Wari: The Ancient Game of Africa

Strategy 1994 Dos ImagiSoft Board games

Neat variant on chess

For an unusual but undeniably enthralling slice of chess-style strategy gaming, players would be well advised to check out this computer-based version of Africa's best known and ancient game. The board game's history stretches back some 4000 years to the times of the Pharaohs in Egypt and even up to recent times, it was largely restricted to being played by African royalty. As with all the best such games, the rules are easy enough to pick up but provide an almost endless amount of strategy to keep players learning for years. Wari is essentially a 'sowing' game where players must remove a seed from their store pit and distribute them around the board. If two or three seeds to be left in the opponent's pit, then these are captured with this being the overall aim of the game. It all sounds a little less than compelling on paper but in practice, Wari is a highly enthralling and captivating strategy game which has all the appeal of Checkers, Go, Mahjong and Risk. The game can be played against the computer or a human opponent and there is even the option to watch two computer players take each other on, in order to learn the rules but it really doesn't take long to pick things up. Developing a game winning strategy however is highly challenging and one you get into things, it won't be long before you're hooked. The visuals here are simple enough but certainly effective and provide a surprising amount of detail and character, while the music is also pretty catchy stuff. If you're looking for a neat variant on chess, this comes highly recommended.

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