What is "morabaraba"

Morabaraba is a traditional two-player strategy board game played in South Africa, Botswana and Lesotho. The game is also known as Mlabalaba, Mmela (in Setswana), Muravava, Umlabalaba. The game is similar to Twelve Men's Morris, a variation on the Roman board game Nine Men's Morris.

While some believe that Morabaraba was introduced to southern Africa by British settlers, Morris variants exist in many parts of the world; e.g. India (Char Bhar), Ghana (Achi), Kenya (Shisimia), Somalia ( Shax), Zimbabwe (Tsoro Yemutwelve), the Philippines (Tapatan) and Mongolia (Gurgaldaj). It is claimed that Morabaraba boards carved in rock are dated to be at least 800 years old, which would exclude a European origin. However, many rock art images do not actually show Morabaraba, but the mancala game of Moruba (i.e. rows of cupules).

Morabaraba is today most popular amongst rural African youth in southern Africa. In South Africa it is also commonly known by the Xhosa form of the name Umlabalaba. In the traditional European game the counters are commonly referred to as "men", but in the South African game the counters are referred to as "cows", the game being particularly popular amongst youth who herd cattle.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term "Morabaraba" is derived from the Southern Sotho moraba-raba, meaning "mill" or to "go round in a circle".