Game 9: Fanorna

 This is the national game of Madagascar!  It's a game of pure strategy and has been around for hundreds of years at least.  There are stories and legends of Malagasy royalty playing this game, and even of inheritance of the throne being affected by the playing of this game.

I've had this set a long time and can't remember where I purchased it - am thinking it was at a game store I used to visit whenever we were in Carmel, California - a game store that, sadly, is no longer there.  I like that this set has a little drawer for all the pieces.  The beginning set up is shown below:

I hadn't played in decades, and Jacob consented to play with me tonight.  Here is a position we were in at one point - I played white, and he played black - I went first.  The goal is to capture all the opponent's pieces; capture is done by approach or withdrawal; there is no jumping of pieces.  I felt like I was really killing him at the beginning, but he ended up winning.  Actually, it became kind of a "cat's game" at the end.  He had more pieces than I did, though, and rather than just wasting time, I charged in and basically committed suicide.  I think there must be some minor rule I'm forgetting that disallows such a disappointing end, as I remember this being a very compelling game.

Here's the box:

 Another reason I think I must be forgetting an end-game rule is that this was chosen by Klutz Press as one of 15 "timeless classics" that they included in their Book of Classic Board Games.  The premise of this book is that a group of people would be heading out on a space-going ark on a trip of many years, and there was only room for one board game.  It had to be one that worked for all ages, with straightforward rules but that was also multi-layered, with tons of potential for strategy so players of wildly different experiences could enjoy it.  Supposedly, these 15 games were the finalists for such a trip.  So, again, I must be forgetting some essential rule to have had such a disappointing ending tonight.  (The rules in the book below are very basic.  The rules that came with the fancier version of the game are about 30 pages long, which also includes a history and suggestions for strategy, and I didn't feel like reading that much tonight!)

Klutz Press calls the game Fandango rather than Fanorna in their book.

I think I also picked up this book at that game store in Carmel at one point.  It's pretty sweet, as it does have 15 good games in it as well as an attached pouch for playing pieces, but I must say I do like the look and feel of the wooden set that I have.  

I definitely need to come back to this one and get those rules squared away so I can get back to the play that I remember having been really compelling.