Five African strategy games

Learn the rules. Then play for real.

Fanorona, Morabaraba, Dara, Shisima and Achi, each with guided lessons, a computer opponent that plays by the documented rules, and two-player play on one phone. All of it offline.

Available nowGoogle Play Coming soonApp Store
  • Works offline
  • No account, no chat
  • Free to play
A porch at sunset looking over the hills of Madagascar, the scene behind the Fanorona lobby in Five Boards.

The collection

Five boards, five traditions

Start with the quick ones and grow into the deep ones. Every board has its own lessons, opponent and records.

The Achi board: nine points joined by lines, with red and blue pieces.

Ghana

Achi

A tiny board where every open point matters. Place four pieces, then slide them. Three in a row wins.

2 minEasyQuick & clever
The Shisima board: an octagon with spokes to the centre.

Tiriki · Kenya

Shisima

Circle the water at the centre and look for the winning line. Fast, sharp and hard to force.

5 minEasyFast & sharp
The Dara board: a six by five grid of green and gold pieces.

West Africa

Dara

Place twelve pieces, then slide them into rows of three to capture. Build formations and control the field.

10 minMediumTactical & bold
The Morabaraba board: three nested squares joined by lines.

Southern Africa

Morabaraba

Make mills to take your opponent's cows, and fly when only three remain. The same family as nine men's morris.

15 minDeepPatient & cunning
The Fanorona board: a nine by five lattice with diagonals.

Madagascar

Fanorona

Capture by approach or by withdrawal, and chain captures across the board. The deepest game in the collection.

20 minDeepRich & rewarding

Learn before you play

Every rule, taught on the board

Nobody should lose a game to a rule they were never told. Each board has a short course: one rule per lesson, played out on a real position, followed by practice.

1

Guided lessons

Move, capture, win, draw. Each lesson shows one rule and asks you to use it. Finish the course and you know how to play.

2

Honest opponents

Three levels per board, from gentle to sharp. The computer plays by the same rules you do, and at the higher levels it tells you why it moved.

3

Hints when you want them

Ask for a hint at any time, or turn on legal-move markers at the easiest level. Switch them off when you are ready.

4

A daily position

One curated position per board, every day. No streaks, no pressure, just a puzzle worth a minute.

Rules you can check

Played by documented rules

Traditional games have regional variants. Five Boards names the form it plays, cites its sources inside the app, and marks the few conventions it adds for screen play so they are never mistaken for tradition.

  • Each board's rules page says where the rules come from.
  • Screen-play conventions, such as Fanorona's fifty-move draw, are labelled as Five Boards rules, not traditional ones.
  • Well-sourced corrections are welcome. See the acknowledgements.
A wooden veranda after rain above the hills of western Kenya, the scene behind the Shisima lobby in Five Boards.

Made to be comfortable

Calm, offline, yours

Offline, no account

Every game, lesson and opponent works with no connection. There is no sign-up, no chat and nothing to manage.

Two players, one phone

Pass-and-play with a private handoff screen, named players and best-of-three series.

Accessible by design

Pieces differ by shape as well as colour, every point has a screen-reader label, text scales with your settings, and motion can be reduced.

Records that mean something

Solo results, streaks and results by level for every board, kept on your device.

On iPhone, Achi, Shisima and Morabaraba can also be played with a friend in Messages. Each move is a message, the board updates in place, and nothing is stored anywhere but the conversation.

Get the app

Five boards. One calm collection.

Free on Google Play today. The App Store version is in preparation.

Available nowGoogle Play Coming soonApp Store