Home / Living Traditions / Shared across the world
Playable heritage gameLukasa memory board pattern game
Also known as Lukasa
The lukasa is a hand-sized wooden board of the Luba people of central Africa, studded with beads, shells and pins and scored with lines. Court historians read it with their fingertips as a chart of lineages, journeys and councils, recalling long histories from its patterns.
.jpg){kind=link}
How to play
- Choose a bead colour and a mark from the strip under the board.
- Tap a square to place it: the same mark appears on the matching squares across the board.
- Copy the small board above, then press Check.
Rules at a glance
- The board is a mirror image left to right and top to bottom, so you only work one corner.
- A square counts only when its mark and its colour both match the board you are copying.
- Three stars need a nearly perfect copy; you can undo or clear as often as you like.
About the tradition
Lukasa boards come from the Luba kingdom in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where trained historians used them as prompts for spoken history. No two recitations were alike, and the boards are now held in museums around the world.
Origins
A living tradition passed from person to person; it is not tied to a single dated origin.
Credits
- Pattern design: World Heritage Games (original)
- Photo: Zythème, CC0, source on Wikimedia Commons
- Text: CC BY-SA 4.0, World Heritage Games.
Sources
Get the app
Lukasa memory board pattern game is one of 20 paper and paint crafts in the Paper & Paint of the World app for iPhone, iPad and Android. Submitted to the App Store and Google Play; in review. Store links appear here the day it goes live. One app, many traditions, no account needed.
More games to play
Ndebele geometric wall painting
South Africa · Crafts and makingPlay preview · in the Paper & Paint of the World app
Zulu beadwork letters
South Africa · Crafts and makingPlay preview · in the Paper & Paint of the World app
Kuba cloth pattern puzzle
DR Congo · Crafts and makingPlay preview · in the Paper & Paint of the World app