Oware is the basic form of the West African varieties of Mancala. Identical or very similar games are known by many different names and are now the most popular variants of Mancala throughout Subsaharan Africa. West Africans brought the game to the Caribbean basin, from Surinam and Trinidad throughtout the islands, where it is mostly called Wari, all the way to southern Louisiana.It is the happiest living link present generations of New World Africans have with their West African ancestors and their cultures.

OWARE! is Sapient Software's computerized version of the game plus a full book that not only tells you how to play the game, use the computer to play or how to play well, it also contains seven important source documents by anthropologists, historians and mathematicians on the cultural significance of the game.

For kids, for adults, for the whole family. The price is right: under twenty dollars.The rules are simple enough for a young child to learn. For them it is not only fun but educational (lots of counting!). Simple as the game is to learn, it is a challenge to master. (In Africa it is aften used as a mental sharpening exercise for village elders.) Middle-school kids can handle the book on their own but younger ones may need parental intermediaries. For adults, it is a fascinating sidebar on African history. Educators, community workers and social scientists all endorse Oware!

You can download the software free from the How to Order Page