Dala (game)

Dala is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Sudan, played especially by the Baggara tribes, and also known as Herding the Cows or Herding the Bulls. It is an alignment game with captures, similar to the related game Dara. Play takes place on a six-by-six square board with each player controlling twelve pieces, traditionally sharpened sticks placed into holes marked in mud rather than manufactured pieces. The game proceeds in two phases: a drop phase in which players alternately place their pieces on the board, followed by a movement phase in which pieces are moved orthogonally to form patterns and capture an opponent's pieces. Forming exactly three consecutive pieces in an orthogonal line, called a ta'na, allows the capture of any opposing piece on the board, though four or more consecutive pieces grant no such capture right. A player wins by reducing the opponent to two pieces, too few to form a capturing line.