Sáhkku
| File:Govva sahkku.jpg | |
| Years active | First documented in 1600s. Fallen somewhat out of use after 1950s. |
|---|---|
| Genres | Board game Running-fight game Dice game |
| Players | 2 |
| Setup time | 30 seconds - 1 minute |
| Playing time | 5–60 minutes |
| Chance | Medium (dice rolling) |
| Skills | Strategy, tactics, counting, probability |
| Synonyms | "Bircu", "Percc'", "The Devil's Game" |
Sáhkku is a running-fight board game invented by the Sami people. The game is particularly traditional among the Coast Sámi of northern Norway and Russia, but is also known to have been played in other parts of Sápmi, notably in Lapland.
The essence of the game
Many different versions of sáhkku have been played in different parts of Sápmi. The following describes the rules that appear, according to written sources (see References), to have been most widely practiced across different localities. Alternative rules for sáhkku are listed below.
Dice
The dice used for sáhkku are four-faced long dice or "stick dice". They are shaped like slightly elongated cubes whose short ends are sharpened to points so that they can only land on four of their sides. One side of each die bears the mark "X", the sáhkku symbol. Typically three dice are used.
When having thrown the dice, the player can choose if (A) the sum of all three dice values shall be used to move only one of the player's pieces, (B) the value of one die shall be used to move one piece, while the sum of the other two dice are used to move another piece, or (C) the three dice values shall be used to move three separate pieces.
Each time a piece "lands" on a point after having moved according to the value of one die, it must perform the required action on that point (e.g. capture a soldier or recruit the king), even if it is to immediately (during the same turn) use the value of another die to move further.
Board
A sáhkku board (sáhkkufiellu) traditionally consists of three horizontal lines intersected by a larger (variable) number of vertical lines. The pieces occupy the intersections of these horizontal and vertical lines. (Some boards feature only the central horizontal line, or even none at all; however, the pieces still occupy the same notional intersections. Alternatively, sáhkku can be played on the squares of a 3×N grid, like those found on a chessboard.) The central point of the middle row, sometimes referred to as "the Castle", is indicated by a sáhkku-symbol, sun symbol, or other ornament.
Setup
At the beginning of the game, two rows of soldiers — referred to as gálgut ("women") and olbmát ("men") — face each other on opposite rows of points. The Castle is occupied by a piece called gonagas ("the king"). Dice are thrown to determine who begins the game. The player who first gets a sáhkku may start.
The soldiers
When the game begins, the soldiers are inactive — that is, unable to move. A player can activate a soldier by throwing a sáhkku. When activated, a soldier is moved one point ahead. After activation, dice are used to determine how many points soldiers can move ahead during their turn. The soldiers move in a set pattern: towards the player's right when they are in their home row (the row where they begin), towards the left when they are in the middle row, and towards the right when they are in the enemy row. They move in a theoretically infinite "8"-shaped pattern.
The king
The king begins neutral, not controlled by either player. It is recruited by a player when that player moves one of their pieces onto the point currently occupied by the king. The king then becomes part of that player's army, until it is recruited by the opposing player. Unlike the soldiers, the king does not move in a set pattern. Also, it can move towards the right, left, up, and down. It can, however, not move diagonally, and cannot change direction while utilizing the value of one die. It can capture other pieces and lock pieces, but cannot itself be locked or captured, only recruited.
Capturing soldiers
The object of the game is to capture all of the opponent's soldiers, that is, to remove them from the board. An opponent's soldier is captured when a player moves a soldier, or the recruited king, onto a point occupied by the opponent. If the point in question is occupied by several opposing soldiers, all those soldiers are captured. A captured soldier is removed from the board, and not entered again.
Locking soldiers
In most versions of the game, it is possible to "lock" the opposing player's soldiers. This happens when a player places one of his soldiers, or the recruited king, on the point immediately in front of an inactive piece of the opposing player's. The inactive soldier, and all inactive soldiers behind it, is now "locked" — it is not possible to activate them until the locking piece is removed. If a player loses all their active soldiers, and all inactive soldiers are locked, the player has lost the game.
Variants of the game
There are many versions of sáhkku, with rules differing slightly or substantially from each other.
Dice
- The numbers written on the sides of the dice have varied from place to place (for example X-2-3-0; X-1-2-0; X-2-3-4 etc).
- There are different rules as regards whether the sáhkku (X) should mean 1 or 5 when it is not used to activate a soldier, but only to move pieces. This rule variation produces games with radically different play, since using X as 1 makes the king much more mobile than if X is 5. In the latter case, it is not possible for the king to jump directly between horizontal lines that are situated side by side.
- When using X to activate a soldier, that soldier is generally moved one field ahead. There is, however, a recorded variant in which a player can move soldiers five fields ahead upon activation.[1]
Board and setup
- The board is generally 15x3, but can be longer or shorter. The number of soldiers employed by either side varies according to the length of the board.
- In one variant of the game, the front point on the player's home row (the rightmost), is not occupied by any piece when the game begins.
Opening
- An alternate way of opening the game is that the players begin by seeing who first manages to get three sáhkku in three consecutive throws. When doing this, the dice that have landed on sáhkku are set aside before the next throw. The player who first gets three sáhkku in this manner plays first.
- Instead of going directly into normal game play, the game can be opened with a starting round in which the players can choose if they want to activate the foremost soldier and move it three points ahead, or activate the three foremost soldiers and move each one point ahead, or activate two of the three foremost soldiers and move them two and one points ahead respectively.
Pieces
- It is documented that in one version of the game, the king could be captured and removed from the board, like the ordinary soldiers.
- Some versions of the game have included "king's children", two pieces placed four squares away from the king on either side. Their design indicates that each army owned one of these pieces. The rules for using them are, however, lost.
Cooperative vs. competitive mode
- It has been documented that a cooperative version of the game has existed, where the players do not compete but work towards a common goal. The rules for this version have been lost.[2]
Ráisá sáhkku
The version of sáhkku that differs most from the rule sets generally documented, is traditional to the Ráisa district. Through exploring how Ráisá sáhkku differs, we may also say something about what constitutes the "norm" in sáhkku rules.
- The board tends to be designed with squares instead of with points formed by intersecting horizontal and vertical lines.
- There tends to be 3×13 squares, with twelve soldiers on each of the sides' home rows. In the starting position, the rightmost square (from the player's perspective) is left open.
- The Ráisa version calls for two dice, instead of the normal three.
- Sáhkku (X), when not used to activate a piece, signifies "1" and never "5".
- It is not possible to move one individual piece by using the combined values of two or more dice. The movements of one piece must correspond to the value of one die only.
- The first player to throw a sáhkku captures the king by doing so.
- The king can only move in the direction of the army it has been captured by, as opposed to moving in all directions except diagonally (as does the king in tablut or the rook in chess).
- When throwing a sáhkku, the player can, after utilizing that throw, throw the die that landed on sáhkku again. This can be repeated until the player gets another value on the die. However, throwing a double sáhkku means that the player must throw the dice again immediately, without utilizing the two sáhkku.
- Soldiers, upon returning from the enemy's home row and having for the second time traversed the middle row, head back up into the enemy's home row again, never returning to their own home row — as opposed to moving perpetually in a figure-8 pattern.
- Inactive pieces can be captured, and they cannot be locked. In most versions of the game, a player can win by locking in the inactive pieces of the opponent and capturing only the active pieces, but in Ráisa sáhkku no hostages are taken — all of the opponent's pieces can and must be removed from the board.
History
Name
The North Sámi word "sáhkku" means "fine", as in "mulct" or "penalty". This name has been subject to some speculation, since it does not appear to be connected to the gameplay. One theory, put forth by Edmund Johansen, a veteran player of the game, to the French researcher Alan Borvo, is that "fine" is a euphemism for "offering", used to avoid the wrath of Christian priests and evangelists. Sáhkku was considered a sinful game by such people, who saw traces of Sámi pre-Christian worship in it, and called it "The Devil's Game". According to Johansen's theory, it was in fact correct that the "King" piece represented a non-christian deity, and that it is recruited through offerings[3]
“Our ancestors,” Johansen explains,“called it gonagas from the Norwegian word (konge, “king”) simply because, as they had no king, they had no word in their language for calling it. But this king may perfectly well have meant god with the signification the Sámit give to that word, i.e. a natural power, neither good nor bad, with whom one has to deal anyway by making offerings. In our language sáhkku means ‘penalty’. You may know the Sámit often give things new names just to avoid the minister’s wrath, so they could say penalty while they really thought of offering.”[4]
The game was also referred to as to paly birccut, which simply means to play "dice" in North Sámi. An alternative name for the game in Skolt Sámi, percc', means the same. [5]
Development of the game
It is unknown how long sáhkku has been played among the Sámi. The earliest description of the game is found in Johannes Schefferus' book Lapponia (1673).[6]
Sáhkku is probably related to tâb, a game played in northern Africa and south-western Asia. A similar game, tablan, is traditional to India.[7] It is unknown how this board game tradition has traveled from southern latitudes to Sápmi. The game daldøs, played in parts of Denmark and southern Norway, also appears to be related to sáhkku and tâb. What appears to be a board for a related game was found in the wreckage of the English warship Mary Rose, which sank south of England in 1545.[8] Likewise, a 13th century manuscript from Dorset includes a drawing of a similar game board.[9] The presence of related games in seafaring communities from southern England to the northernmost reaches of Sápmi may suggest that this family of games has spread by the sea from Africa and Asia.
Faced with a combination of religious pressure and the increasing availability of new forms of entertainment, sáhkku gradually fell out of use in Sámi communities, and has not been widely played since the 1950s.
See also
- Daldøs, a south Scandinavian relative of Sáhkku.
- Tâb, a possible Middle Eastern relative of Sáhkku.
- Tablut, the Sámi version of the Scandinavian Tafl games, from which the rules of modern Hnefatafl are drawn. Although the name is similar, tablut is not considered a relative of tâb.
- Dablot Prejjesne, a Sámi game similar to alquerque and draughts, but like Sáhkku utilizing pieces called the "king" and "kings' children".
Notes
References
- Borvo, Alan (2001), "Sáhkku, The "Devil's Game"" (PDF), Board Games Studies, 4, Leiden: CNWS Publications: 33–52, ISBN 90-5789-075-5, ISSN 1566-1962
- Depaulis, Thierry (2001), "An Arab Game in the North Pole?" (PDF), Board Games Studies, 4, Leiden: CNWS Publications: 77–82, ISBN 90-5789-075-5, ISSN 1566-1962
- Cazaux, Jean-Louis (2012), Les jeux des parcours. A travers les siecles et les continentes., Toulouse: Pionissimo, pp. 87–90, ISBN 978-2-9541313-1-3
- Michaelsen, Peter (2000), "Daldøs og Sakku - to gamle nordiske spil", ORD & SAG, 19, Aarhus: Institut for Jysk Sprog- og Kulturforskning: 15–29, ISSN 0108-8025
- Michaelsen, Peter (2001), "Daldøs, an almost forgotten dice board game" (PDF), Board Games Studies, 4, Leiden: CNWS Publications: 19–31, ISBN 90-5789-075-5, ISSN 1566-1962
- Walker, Damian (2011), Tablan, vol. 43, Cynningstan. Traditional board game series