Dara (game)

Background

Dara is played by the Dakarkari people in Nigeria and is popular among the Zarma in Niger, who call it dili. In the Hausa language, spoken in Niger and Nigeria, the game is called doki, meaning 'horse'. It is also played in Burkina Faso. The game is very similar to Wali and Dama Tuareg.

The game proceeds in two phases: the Drop phase, where players alternately place their 12 pieces on the empty 5x6 board, and the Move phase, where pieces are moved orthogonally into adjacent empty cells. Three-in-a-rows formed during the Drop phase do not count, and players are not allowed to remove opponent pieces during that phase. Longer rows (four or more in a line) are generally not treated as winning alignments, though local rules may vary.

During the Move phase, forming a three-in-a-row (orthogonal only) allows a player to remove one enemy piece that is not itself part of a three-in-a-row. If a player forms two three-in-a-rows in one move, only one enemy piece may be removed. The loser is the player who can no longer make three-in-a-rows with their remaining pieces, for example if they have only two pieces left.