Lau Kati Kata

Opening Position

Alternate Names

Nau Keti Kata is another name for Lau Kata Kati. Lau Kata Kati from Bengal, India and Felli from far away in Morocco appear to be very similar or identical games. Any of these game’s boards can be drawn with straight lines, as opposed to the circular arcs shown here.

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

A Lau Kati Kata board and six each of black and white counters are required for play.

History

All evidence seems to indicate that this game arose in two different geographic locations independently: Bengal, India and Morocco in northern Africa.

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. Double or multiple captures in one move are permitted and direction may be changed after each enemy counter has been jumped. Per the traditional rules, capturing is not compulsory, but a compulsory capture rule may be added prior to starting the game if both players agree to it.

Variations

Felli, also known as Fich, uses a similar board with a few extra connecting lines. Here, counters can also move backwards and sideways and capture by the short leap in any direction. Counters are promoted to Mullahs (Sultans) at the opposing corner squares. If a counter moves into a promotion area as part of jump during a capturing sequence, it does not promote to Mullah. Promotion is only by direct movement into to promotion area in a non-jumping move. the Mullah moves and captures in all directions. It can move any number of squares, like the king in International Draughts, and land anywhere behind a captured opposing counter. Capture is compulsory.