Vultures & Crows

This game is played on the pentagram figure, as above, and commences with the board empty of counters.

Alternate Names

Kaooa (Crow, Hindi, Central Provinces, India). Other very similar or identical games played on the pentagram are known as Ohohla, played by the Papago Indians of New Mexico, and Akuyo (Star) of the Tewa Indians of Santa Clara, New Mexico.

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

A Pentagram as above, one vulture counter, and seven crow counters are required for play.

History

There were several game boards incised into the stone roofing slabs of the Temple of Kurna at the ancient city of Thebes on the Nile River. This temple is believed to be constructed around 1350 BCE, during the reigns of Rameses I and Seti I. Of these boards, there is one that in other contexts would be called a pentagram, as above. What game was played on this figure is unknown. It is known, however, that the ancient Greeks borrowed many board games from the Egyptians and it seems likely that the Cretan game of Pentalpha, played on a pentagram, also originates in Egypt. The Greek poet Sophocles (497 or 495-406 BCE) mentions a game called Pente Grammai, which was probably the same as or similar to these games described here. Murray reports a hunt game played on the pentagram from the Central Provinces of India called Kaooa which uses one tiger and seven kaooas which try to block the tiger. The tiger captures by jumping over a kaooa to a vacant node just beyond.

Objective

The crow player wins if she can block the vulture from making any legal move. The vulture player wins if he can reduce the crow numbers to three.

Play

Strategy

Variations

Sources

1. Pentagames. Compiled by Pentagram. 1990. Fireside, Simon & Schuster Inc. ISBN 0-671-72529-7.