KBOO, A LIBERIAN GAME 



945 



left to right, or counter-clockwise. His 

 opponent does likewise, playing from 

 any hole on his side. As soon as play 

 commences, some holes are of course left 

 empty and others receive more than the 

 four seeds. In subsequent plays these 

 empty holes will again receive one or 

 more seeds. 



One of the objects of the game is to 

 play from such a hole that the last seed 

 will fall in one of the holes on the oppo- 

 nent's side which contains either one or 

 two seeds. When this occurs, the seeds 

 in this hole, together with the seed 

 dropped, are removed and count in favor 

 of the player making the play. If any 

 holes immediately preceding that from 

 which such a "catch" is made contain 

 one or two seeds, the whole series are 

 also removed until a hole is reached that 

 was either empty or contained more than 

 two seeds. This play can be best ex- 

 plained by the following diagram : 



13^ It 10 9 ^ 7 



If the player guarding the lower row 

 of holes elects to play from hole number 

 5, the first of the five seeds would fall 

 in hole number 6, the next in 7, and the 

 last in 10. Since hole 10 contained two 

 seeds, the three which it would contain 

 after the play would be "caught," as 

 well as the two in 9 and the three in 

 number 8. The seeds in 7 would be safe, 

 since they are more than two. Seeds can 

 only be caught from an opponent's side. 



The play continues until there are no 

 seeds left on one or the other side when 

 it is that player's turn to play. The game 

 is then finished and all seeds remaining 

 on the board count for the player on 

 whose side they remain, and are added 

 to those already caught. The player 

 having the most seeds wins the game. 



With skilled players the seeds caught 

 during the game seldom play an impor- 

 tant part, the principal effort being di- 



