Math Games & Activities from Around the World

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Three-in-a-Row Games

All over the world children play some form of a three-in-a-row game for two players. Tic-tac-toe is one example of such a game. The object of the game is to be the first player to get three markers in a row on the game board. It seems that people were playing such games long before the time of your great grandparents.

More than one hundred years ago, scientists examining the rooftop of an ancient Egyptian temple found several strange diagrams carved in the sandstone slabs. They looked like this: Figure 0

Figure 0

It turned out that every one of these diagrams is used as a game board for a three-in-a-row game somewhere in the world! Did the ancient Egyptians really play such games? How could the scientists find out?

The temple was built 3,300 years ago to memorialize the king, Pharaoh Seti I. It stands in the town of Qurna. Royal tombs were built on the west side of the Nile River. This was where the setting sun entered the spirit world for the night, according to Egyptian beliefs. Ancient Egyptians believed that people would have a life after death and would need all the things that they enjoyed while they were alive. So the tombs contain many items that were important to them in life, like clothing, jewelry, tools, and even their pets!

The Egyptians painted the walls of their tombs and temples with the scenes from the lives of their kings and queens and other wealthy people. Game boards and carved game pieces for Senet and other games were buried with the mummies of important Egyptians. That’s how we know about the games that these people played when they were alive. But no game boards for three-in-a-row games have been found inside the tombs, and no pictures of people playing such games appear on temple walls.

How did these diagrams come to be on the roof of the Pharaoh’s temple? Probably the workmen who built the temple played three-in-a-row games on the stone slabs during their lunch break. Instead of drawing a fresh game board in the sand for each game, they carved permanent diagrams in stone.

You may wonder whether Egyptian children played these games. Perhaps fathers played such games with their children at home. But they probably drew game boards in the dirt outside the house and wiped them away when the game was over, leaving no trace.

From Egypt the games could easily have spread all over the world. Greek scholars traveled to Egypt for higher education, just as people nowadays go to college. The Romans, who probably learned the games from the Greeks, spread them when they conquered parts of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. By that time the Chinese had already been playing three-in-a-row games for centuries. Game diagrams carved on the tops of stone walls and the steps of important buildings can still be found in many parts of the world.

The first European picture of children playing a three-in-a-row game appeared in Spain more than seven hundred years ago in the Book of Games. In the picture two children sit on either side of a large board for a game called Alquerque de Tres. The Spanish name means mill with three. The game board they used is just like the board for Tapatan (see page 6).

Arabic-speaking Moors came to Spain from North Africa in the eighth century. They taught the Spanish people how to play games like Chess and Alquerque. Later the Spanish king Alfonso the Wise had this information written down in the Book of Games. Soon these games spread to other parts of Europe and, later, to America.

Now you will have a chance to learn several three-in-a-row games that children play in other parts of the world. As you will see, some of these games are more complicated than Tic-tac-toe. But the object of the game is always the same—to be the first player to get three markers in a row.

MAKE A MILL

Three-in-a-row games are called mill in many European countries. In England they are often referred to as Morris, with a number telling how many counters each player uses. The word Morris may have come from the word Moor, the name of the people who brought the game to Europe by way of Spain.

Children in the United States play a three-in-a-row game called Tic-tac-toe. If you don’t already know the game, you might ask a friend or an older person to teach it to you. In England they call the same game Noughts and Crosses. A nought is a zero, or 0, and a cross is an X. The players take turns marking X or 0 in the nine spaces of the game board.

Shisima from Kenya TWO PLAYERS

Kenya is a country in East Africa. Children in western Kenya play a three-in-a-row game called Shisima (Shi-SEE-Mah). The word shisima means body of water in the Tiriki language. They call the counters imbalavali or water bugs. Water bugs move so rapidly through the water that it is hard to keep them in sight. That’s how quickly players of Shisima move their counters on the game board.

Children in Kenya draw the game board in the sand and play with bottle caps, pebbles, or buttons. You might also use coins. Just be sure that you can tell the difference between your counters and the other player’s counters.

MATERIALS

Sheet of unlined paper, at least 8 inches (20cm) square

Pencil with eraser

Compass, or about 10 inches (25cm) of string

Ruler

Scissors

Glue

Piece of cardboard, at least 9 inches (22.5cm) square

Colored markers or crayons

3 counters for each player, of 2 different kinds (buttons, bottle caps, or coins)

DRAWING THE GAME BOARD

The game board has the shape of an octagon (eight-sided polygon).

Mark the center of the paper. Use a compass to draw a large circle. If you don’t have a compass, attach a piece of string to a pencil. Hold the pencil upright near the edge of the paper. Extend the string to the center and hold it down there. Then draw the circle. Figure 1a

Figure 1a

Draw a line, called the diameter, through the center of the circle.

Draw another diameter, so that the two lines form a cross. These two lines are perpendicular to each other.

Draw two more diameters, each halfway between the first two.

Connect the endpoints of the diameters with straight lines to form an octagon. Erase the circle. Figure 1b

Figure 1b

Draw the shisima, or body of water, in the center. Erase the lines in the center.

Glue your game board to the cardboard and decorate with colored markers. You might want to draw a border around your game board.

PLAYING THE GAME

Place the counters on the board, as shown in the diagram. Figure 1c

Figure 1c

Players take turns moving their counters one space along a line to the next empty point. They continue to take turns moving one counter at a time. A player may move into the center, the shisima, at any time. Jumping over a counter is not allowed.

Each player tries to make a row with his or her three counters. A row must go through the shisima. There are four different ways to make a row. This diagram shows three black counters in a row. Figure 1d

Figure 1d

The first player to get all three counters in a row is the winner. If the same set of moves is repeated three times, the game ends in a draw—no winner or loser. It’s time to start a new game. Take turns being Player One.

After a few games you may be able to move your counters as fast as the imbalavali swim in the water.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Is it a good idea to move into the shisima on your first move? Why or why not?

If each player has four counters, can they still play the game? Try it and see what happens.

Tapatan from the Philippines TWO PLAYERS

Tapatan (TAP-uh-tan) is a game that people play in the Philippines, a country of many islands off the southeast coast of the Asian continent. Some families keep beautiful wooden game boards for Tapatan. Other families have the diagrams marked on floors or on doorsteps of their homes. They use special round counters for this game, three of light wood for one player and three of dark wood for the other.

MATERIALS

Sheet of unlined paper, at least 8 inches (20cm) square

Pencil

Ruler

Colored markers or crayons

Scissors

Glue

Piece of cardboard, at least 9 inches (22.5cm) square

3 counters for each player, 3 light and 3 dark (beans, buttons, or coins)

DRAWING THE GAME BOARD

Draw a square that measures six inches (15cm) on each side.

With your pencil, draw the diagonals.

Draw lines that connect the midpoints of the opposite sides.

Use a marker or crayon to mark the nine points where the lines meet as shown in the diagram. Figure 2a

Figure 2a

Glue the paper to the cardboard and decorate your game board.

PLAYING THE GAME

This game is played on the nine points where the lines intersect. Players take turns going first. Player One places a light counter on any point. Then Player Two places a dark counter on any empty point. They take turns until all the counters have been placed on the game board.

Then Player One moves one of her counters along a line to the next empty point. Jumping over a counter is not allowed. Player Two does the same with one of his counters. They continue this way taking turns.

Each player tries to make a row of three counters of one color and block the other player from doing the same. A row can be made in eight different ways: three across, three down, and two along the diagonal. Figure 2b

Figure 2b

The winner is the first player to make a row. If neither player can get three in a row and the same set of moves is repeated three times, the game ends in a draw—no winner or loser.

THINGS TO THINK ABOUT

Where should Player One place the first counter in order to win?

Can you play the game with four counters for each player?

How is Tapatan like Tic-tac-toe? How is it