Awithlaknannai Mosona

Lore & Background

The game's age is unknown. It resembles another Zuni board game called Kolowis Awithlaknannai (fighting serpents), but with notable differences: Awithlaknannai Mosona has a smaller board and, depending on the variant, fewer lines joining intersection points. The rules are not the same; they differ in board size, starting positions, and capture rules. It is thought that the Spanish brought Alquerque to the American Southwest, and Awithlaknannai Mosona may have evolved from Alquerque. However, in Culin's 1907 book, the Zunis claimed they adopted a hunt game from Mexico similar to catch the hare and fox games of Europe, transforming it into Awithlaknannai Mosona. They equalized the numbers of pieces and their powers, and may have transformed the board so its length far exceeds its width, with diagonal lines replacing orthogonal lines.

Reader's Guide

Awithlaknannai Mosona is significant as a documented example of Native American abstract strategy gaming, showing cultural adaptation and evolution. The game's rules were never fully described by Stewart Culin; in particular, whether captures are compulsory and whether multiple captures are allowed were unclear. However, Culin's book states that on the first player's first turn, a piece is moved to the central point and is jumped by the second player's piece, and the second player could have made another move instead, suggesting capturing is compulsory. The board has two versions, both with 25 intersection points: the middle row has 9 points, the two outer rows have 8 each. One version has lines missing between outer row points; the other has them. Captures are compulsory, multiple captures are allowed, and a piece that can continue to jump must do so. The game ends when all opponent's pieces are captured, or when no more captures can be made, in which case players may call a draw or declare the player with more pieces the winner.

Did You Know?

• The game was named Awithlaknan Mosona in Stewart Culin's 1907 book.
• The board has 25 intersection points, with the middle row having 9 and the outer rows 8 each.
• Each player starts with 12 pieces, and only the central point is vacant at the start.
• The Zunis claimed they adapted the game from a Mexican hunt game similar to European catch the hare and fox games.

Origins and Cultural Roots

Awithlaknannai Mosona is a two-player strategy board game originating with the Zuni Native American tribe of New Mexico. Its exact age remains unknown, adding an air of mystery to its history. According to the Zunis themselves, as recorded in the early twentieth century, the game evolved from a hunting game they adopted from Mexico. This ancestral game bore resemblance to the European "catch the hare and the fox" tradition, in which one side fields more pieces while the other wields greater individual power. The Zuni transformed this asymmetric contest into a balanced duel, equalizing both the number of pieces and their capabilities. They also reshaped the playing surface, stretching its length well beyond its width and replacing straight orthogonal connections with diagonal lines throughout. Scholars have also noted a possible link to Alquerque, a game the Spanish are thought to have carried into the American Southwest, and Awithlaknannai Mosona may represent a local evolution of that older form. The Mexican hunt game itself may even have been played on an alquerque-style board, even though the resulting Zuni game operates on entirely different mechanical principles.

The Board and Its Two Variants

The playing surface of Awithlaknannai Mosona features exactly twenty-five intersection points arranged across three rows. The central row contains nine points, while each of the two outer rows holds eight. Because the original diagram in Stewart Culin's 1907 publication lacked full clarity, two versions of the board exist in the modern record. Both share the same point count and the same rules, but they differ in how the outer rows are connected: one variant omits certain lines between the outer-row points, while the other includes them. Each player commands twelve pieces, divided into a black set and a white set. The game also bears a close resemblance to another Zuni board game known as Kolowis Awithlaknannai, sometimes called "fighting serpents." The two share identical rules, but Awithlaknannai Mosona uses a smaller board and, depending on the variant, fewer connecting lines between intersection points. Despite these minor structural differences, the strategic logic and capturing mechanics remain the same across both games, suggesting they are closely related siblings within the Zuni gaming tradition.

Movement, Capturing, and Victory

At the start of a game, each player positions their twelve pieces along the row nearest to them and on the right-hand side of the middle row, leaving only the very center point empty. The first player's opening move is therefore fixed: a piece must be placed on that central intersection. From there, turns alternate, and a player may slide one piece along a marked line to an adjacent vacant point. The more dynamic option is the leap: a piece jumps over an adjacent enemy piece and lands on the vacant point immediately beyond, removing the jumped piece. Crucially, the leap need not follow a straight line; it simply must trace the board's line pattern. Captures are compulsory, and a piece that can continue jumping must do so until no further leap is available. When multiple capturing options exist—whether different lines or different pieces—the player chooses which to execute. The game ends when one side has eliminated all of the opponent's pieces, or when neither player can make any further captures. In that latter case, the result may be declared a draw or awarded to the side with more pieces remaining, at the players' discretion.

Scholarly Record and the Culin Legacy

The primary written record of Awithlaknannai Mosona comes from Stewart Culin's 1907 volume, Games of the North American Indians: Games of Skill, where he documented the game under the slightly different spelling Awithlaknan Mosona. Culin's description, however, was never fully complete. Critical questions—whether captures are mandatory and whether a single piece may chain multiple jumps in one turn—were left ambiguous. His account notes that on the opening turn the first player moves a piece to the board's central point and the second player immediately jumps it, yet he also acknowledges the second player could have chosen a different move, a detail that strongly implies capturing is compulsory. Because Culin's work became the foundational reference, virtually all subsequent rule reconstructions, whether in Catalan, Italian, or English, trace back to his incomplete description. The game is classified within the broader draughts and alquerque family owing to its hop-over capturing mechanic, though its intersection-point-and-line board structure aligns it more closely with Alquerque than with traditional draughts. Despite over a century of scholarly attention, the game remains a compelling case study in how indigenous knowledge can be partially preserved through early ethnography while retaining gaps that no amount of academic commentary can fully close.