Tâb
Encyclopedia
Tâb is the Egypt
ian name of a running-fight board game
played in several Arab
countries, or a family of similar board games played in Northern Africa and South-western Asia, from Persia to West Africa
and from Turkey
to Somalia
, where a variant called deleb is played.
The tâb game is played by two players on a board, often delineated at the ground. The board is 4 squares wide, and usually an odd number of squares long, usually from 7 to 15, but formerly up to 29 squares. Numbering the four rows 1, 2, 3 and 4, from the start one player has one white piece in each field of row 1, and the other a black piece in each field of row 4. The pieces may be stones or made from burnt clay. In Egypt, the pieces are referred to as kelb, meaning dog.
As in the Egyptian game senet
and the Korea
n game Yut
, four sticks of a roughly semi-circular cross-section are used as dice. The flat sides are white, and the rounded sides are black. The value of a throw depends on the number of white sides showing, as indicated in the following table.
The approximate probabilities shown are based on the assumption that the black and white sides have equal probabilities, which typically is correct to within a few percent.
Throwing a tâb or four sticks showing the same side gives the right to an extra throw.
For each piece, the first move must be a tâb, converting the piece from a Christian to a Muslim and moving it one field ahead. Not till all the player's pieces have been converted is the player allowed to use tâbs for other purposes, but then the player is also allowed to save tâb throws for later use.
The pieces move as shown in the diagram, here shown for "White" starting in its home row A-I. The other player ("Black" starting in home row a-i) moves in the same way, meaning that black and white pieces move in the same direction through each of the rows. When a white piece gets to square s, White can choose to send the piece to a or back to K. However, a given piece can only go into its opponent's home row (for White, a-i) once; the next time it must go back to K, thereafter merely circulating through the 2 middle rows. Once in its opponent's home row, a piece cannot move any further as long as there are any pieces left in its own home row. No piece ever returns to its own home row.
A piece moving to a square occupied by one or more enemy pieces will knock those pieces off the board.
A piece moving to a square occupied by one or more friendly pieces is placed on top of those, and they move as one piece thereafter. If such a stack moves to a square where one of the pieces has been before, the stack is reduced to just one piece, the other pieces being removed from the board. However, the player is not required to utilize a throw leading to such move. A tâb throw can be used to break up a stack so that the pieces move individually again.
The game continues till one player has lost all pieces, whereby the other player wins.
As is clear from the rules, a game position is not given by the position of all pieces only, but also by their pre-history, substantially complicating the game, for better or for worse.
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian name of a running-fight board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
played in several Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
countries, or a family of similar board games played in Northern Africa and South-western Asia, from Persia to West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
and from Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
to Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
, where a variant called deleb is played.
The tâb game is played by two players on a board, often delineated at the ground. The board is 4 squares wide, and usually an odd number of squares long, usually from 7 to 15, but formerly up to 29 squares. Numbering the four rows 1, 2, 3 and 4, from the start one player has one white piece in each field of row 1, and the other a black piece in each field of row 4. The pieces may be stones or made from burnt clay. In Egypt, the pieces are referred to as kelb, meaning dog.
As in the Egyptian game senet
Senet
Senet is a board game from predynastic and ancient Egypt. The oldest hieroglyph representing a Senet game dates to around 3100 BC. The full name of the game in Egyptian was zn.t n.t ḥˁb meaning the "game of passing."- History :...
and the Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
n game Yut
Yut
Yut Nori is a traditional board game played in Korea, especially during Korean New Year. The game is also called cheok-sa or sa-hee...
, four sticks of a roughly semi-circular cross-section are used as dice. The flat sides are white, and the rounded sides are black. The value of a throw depends on the number of white sides showing, as indicated in the following table.
| Whites | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Move | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Extra throw | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Name | Tâb | ||||
| Approx. prop. | 6% | 25% | 38% | 25% | 6% |
The approximate probabilities shown are based on the assumption that the black and white sides have equal probabilities, which typically is correct to within a few percent.
Throwing a tâb or four sticks showing the same side gives the right to an extra throw.
For each piece, the first move must be a tâb, converting the piece from a Christian to a Muslim and moving it one field ahead. Not till all the player's pieces have been converted is the player allowed to use tâbs for other purposes, but then the player is also allowed to save tâb throws for later use.
The pieces move as shown in the diagram, here shown for "White" starting in its home row A-I. The other player ("Black" starting in home row a-i) moves in the same way, meaning that black and white pieces move in the same direction through each of the rows. When a white piece gets to square s, White can choose to send the piece to a or back to K. However, a given piece can only go into its opponent's home row (for White, a-i) once; the next time it must go back to K, thereafter merely circulating through the 2 middle rows. Once in its opponent's home row, a piece cannot move any further as long as there are any pieces left in its own home row. No piece ever returns to its own home row.
A piece moving to a square occupied by one or more enemy pieces will knock those pieces off the board.
A piece moving to a square occupied by one or more friendly pieces is placed on top of those, and they move as one piece thereafter. If such a stack moves to a square where one of the pieces has been before, the stack is reduced to just one piece, the other pieces being removed from the board. However, the player is not required to utilize a throw leading to such move. A tâb throw can be used to break up a stack so that the pieces move individually again.
The game continues till one player has lost all pieces, whereby the other player wins.
As is clear from the rules, a game position is not given by the position of all pieces only, but also by their pre-history, substantially complicating the game, for better or for worse.