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You are here: Home / Games / How to Play Queah: An Abstract Strategy Game from Liberia

How to Play Queah: An Abstract Strategy Game from Liberia

April 2, 2020

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Queah is a traditional board game played by the Queah people in Liberia. It is a capture-type abstract strategy game that has some similarities with checkers or draughts. It is a great boredom buster for kids and families no matter where in the world you live.

Board game and tokens for Queah strategy game

We love playing these traditional games, like Kaooa from India, or Pong Hau K’i from China and you will, too!

Watch the how to video here, or scroll down to read the written instructions.

How to Play Queah

Objective: to capture your all of your opponent’s tokens.

What you need:

  • Game board. Draw a grid like the one shown, or print out our free board (see end of post for form).
  • 10 tokens per player. Make your own like we did out of tiny wooden cubes, or use what you can find around the house like coins, beads or beans.
  • 2 enthusiastic players

Queah game instructions

  1. Set Up

    Place 4 tokens per player on the game board as shown. Set the remaining 6 aside in reserve.
    Decide who will go first. Opening set up for queah game

  2. Rules

    No more than 4 tokens per player on the board at any time.

    Tokens can move to an empty square that shares a side with the square they currently occupy.

    Tokens can jump and capture their opponent’s token. Only one token can be jumped per turn. You must jump and capture if the opportunity presents itself.

    After capture the player takes one of his tokens kept in reserve and places it on the board for his next turn. He makes no further moves until his subsequent turn.

    When a player has no reserve tokens left, he continues to play. Instead of replacing tokens he must play with fewer than 4 tokens.

    The first player to capture all his opponent’s tokens is the winner.

Game board for Queah strategy game for kids

Variations on Queah

Encourage your children to think critically about game strategy and how game play may be different were they to alter the rules. Some questions to ask and variations to try:

  • Does the first or second player have an advantage?
  • When replacing a captured token, what if the player also got to make a move?
  • How likely is a stalemate?
  • What rule(s) could you institute to prevent a stalemate?
  • Which squares offer the best advantage to tokens?

More of the best traditional strategy games from around the world:

  • Dara from Nigeria, a three in a row game
  • Tsoro Yemetatu, a three in a row game from Zimbabwe
  • Fox and Geese, a hunt game from Europe
  • Five Field Kono, a positional game from Korea
  • Watermelon Chess, a capture game from China

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by: Erica posted in: Games 1 Comment

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Comments

  1. Lata says

    April 5, 2020 at 12:39 pm

    I really like the games that you post. Can’t wait to try this one out.

    Reply

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