Togyzkumalak: History and Key Facts

Togyzkumalak (Kazakh: тоғызқұмалақ, romanized: toğızqumalaq, lit. 'nine pebbles') is a mancala-family game played in Kazakhstan. Similar games are played in Turkic-speaking nations, such as toguz korgool in Kyrgyzstan, Mangala in Turkey, and mere köçdü in Azerbaijan. It also played among the Kazakh minority of China and Mongolia. There is a slight difference between these games regarding rules and game terms.

The rules of togyzkumalak were codified in 1949 by Mukhtar Auezov and Kalibek Kuanishbayev. These rules became a basis for tournaments to this day.

The game is popular throughout the world. According to togyzkumalak master Ainur Jakapbaeva, in 2018 there was around 190,000 professional players and 300 trainers in Kazakhstan.. Outside Kazakhstan, the game is quite popular in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania. The Lithuanian Togyzkumalak Federation opened in 2021. The World Togyzkumalak Championship has been held every 2 years from 2010.

Source and attribution

Text excerpted from Togyzkumalak by Wikipedia contributors, available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. The extract is abridged and formatting has been adjusted; the adapted text on this page is shared under the same licence. Revision history.