Oware is a turn based board game played on a board with pits and counters (seeds). The main objective of the game is to capture as many seeds from the board before the game ends. At the end of the game, the player with more seeds wins.
Oware boards have twelve pits and forty-eight seeds. Some boards have two extra larger pits which are used to collect captured seeds. Gameplay usually involves collecting seeds from a pit and either getting them off the board as captured seeds or distributing them across the board based on the rules that apply.
There are several rule sets used for playing oware. For this simulation however, we would support only the Anan-Anan (also known as four-four or ayo) and the Abapa rules. Anan-anan offers a fun filled fast paced gameplay while ayo offers a more strategic gameplay.
An anan-anan game starts with all forty-eight seeds equally distributed into all the twelve pits with four seeds in each pit. Each player owns the pits that are on their side of the board. To play a turn, an player selects a pit owned by them and distributes its seeds in a counter-clockwise direction around the board. When the seeds collected for distribution run out, the player picks up the seeds in the last pit into which the last seed was dropped and continues distributing. This continues until the last seed is put into an empty pit. Once an empty pit is reached, turns change. For the purposes of this computer simulation, the player only has to click on the preferred pit and the game would handle the distribution.
Players can capture seeds from their side of the board when the number of seeds in any given pit increases to four during a distribution. This rule applies no matter who's turn it is. The only exception to this rule occurs when the last seed is dropped into a pit which contains three seeds to make it four. In such a case the player who's turn it is captures the seeds regardless of who's side of the board it is. When there are eight seeds left on the board, the last player to capture seeds of the board takes all eight seeds and the game ends. The player with most seeds wins.
An abapa game also starts with all fourty-eight seeds equally distributed into all the pits and just like the anan-anan games each player also owns the side of the board that faces them. To play a turn, a player selects a pit on their side of the board and distributes its seeds in a counter-clockwise direction around the board. Unlike an anan-anan game however, the player stops distributing when the seeds collected runs out and turns change. For the purposes of this computer simulation, the player only has to click on the preferred pit and the game would handle the distribution.
Players can capture seeds only when the last seed is dropped into a seed on their opponents side to make the total number of seeds in the pit either two or three. The game ends whenever a player captures more than twenty-four seeds.