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Encyclopedia ID 617

Songo

Also known as Songo'o · Songho · Songoh · Songo ewondo · mbekh ô kôla (Gabon) · 14-house mancala

Songo: photograph by MozMozJ
Photo: MozMozJ, CC BY-SA 4.0, source on Wikimedia Commons

Two-row, 14-house sowing game with five seeds per house, played by Ekang/Beti/Fang peoples; first to bank 40 wins.

How it is played

Two-row, 14-house sowing game with five seeds per house, played by Ekang/Beti/Fang peoples; first to bank 40 wins. A strategic game used socially for reconciliation.

Heritage note

Part of the living heritage of Cameroon, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea.

Origins

Usually placed in the era of Deep Past and First Games (before about 3000 BCE), although its exact origins are uncertain, within the cultural world of Africa: Sahel, West and Central.

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Sources

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