Board Game – Türkiye

Looking for a different board game for your Friday night? Then check this out!

In Türkiye, people enjoy playing the traditional intelligence and strategy game: Togyzqumalaq, Toguz Korgool, Mangala/Göçürme. This traditional game is a great choice for having fun and improving your strategic thinking skills. In 2020, it was inscribed on UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Game Rules:

- Togyzqumalaq, Toguz Korgool, Mangala/Göçürme can be played on special boards or improvised ones such as pits on the ground. It can be played with pellets made of stone, wood, metal and bone, nuts, or seeds, which are distributed across the pits; the player who gathers the most pellets wins the game.

- There are different versions of the game. For instance, the board can have two, three, four, six, or nine pits arranged according to the number of players, and the length changes depending on the number of players.

It is also linked to other traditional crafts, such as wood and stone carving and jewellery making. Wood and stone carving masters and jewellers make elaborately decorated boards and pellets, as well as practical items that reflect traditional worldviews and their artistic creativity.

And how does tradition meet technology?

The game is passed on both informally and through formal education. Recently, the communities concerned have also developed applications for mobile devices to learn and/or play the game, providing a new way of teaching the skills involved and increasing the visibility of the practice among younger generations.

If you would like to learn more, do not hesitate to watch this video

Sources & photographs taken from: https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/traditional-intelligence-and-strategy-game-togyzqumalaq-toguz-korgool-mangala-gocurme-01597

Photograph No 1: © World Ethnosport Confederation/MoCT, 2019

Photograph No 2: © Ergun Zorlu/MoCT, 2019

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