Bohnenspiel

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Bohnenspiel
Baltisches Bohnenspiel,
Kardis-Bohnenspiel, Badari
Played in:
Germany
One cycle
Single lap
6 holes per row
Two rows

Already in 1917, the Bohnenspiel ("bean game") was called "an old German game" by the game pastor Fritz Jahn who rediscovered it in 1908 while visiting Baron von Stackelberg at his estate in Tardis (Island of Ösel), Estonia. The baron owned a duplicate of the famous mancala set which was a present from the Shah of Persia (probably Aga Mohammed) for Czarinar Catherine the Great (reign 1762-1796), born Sophie von Anhalt-Zerbst. The original is today in the art collection of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The game was mostly played by the German aristocracy in the Baltic Provinces of the Russian Empire in the 19th century and, for that reason, named Baltisches Bohnenspiel ("Baltic bean game") or Kardis-Bohnenspiel ("Kardis bean game"). In the eastern provinces of Prussia which are since the end of World War II occupied by Poland and Russia, a variant was played on a larger 2x9 board which was called Deutsches Bohnenspiel ("German bean game"), but its exact rules are now forgotten. Das Deutsche Bohnenspiel was very popular in the 1880s according to the wife of Wilhelm Hans August von Waldow (1856-1937), Governing President of Königsberg (1899-1903) and the Senior President of Pommern (1911-1917) in Stettin.

The history of the game hints also to an Asian origin of the rules which were probably influenced by Mancala variants played in Central Asia, perhaps by the Kazakhs, or by now lost Persian games. Any similarity of the Bohnenspiel to African games, such as ouré (played by the Wolof in Senegal), appears to be a mere coincidence, when its place and time of origin is considered. The game spread from Petersburg to the Baltic countries, from there to Prussia and later to other German states and eventually to German-speaking countries in the south such as Switzerland and Austria.

Pastor Fritz Jahn lived in Züllchow, a suburb of Stettin, where he was director of the Züllchower Anstalten, a Lutheran brotherhood which created a pedagogical institute and a children's home. He used the game for the education of children and workers and promoted it in many books and speeches. Other games he liked were domino and cribbage.

Later the game was described in the Deutsche Spielhandbuch (Handbook of German Games) in 1937. The oldest surviving game was played in 1962.

The game was quite popular in the socialist worker and peasant state DDR (German Democratic Republic), where it was sold as Badari and suggestions were made to make a board from egg shelves. It appears that the Bohnenspiel is still more popular in the eastern part of Germany than in the west or south.

Malters Langenegger, a Swiss, has put a free Bohnenspiel program on his homepage where you can play online. His program is quite good.

The same program can also be found on many websites in Germany.

In second half of the 20th century, the Bohnenspiel was introduced to Kazakhstan, Central Asia, through Soviet game literature. Several tricky endgame problems were composed by Maksat Shotayev, a well-known toğız qumalaq player. He even organizes seminars in which he teaches Bohnenspiel and toğız qumalaq.

Contents

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Rules

The Bohnenspiel is played on a 2x6 board with 6 seeds in each hole initially. Your store is on the right side.

board
Initial Position

Moves are counter-clockwise, single leaps.

If the last seed is dropped into a hole which contains then altogether 2, 4 or 6 seeds, these seeds are captured and put into your store called Schatzhöhle ("treasure cave") in some books. Also, all ripe holes which are in a continuous chain directly behind are harvested. You may capture on both sides of the board.

The game ends when one player is unable to move. The remaining seeds are given to the player who moved the last time.

The winner is the one who gets more seeds.

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Endgame Problems

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Problem 1: The Gentlemen

board
South to move and draw

Created by Maksat Shotayev (Kazakhstan), 2006.

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Problem 2: Charming Bohnenspiel

board
South to move and win

Created by Maksat Shotayev (Kazakhstan), 2006.

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References

Anonymus. 
(1994) 'Die spannendste Art, Perlen aufzureihen. Sofort nachspielbar: Für Mancala genügen zwölf Mulden', in Berliner Zeitung; 14.05.1994 (Page 80).
Arbeiter, B & Ruhnke, W.
(1937) Brettspiele (4. Ergänzungsband zum Deutschen Spielhandbuch), Potsdam: Ludwig Voggenreiter Verlag: 8 & 10-12.
Glonnegger, E. 
(1988) Das Spiele-Buch: Brett- und Legespiele aus aller Welt, Ravensburg & München: Ravensburger Buchverlag & Heinrich Hugendubel Verlag: 214.
Hirte, W. 
(1971) Unsere Spiele: 1000 und mehr, Leipzig: Verlag für die Frau, 307-309.
Jahn, F. 
(1911) Beschäftigungs- und Gesellschaftsspiele als wichtige Erziehungsmittel in Anstalten, Kolonien und Familien (Vortrag), Züllchow bei Stettin: Züllchower Anstalten.
Jahn, F. 
(1914) Geduldspiele, Brettspiele und anderer lehrreicher Zeitvertreib ein dringendes Bedürfnis für unsere Verwundeten: Wegweiser, für alle, die es angeht, Züllchow bei Stettin: Züllchower Anstalten.
Jahn, F. 
(1917) Alte deutsche Spiele, Berlin: Furche-Verlag: 14-15.
Jahn, F. 
(1920) Unterhaltungsspiele für Jünglings- und Jungfrauenvereine, Hamburg: Verlag des Norddeutschen Männer- und Jünglingsbundes. Pages 7-8.
Koch, K.-H. 
(1986) Spiele für Zwei, München: Hugendubel. Pages 59-63.
Langenegger, M. 
(2004) 'Bohnenspiel', in Brett- und Kartenspiele.
Machatscheck, H.
(1972) Zug um Zug: Die Zauberwelt der Brettspiele, Berlin: Verlag Neues Leben. Pages 157-158.
Müller-Alfeld, T.
(1963) Brettspiele, Frankfurt am Main & Berlin: Verlag Ullstein GmbH. Pages 153-156.
Rüger, B. 
(1962) Du bist dran: 42 Spiele am Tisch, Leipzig: VEB Friedrich Hofmeister. Pages 34-37.
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Solutions

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The Gentlemen

1.  2                    9 (2 from 12)
2.  3                   11 (but not 10?, loses)
3.  6!!(A/B)             7
4.  5 (4?)               7 (2 from 8)
5.  4                   10
6.  5 (2 from 6)        11 (wins the remaining beans)
(A)
3.  5?                  10 (but not 7? because of 6!)
4.  4                   11 (2 from 12)
5.  5 (C)                7
6.  6 and South loses.
(B)
3.  4?                  10
4.  6                   11 (2 from 12; but not 7? because of 5!))
5.  5                    7
6.  6 and South loses. Greed ruins Gentlemen.
(C)
5.  6                    7
6.  5                    8 or 9.
7.  6 and South loses. Greed ruins Gentlemen.
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Charming Bohnenspiel

 1.  1 (2 from 2) (A/B)     7
 2.  5 (2 from 6)           9
 3.  4                      8 (4 from 11)
 4.  5 (2 from 6)           9 (6 from 10)
 5.  3                     12
 6.  1, 2, 4 or 5 and South wins with 38:34 points.
 (A)
 1.  6? (4 from 7)        12 (2 from 1 and 2 from 2)
 2.  5                    10
 3.  4 (2 from 6)          9
 4.  5                    10 (4 from 11)
 5.  3                     8
 6.  5 (2 from 6)         10
 7.  4                    11 (2 from 12)
 8.  5                     9
 9.  6                     7 and North draws!
 (B)
 1.  2?                    7
 2.  1                    12 (2 from 2)
 3.  1                     9
 4.  2 (4 from 3)          8 (4 from 11)
 5.  4 (2 from 5 and 6 each)   9 (6 from 10) and North draws.
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See also

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External links

Retrieved from "http://www.wikimanqala.org/wiki/Bohnenspiel"
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