Oware looks like a game of luck — you just drop seeds into pits — but every move can be counted exactly. Strong players win by seeing where the last seed falls, for themselves and for their opponent. This guide collects the main ideas, from the first moves to the endgame. It assumes you know the oware rules (abapa, as played on 9qum).
▶ Play oware 🎓 Play with a coach
A pit with n seeds drops its last seed n pits further on (with 12 or more, one pit further still, because the starting pit is skipped). That one fact is the whole game. Before you move, ask three questions:
Pits with 1 or 2 seeds are targets. Protect yours and hunt for your opponent's.
At the start every pit holds 4, so nobody can capture yet. The first moves decide which pits become thin later. Some practical guidelines:
There is no single “best first move” that wins by force for a human player; what matters is counting the replies. Try different openings against the computer and look at them in Game analysis.
A capture runs backwards from the last seed through every opponent's pit with 2 or 3. So when you have a choice, pick the move whose last seed lands furthest into a run of thin pits — on 9qum's course a move that reached the third pit collected 7 seeds, while the short moves took only 2.
To defend, find the pit where your opponent's last seed will land. There are two ways to make it safe:
Check the pits before it as well, because the chain continues backwards. And do not grab a small capture if the reply takes more: taking 4 while losing 7 is a bad trade.
Experienced players store up seeds in one pit. With 12 or more, the move goes round the whole board and drops a second seed into your opponent's pits, turning their 1s and 2s into 2s and 3s. In the 9qum course a pit of 16 seeds made one lap and then a chain that took 3 + 2 + 3 + 2 = 10 seeds.
Two warnings. First, a big pit is also a big promise: your opponent sees it and can change their side so the lap captures nothing. Harvest it while it is ripe. Second, while you are saving, you have fewer pits to move with — make sure you do not run out of safe moves.
If your opponent's row is empty, you must feed them; if you cannot, the game ends and you keep everything on your side. In the endgame this decides games. One course position: the score is 19–23, your opponent needs 2 more. By emptying the pit their last seed would land in, you make sure it captures nothing — and when their side is empty and your seeds cannot reach them, the game ends and the 6 seeds on your side make it 25. Count whether your seeds can reach the other side, and theirs yours.
Also remember the grand slam: a move that would take all of your opponent's seeds takes nothing on 9qum. Always leave them at least one.
Late in the game, keep a running count: your store, their store and what each side can capture next. At 20–21 a capture of 2 for you looks good, but if their reply takes 4 and reaches 25, the right move is to defend first. A tie is 24–24.
In Play with a coach every move is rated — best move, excellent, good, inaccuracy, mistake or blunder. On a blunder the game pauses, the coach shows the threat and offers a take-back. You get 3 hints per game, and “Ask the coach” answers 3 questions a day for free (more with a membership).
The Learn section has a 15-step oware course with three parts — rules, first techniques and how to win — and there are 37 oware puzzles. The computer plays at 4 levels (Novice, Amateur, Strong, Master), and Game analysis lets you play moves for both sides, set up a position and ask the AI for advice. Rated games against people use Glicko-2, and there are tournaments. Free; signing up takes a minute.
Yes, in a sense. In 2002 John Romein and Henri Bal at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam computed the value of every position of awari (oware) and found that with perfect play from both sides the game is a draw. That result rests on an enormous database — no human can memorise it — so for people oware remains a game of counting and planning.
▶ Play vs computer 📚 Learn 🧩 Puzzles
No first move wins by force for a human player. Choose moves that do not create targets of 1–2 seeds in pits your opponent can reach, and test openings against the computer.
Find the pit where your opponent's last seed will land and make sure it will not hold 2 or 3: keep it empty or fill it to 3 or more. Then check the pits before it.
Awari was solved in 2002 by John Romein and Henri Bal: with perfect play the game is a draw. For human players that changes little — counting still decides games.
Play the computer at 4 levels, take the 15-step course and the 37 puzzles, and play with a coach that rates every move and pauses on blunders.