The Museum of HP Calculators
The Museum of HP Calculators
This program was first published in the HP-41C Users' Library Solutions: Games by Hewlett-Packard and is used here by permission.
This program is supplied without representation or warranty of any kind. Hewlett-Packard Company and The Museum of HP Calculators therefore assume no responsibility and shall have no liability, consequential or otherwise, of any kind arising from the use of this program material or any part thereof.
Wari* is a board game which has been played for at least several centuries in various forms throughout Africa. The game is played on a board containing (generally) twelve small pits or bins, and two large pits. Forty-eight beads, seeds, or other counters are moved and captured according to certain rules.
The Wari board shown here is set up to begin a game.
Each player in turn removes all the counters from one bin on his side and distributes them one-at-a-time into successive bins moving counterclockwise, skipping the two bins which are for storing captured counters. If the last counter drops into an opponent's hole containing one or two counters, the contents of that hole are captured and placed in the player's scoring pit. Counters in an unbroken sequence of two- and three-counter bins on the opponent's side clockwise from the captured bin are also captured. If a bin contains twelve counters or more, that bin is skipped when the counters from that bin are distributed.
The above rules are implemented in the calculator program. Special rules, such as prohibiting moves which remove all of the opponent's counters, were deemed to be variations of the basic game and were not programmed. It is possible to come to a situation where a few counters will circulate forever. In this case each player claims the counters on his side.
To make a play on the calculator Wari board, the player specifies the bin he wants to move by keying in a number from 1 to 6 and then pushing either [A] or [B] (for player A or B). The machine then moves the counters from the specified bin according to the rules. To play against the calculator, signal to the calculator to move by pressing [C]. The calculator will then move player B's counters.
When one of the sites of the board is displayed, as designated by leading A or B, it is as if you moved around to that side of the board. In other words, bin 1 for either players side is always to the left and counterclockwise always to the right. If you are looking at side A, [R/S] will get you side B. If you are looking at side B, [R/S] will get you the score. If you are looking at the score, [R/S] will get you side A.
*Also known as Man-Kalah, Awari, and many other names.
Note: Requires 1 Memory Module on HP-41C
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Step |
Instructions |
Input Data/Units |
Keys |
Output Data/Units |
|
1 |
Enter program |
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2 |
Initialize |
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[XEQ] WARI |
SEED? |
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3 |
Key in number between 0 and 1 |
seed |
[R/S] |
A 4,4,4,4,4,4 |
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4 |
To see the other side of the board and/or the score, press [R/S]. This can be done as often as desired. |
|
[R/S] |
A (board) or B (board) or A= or B= |
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5 |
Players A, B or the 41C moving B's counters can move in any order with anyone starting the game. |
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|
|
| Player A |
bin # |
[A] |
A (board) |
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| Player A |
bin # |
[B] |
A (board) |
|
| HP-41C (moving for B) |
[C] |
A (board) |
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6 |
Go to step 4 or 5 as desired. |
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|
|
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7 |
To start a new game press [E] and go to step 4 or 5 as desired. |
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[E] |
A 4,4,4,4,4,4 |
Keystrokes: Display: [XEQ] [ALPHA] SIZE [ALPHA] 018 [XEQ] [ALPHA] WARI [ALPHA] SEED? .9977663333 [R/S] A 4,4,4,4,4,4 [R/S] B 4,4,4,4,4,4 [R/S] A=0, B=0 [C] A 5,5,4,4,4,4 [R/S] B 4,4,4,0,5,5 6 [A] A 5,5,4,4,4,0 [R/S] B 5,5,5,1,5,5 [C] A 6,6,4,4,4,0 [R/S] B 5,5,0,2,6,6 2 [A] A 6,0,5,5,5,1 [R/S] B 6,6,0,2,6,6 [C] A 7,1,6,6,6,0 [R/S] B 6,6,0,2,6,0 [R/S] A=0, B=2 . . . . . .
LINE KEYS 01LBL "WARI" 02 SF 27 Initialize 03 CF 29 04 FIX 0 05 "SEED?" 06 PROMPT 07 STO 00 08
, B=" 237 ARCL 14 238 PROMPT Score 239 GTO 50 240
R00 Seed R01 Bin A1 R02 A2 R03 A3 R04 A4 R05 A5 R06 A6 R07 Bin B1 R08 B2 R09 B3 R10 B4 R11 B5 R12 B6 R13 Score A R14 Score B R15 Used R16 Used R17 Used
05 A's move / B's move 06 Used 07 Found one to attack
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