.

Captures can be made from either row, in your own row and in the opponent player’s row. Captures are made if the last seed of a move falls in any hole which contains an even number of seeds (including the seed just dropped in it). These seeds are captured and are removed from the board or placed in the player’s store, if there are in the board. If the following hole or holes also contain an even number of seeds, these too are captured. Seeds can only be captured from a hole that previously in the game has been chosen to begin a move.

If it is a player’s turn to move and he has no legal move he passes his turn and continues passing until he has a legal move. When neither player can move, each player captures the seeds remaining on his side of the board.

This game is played in rounds. The object of any one round is to capture as many seeds as possible. For the second and succeeding rounds, the player with the greater number of captured seeds puts 6 seeds into his holes and puts the remaining seeds into his store.

The opponent player puts 6 seeds into as many holes as he can on his side of the board. This player has a free choice of the holes to fill. And he puts any left-over seeds into his store.

The players are not allowed to play into holes left empty at the beginning of a round. For example, if the player B captures 34 seeds in the first round, fills his four own holes with 6 seeds into each one and the 10 remaining seeds are removed from the board or are placed into his store hole. The player A captures only 14 seeds so, he only can be fills 2 holes in his side of the board and the remaining two seeds are removed from the board or are placed into his store hole. So, the second round only 6 holes are played. The second and succeeding rounds are played with the same rules, except that the empty holes will not be used by either player at the start of a round. You can see the following diagram shows what the board would look like at the beginning of the second round when the first round resulted in player B capturing 34 seeds to player A’s 14 seeds:

The winner is the player who leaves his opponent player unable to play because he can not fill any hole in his side of the board with the seeds captured. You win if your opponent player captures fewer than 6 seeds during, because the opponent player can not fill any hole.

To understanding better the previous explanation, you can see the following examples:

Let us suppose that you are the player B and is your turn of play. Assume this situation that is showed in the previous diagram. You can not play from hole 2B because this hole contains only 1 seed.

Assume the situation shown in the previous diagram. You are the player B and you decide move from the hole 1B, then you end in the hole 4A and you capture nothing because this hole contains an odd number of seeds. You can see the following diagram:

Let us suppose that you are the player B and you move from the hole 3B. You will reach in the hole 2A.

You capture 2 seeds contained into the hole 2A because the last seed of a lap falls into a hole containing an even number of seeds:

Because the following holes also contain an even number of seeds, you capture the seeds contained into them. So, you capture 10 seeds (from the holes 2A, 3A, 4A and 1B) and remove these from the board.

Your multiple capture end in the hole 2B because this hole contains an odd number of seeds. Your turn is over.

Let us suppose that you are the player B and it is your turn. Assume the situation in the following diagram. You decide to move from the hole 4B containing 7 seeds.

You move placing one seed in the same hole where you just pick up the seeds (4B) and continue moving to the hole 1A and you end into the hole 2B. You capture 2 seeds contained because is an even number of seeds, and the even number of seeds (4) contained into the following hole (3B). So, your turn is over capturing 6 seeds and you remove these from the board.

If you have understood our explanations, we encourage you to practice this interesting game.