Kowwu Dunki

Kowwu Dunki Opening Position

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

A Kowwu Dunki board and nine each of black and white counters are required for play.

History

Kowwu Dunki is played in India.

Objective

The goal is to capture all of the opponent’s counters, the first player to achieve this being the winner. A player may also win by blocking any legal move by his opponent. If it is agreed that a draw seems imminent, the player with more counters may declare victory.

Play

Counters are placed at all the intersections except the middle one, as above. Alternate turns between players entail a move along a line to any neighboring vacant intersection in any direction or a jump over an opponent’s counter(s) in a straight line to a vacant intersection just beyond the counter being jumped. Counters are captured by being jumped over and are then removed from the board. Enchained double or multiple captures in one move are permitted and direction may be changed after each opposing counter has been jumped. On any turn that it is possible to take an opponent’s counter it is compulsory to do so. If a player does not make the compulsory capture on their turn by failing to notice it, their opponent may then huff (remove) that counter as a bonus before their next move.

Variations

Gulugufe, meaning “butterfly” in the Tonga language of Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique, is an obvious reference to the shape of the board used for the namesake game. Boards are often on plaques made to resemble butterflies, complete with antennae, abdomen, and butterfly wings. It is unknown if it is related to Kowwu Dunki from faraway India, or if it arose independently. Both boards have nineteen intersection points where the counters are played and both use nine counters per player. The only notable difference seems to be the missing connecting lines that extend out from the center point.