Oware — also written awale, awalé, awari, owari, wari or warri — is a two-player sowing game from West Africa. The board has 12 pits and 48 seeds, and you win by collecting 25 of them. Below are the classic abapa rules exactly as the game, the computer and the coach on 9qum apply them.
▶ Play oware 🎓 Play with a coach
Each player owns the row of six pits nearest to them. On 9qum your row is the bottom one, pits 1 to 6 from left to right; your opponent's pit 1 is top right, their pit 6 top left. Every pit starts with four seeds (the app calls them stones). Captured seeds go to your store — the score next to the board.
Example: pit 3 holds 3 seeds. They go one each into pits 4, 5 and 6, and pit 3 is left empty.
A pit with 12 or more seeds sows all the way round the board. The pit you started from is skipped: no seed goes back into it. Example: pit 1 holds 12 seeds. Eleven of them fill your pits 2–6 and all six of your opponent's pits; the twelfth jumps over pit 1, which stays empty, and lands in pit 2.
Look at the pit where your last seed landed. If it is on your opponent's side and now holds exactly 2 or 3 seeds, you take them. With 1, or 4 or more, nothing is captured, and nothing is ever captured on your own side.
Example: 4 seeds from pit 4 go into your pits 5 and 6 and your opponent's pits 1 and 2. Their pit 2 had 2, now 3 — captured. Their pit 1 now holds 4 — not captured.
After a capture, check the pit just before it — the one the sowing passed through earlier, closer to your opponent's pit 1. If it also holds 2 or 3, take it as well, and keep going back while the condition holds. The chain stops at the first pit with any other number, or when it reaches your own side.
If your opponent has no seeds in their row, you must make a move that gives them at least one. Any move that would leave their row empty is illegal while a feeding move exists. If none of your moves can reach them, the game ends and you take all the seeds left on your side.
An empty row alone does not end the game: if you empty your own side, your opponent must feed you.
A grand slam is a move whose captures would take every seed your opponent has left. Traditions treat it differently; on 9qum the move is allowed, but captures nothing — the seeds stay where they were sown.
In the last two cases the stores are compared: more wins, equal is a draw.
| Game | Board and seeds | Capture | To win |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oware (abapa) | 2×6 pits, 48 | last seed makes 2 or 3 on the opponent's side, chain backwards | 25 |
| Mangala | 2×6 pits plus two stores, 48 | even count on the opponent's side; your own empty pit takes the facing pit; extra turn in your store | 25 |
| Bestemshe | 2×5 pits, 50 | even count on the opponent's side; one seed stays in the starting pit | 26 |
| Togyz kumalak | 2×9 pits, 162 | even count on the opponent's side; tuzdyk (a captured pit) | 82 |
Oware, awale, awari, wari, warri — one game, many names, and local rules can differ in details such as the grand slam. On 9qum it is always the version on this page.
Learn has a 15-step oware course on a live board — rules, first techniques and how to win — followed by 37 oware puzzles.
In Play with a coach every move is rated, from best move to blunder. On a blunder the game pauses, the coach shows the threat and offers a take-back. You get 3 hints per game, and “Ask the coach” answers 3 questions a day for free (more with a membership).
The computer has 4 levels — Novice, Amateur, Strong and Master — and those games are saved in your history. Against people: online tables with a Glicko-2 rating, and tournaments. Game analysis lets you play both sides, set up a position and ask the AI for advice. Free; signing up takes a minute.
▶ Play vs computer 📚 Learn 🧩 Puzzles
Each player starts with 24 seeds: 4 in each of their 6 pits, 48 on the board in total.
Counter-clockwise: to the right along your own row, then right to left along your opponent's row. With 12 or more seeds the pit you started from is skipped.
No. Only pits on your opponent's side are captured, when your last seed makes 2 or 3 there. A chain also stops as soon as it reaches your side.
You must make a move that gives them seeds. If no move can reach their row, the game ends and you take the seeds left on your side.
A grand slam is a move that would capture all of your opponent's seeds. On 9qum it is allowed but captures nothing: the seeds stay on the board.
You need 25 of the 48 seeds. If both players finish with 24, the game is a draw.