Kanaan degay,
Kanaan door ka bidey,
kani danbaan moodey,
Ku kalaanse kula doonayaa,
Kanise ii duuban.
Program: Shax v. 1.0
Date released: September 1997
Current Version: ver. 1.0 (first release)
Author: Jama Musse Jama
Contacts: (jama@mail.dm.unipi.it)
1. Shax - A Somali Game
2. Shax - The Program
3. Shax - The Package
4. Shax - Minimal Requisitions
5. Shax - Installation
6. Bibliography
7. Further information and contact address
1. Shax - A Somali Game
Shax is a well know strategy game used to play in several regions of
Africa, in particularly in the East Africa (the Somali inhabited area),
in the Southern Africa (in Lesotho, where the game is called Mororova), and in
some other places. For instructions on how to play shax, its rules
and most common strategies or preferred positions, refer
to Rick Davies's
Shax's Page; for a historical background and additional
information about the game, see below
in section 6 (bibliography).
Shax is also very similar to other board games used to play in Europe, for instance, Filetto which is game played in Italy, Muhle played in Germany and Nine Mens Morris used to play in United Kingdom. The main differences between Shax and these games are related to the rules of each game (selection on the board, movement of the pebbles, and the criteria of winning a game). In some cases, the difference is related also to the number of pebbles to use for a single game.
For the difference between Shax and Muhle, refer to Rick Davies's Shax's Page; while for the difference between Shax and Filetto can be found in [1].
2. Shax - The Program (version 1.0)
This version (ver. 1.0) is the first release, so it surely contains errors,
and therefore I would appreciate any comments and suggestions for improvement
of the next versions. Many of the functions in the menu are not still
activated -- this is not a restriction for copyright reasons,
but simply they are not yet implemented.
The only first of the three "thinking levels" (novice,
intermediate, expert) is implemented so far, therefore, if you are
expert in plying
the game, you have to be patient until the next version will be released.
In fact, the next version will contain also the other two levels.
Two human players can play with this program, as well as computer
vs human or
computer vs computer. Anyway the code is under development, so again, the
author would be very pleased for any suggestions.
I am rewriting a version of this program for Windows, so at least the graphical
interface will be better (I hope !!!!) than of this Dos version. The next version
(ver 1.1) is expected to be released within October 1997, and probably in the
same time, the Windows version will be ready.
3. Shax - The package
The zip file contains:
In order to run the program, you must have the two files singed with
(***) in a same directory (otherwise the Shax program can not be run).
The files signed with (*), instead, are additional files for the
quality of the program (help in line and additional fantasy
messages !!!), but the shax program can run without them. Anyway,
all the files must be copied in a same directory.
4. Shax - Minimal Requisitions
5. Shax - Installation
6. Bibliography
[2] Marin, G. (1912), `Somali Games', J. Royal Anthropological
Institute,vol. 61, 1931, pp. 499-512.
[3] Drake-Brockman (1912), Ralph E., `British Somaliland',
London: Hurst and Blackett, 1912, pp. 129-133.
[4] Rick Davies' Shax Home Page An Introduction to Shax - A Somali Game.
[5] Ethnomathematics: an essential key for mathematical education
7. Further information and contact address
This program is a freeware version for Dos 3.0 +. The binary files of
the program can be freely used without condition on time and can be
distributed. If you want to get the latest version, and/or if you
want to be informed any further developments of this program, you can
ask the author to be registered. See below the author's address.
You will get, usually, these files in `zip' form with the name, "shax_m-n.zip"
where `m' and `n' make together the version number of the current files (i.e ver. m.n).
The author encourages anyone who want to redistribute this program, to
use this mechanism.
shax.exe (***)
shax.ovr (***)
shax.hlp (*)
today.shx (*)
updates.txt [not in the firstly released version]
readme.txt
readme.htm
shax.gif
A Personal Computer with a Processor 286 or better, DOS 3.0 or later,
a 500 Kb of hard disk space (it can be ran also from floppy driver, but it
becomes very slow .... hhmmmmm very much slow .....), mouse driver
installed (this version requires a
mouse, but in other versions of Shax, one could use the keyboard to select
his moves), a color monitor is preferred .... we, all, would like to
live in a world where more different colors make it more beautiful ..
If you get this program in its `zip' form, you will need one of the
programs `unzip or pkunzip'
to decompress and extract files from the archive. Copy all the files
extracted from the archive in a same directory (I had always hoped
to see on many PC's a directory named c:\games\shax), and
via .... run shax. ...... do'nt forget to drop me a word about
the game and the program ...
[1] Jama Musse Jama (1997), `Shax and other Games of East Africa",
Unpublished Manuscript.
An important place where to get more information about Shax Game, is the
Shax Dedicated Home Page, created and maintained by the author of this
program. The URL is http://www.dm.unipi.it/~jama/ethno/shax.html
Anyway, for additional information or suggestions, you can reach me
by the following address. I appreciate any suggestions.
Jama Musse Jama
Via di Pratale 103 F
56100 Pisa
tel. ++ 39 50 59 80 77
fax. ++ 39 50 84 42 24
e-mail:jama@mail.dm.unipi.it
HomePage: http://www.dm.unipi.it/~jama
to see directly shax's home page, point your browser onto
http://www.dm.unipi.it/~jama/ethno/shax.html
---------------------- That is faults -------------------------------------