Playing blind
From Wikimanqala
Many traditional board games are played blind, e.g. chess (called "blind chess"), checkers ("blind checkers"), nine men's morris or go ("blind go"). Mancala games can also be played by the blind or, to make the challenge more difficult, by anybody else who is blindfolded.
In toğız qumalaq, a traditional Kazakh mancala game played all over Central Asia, there are regular championships for the blind and clubs where blind people daily practice this game. In tournaments they use special boards and notation sheets. The current Toğız Qumalaq World Champion of the Blind is M. Kurmambetov.
An awele tournament for the visually impaired was organized by CRDP Nord in Lille, France, in March 2005.
Víktor Bautista i Roca, a European oware player, reported in 2006 that he played oware blindfolded together with a friend in a restaurant while half the restaurant were looking at them amazed. Both are not visually impaired. Víktor wrote:
- "At the begining it was not easy, but after a few moves, we have really enjoyed the experience. We mostly counted by touch, but we were also just remembering everything."
He also recommended, at least when starting to play blindfolded, to have a referee at hand, who may assist when problems arise.
In 2004, kalah was recommended as a teaching tool for blind children by the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children in the USA.
Alexander J. de Voogt, world-renowned mancala expert, wrote in his dissertation on the characterization of bao mastership that in 1992 blind bao was unknown in Zanzibar or even in East Africa. He then designed a "blind play experiment" to research cognitive abilities of Bao masters which was conducted from 1992-1994. His informant, the master Abdulrahim Muhiddin Foum (known as Abdu), could at this time not calculate more than five rounds. De Voogt concluded in 1995 that " if very long takasa (i.e. non-capturing moves) take place in a game, it is possible to beat any master of Bao, when they play blind." Later, however, Rob Nierse, another Dutch mancala expert, reported that he wasn't able to win a single game against Abdu, although Rob could see the board and Abdu had his back turned against it, so not even being able to count the seeds by touch.
Not all Mancala games may be equally suited, however. As Ralf Gering pointed out this may depend on the clarity of the game. Mancala games with easier rules, smaller boards, fewer seeds, equal counters, single laps, no bonus moves, no stacking might work better than mancala games with more difficult rules, larger boards, more seeds, differing counters, multiple laps, bonus moves or stacking within a "hole".
References
- Bautista i Roca, V.
- (2006) Mancala games and blind people, email to Mancala Games maling list (mancalagames@yahoogroups.com), 13 Mar.
- Miller, S.
- (2004) 'How to Use a Popular Game as a Teaching Tool - and Still Have Fun!', in Future Reflections: The National Federation of the Blind Magazine for Parents and Teachers of Blind Children 2004 (1); 23. [Web site]
- de Voogt, A. J.
- (1995) 'The Blind Bao Experiment', in De Voogt, A.J. Limits of the Mind: Towards a Characterization of Bao Mastership, Leiden: CNWS Publications, Thesis Rijksuniversiteit Leiden (Netherlands). Pages 88-100.
