Jama Musse Jama
jama@redsea-online.com
Layli Goobalay, literally meaning "exercise with circles" in the Somali language, is the Somaliland version of the classical Count and Capture board games, which are some times called also as Mancalà. This family of games, which slightly differ in the playing rules from game to game, but share the object and in the moves, is known also as the African National Game. It is one of the most ancient two-player strategy board games in the world, and it has been played throughout Africa and Asia for over 7,000 years. This family game has many names, according to the geographical location in the African Continent (see African National Game section below) and other places over the world. These names refer in some cases to the Game's manner of winning, and some times to the design of the board of the game. In Somaliland the word "circles" is referred because of the physical design of the board. In fact to play Layli, small circular holes are dug on the sand in order to design the "board".
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