Cafés, card tables and the categories game across the Arab world
Paper games loved across the Arab world, from the categories game Stop to dominoes, Baloot scoring, alquerque and mancala, and how to print them.
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The categories game with Arabic columns
In Arabic-speaking countries the categories game it is often named after its first columns, إنسان، حيوان، نبات، جماد، بلاد, meaning person, animal, plant, object and country. A letter is chosen, and everyone writes a word starting with it in each column. The first to finish stops the round.
A common scoring gives 10 points for an answer nobody else wrote, 5 for a shared answer and nothing for a blank or invalid one. A Stop sheet is a quick way to start a round at the table.
Baloot and two score columns
Baloot (بلوت) is popular in Saudi Arabia and across the Gulf. Its scores are written in two columns, لنا ("us") and لهم ("them"), and a common game ends at 152 points. Tarneeb (طرنيب), played in the Levant, is often played to 41 points. A score pad with two clear columns keeps the running total easy to follow.
Dominoes in the café
Dominoes is a familiar sight in many cafés across the Arab world. A double-six set has 28 tiles, and a double-nine set has 55.
Alquerque and mancala
Alquerque takes its name from the Arabic al-qirq. It is mentioned in the 10th-century Arabic Book of Songs and described in the Book of Games made for King Alfonso X of Castile in 1283. It is widely considered an ancestor of draughts. Each player starts with 12 pieces on a 5 × 5 grid of points with diagonals, and you can play alquerque on paper with coins as pieces.
Mancala is a family of count-and-capture games played across the Middle East, Africa, South and Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. The word is often linked to the Arabic verb naqala, "to move". You can try the family with mancala.
Printing and playing with Paperoom
Paperoom is free, works in your browser and needs no account. The interface is available in Arabic, with right-to-left pages while number and coordinate grids stay left-to-right. Choose A4 or US Letter, print at 100% scale with headers and footers off, and print one test sheet before a family evening.
