Beach games

You've done enough swimming — or you find the water too cold! You don't feel like playing energetic games with the children, but you haven't brought any games and you haven't even got a pack of cards between you all. Don't worry; there are all sorts of games which you can play, using the sand as a board and pebbles or shells. That is how many games whose origins are lost in the mist of time began. So let's imitate early man and see how we can keep ourselves amused.

Solitaire
This used to be called the Hermit's Game. To play it in the sand make three rows of seven small hollows in each and drop a pebble into each hollow, leaving an empty space in the middle of the centre row, then two rows of 3 holes each on either side, each filled with a pebble. To play, you move one pebble at a time in a straight line over another one into the gap in the centre; every time you do this you remove the pebble you jumped over. The idea is to be left with just one pebble in the centre. If you achieve this you've played a good game of solitaire.

Because solitaire is a difficult game to play, we are going to cheat and show you how you can win. Numbering the rows from left to right and top to bottom-so the first row would be 1, 2, 3 the second 4, 5, 6, the third 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 etc. move your pebbles as follows: From 15 to 17, 28 to 16, 21 to 23, 7 to 21, 16 to 28, 31 to 23, 24 to 22, 21 to 23, 26 to 24, 23 to 25, 32 to 24, 24 to 26, 33 to 25, 26 to 24, 12 to 26, 27 to 25, 13 to 27, 24 to 26, 27 to 25, 10 to 12, 25 to 11, 12 to 10, 3 to 11, 10 to 12, 8 to 10, 1 to 9, 9 to 11, 2 to 10, 17 to 5, 12 to 10 and 5 to 17.

In this way the last pebble will wind up in the middle of your board.

There are two more variations on the game of solitaire both very old games of strategy: fox and geese, and the seige.

Fox and geese
This is played with 17 geese (small pebbles) and one fox, a larger pebble or one that is clearly defined by its color or markings.

The game is usually played by two people; one is the fox, the other the geese or more than one person can play for the geese in turn. Draw up the board on the sand as shown in the diagram the 17 geese in to rows of 3, one row of 7 and two single ones under the first and seventh. Make 16 small hollows as shown in the diagram; these are the "fields' and the fox, shown in red in the diagram, is placed centrally. The fox has the first move; because there is only one as opposed to 17 geese, he is allowed three or four moves to each one of a goose and he can move in every direction, forward, backward, sideways or diagonally. He takes a goose by jumping over it into a field. Geese may only move forward or sideways. The fox wins when it has caught 12 geese the geese win if they succeed in surrounding the fox.

The Siege
The game here is between 24 small pebbles representing a large but badly-equipped army and some well-armed defenders — two large pebbles in nine fields. Lay out your armies, drawing a perimeter to enclose the nine fields, which again are hollows without pebbles in them. Place your' two defenders in two fields.

Again, you can only move from field to field, one at a time. The defenders can move in any direction, but the attackers can only go forward straight, or diagonally. The defenders take their attackers by jumping over them into a field just as the fox did. To win, the attackers must occupy the entire stronghold of nine fields; the defenders win if they take 16 out of the 24 soldiers.

Three African games
Kalaha is a very old and unusual game — it is known under many names, depending on which part of Africa it is played in, and the rules tend to vary quite a bit. The great advantage is that it only needs sand and pebbles to set up a game. Here are two variations — one Kalaha, the other Hus. We have tried to simplify the rules as much as possible, but the best way to understand them is to start playing.

Kalaha
Make two rows of six holes in the sand, one above the other as in the photograph and the diagram. At each end of the rows dig an oval-shaped hole — this is for your "winnings". Player A has the top row and the left-hand winnings hole, player B the bottom row and the right-hand winnings hole.

Both rows of round holes should be filled with three pebbles each. Use light pebbles for one player and dark ones for the other, or make a distinguishing mark with a pen on each one so you know which are yours and which your opponent's. At this stage of the game the winnings holes are still empty.

The object is to get as many of your opponent's pebbles into your winnings hole as possible, at the same time as emptying your row of holes. The game goes on until one of the players has managed to empty his row completely. You then add up the number of pebbles you have won. The winner is the one with the greatest number. It's up to you how many games you want to play, by deciding on a figure to be reached - 50 - 60 - 80 etc. How to play: The players take turns to play by picking up all the pebbles out of one of his holes and distributing them, one at a time, into any three consecutive holes, moving anti-clockwise. These could be all his holes, could include his own winnings hole and his opponent's holes.

If he puts the last pebble down in his own winnings hole he can have another turn, using pebbles from any of his six holes. If he puts the last pebble down in an empty hole in his own row he can take all the pebbles from the opposite hole in his opponent's row and put them in his winnings hole. Then he gets another turn.

Hus
In this variation of the game described above, start by making four parallel rows of eight holes each. The holes in the top and bottom rows hold two pebbles each. The two centre rows only have pebbles in four holes, arranged so that four full holes face four empty ones.

Player A has the two top rows, player B the remaining two rows. The pebbles belonging to each player should be easy to identify — either mark them or use pebbles of different colors.

The object of the game is to win as many of your opponent's pebbles as possible. Each pebble counts as one point.

How to play: One player takes the pebbles from any one of the holes in his rows and puts one pebble into each of the next two holes, moving anti-clockwise. As the game continues, certain rules come into force as follows: if the last pebble put down by a player goes into a hole with another pebble or pebbles, he can pick these up and continue to distribute the contents of his hand one at a time in the holes, still going anti-clockwise. He can go on playing until the last pebble in his hand has been put into an empty hole. It is then his opponent's turn — unless his last pebble lands in an empty hole in his front row, which happens to face an occupied hole in his opponent's front row, in which case he can pick up his opponent's pebbles and add them to his own and continue play. At this point he can also pick up any pebbles in the corresponding hole in his opponent's back row — but only if in the same turn he has already picked them up from the corresponding hole in the front row.

Each person's turn lasts as long as he can play according to the rules above and for as long as he can pick up two or more pebbles at a time — you are not allowed to play with only one pebble. When one player is no longer allowed to move the game is over. Count how many pebbles each of you have won from the other — the one with the greatest number is the winner.

Yote
This is a simplified kind of draughts and could be played on a checked tablecloth instead of the sand. If you are playing on sand dig five rows of six small holes each. For this West African game each of the two players needs 12 small pebbles (one set light and one set dark).

How to play: You can start anywhere on the "board" — even in the centre, but thereafter you can only move your pebbles in a straight line, either up or down, sideways or diagonally. You can go on playing with the pebble you started with or use a new pebble anywhere on the board. The object is to get as many of your opponent's pebbles as possible by jumping over them into an empty hole. Once you have captured an "enemy" pebble you keep it. The person who has taken all the other person's pebbles is the winner — if you don't reach this stage then the game is a draw. Each player has a turn but if you capture a pebble then you get an extra turn.