← Gabata Layer by Layer
Gabata

Gabata

Design (Uncredited) Publisher (Public Domain)
7.2 /10
BGG rating
2
Players
20
Minutes
0
Age

Location

Sign in to see where your copy sits: the shelf, drawn, and how the box sits on it.

My Copy & Notes

Sign in to see your copy here: the edition, when you added it, and what you paid.

My Notes

Notes are private to their writer. Sign in to keep yours here.

My Prints for Gabata

All 0 on LayerUp

Sign in to see the prints you marked Printed for this game, the insert in the box first.

Expansions & Promos

No expansions or promos on record for this game.

About the Game

Gabata (also spelled "Gebeta") is the generic term for mancala games played in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is used for many two-row games, but also for several three-rank mancala games.

A wide-spread three-rank gabata is Abalala'e (Tigrinya for "eating"), which is played in the highlands of Eritrea. A quote from the Mancala World Wiki (http://mancala.wikia.com/wiki/Abalala%27e):

"[The game] was first described as Abalalà by Harold Courlander in 1943. The ethiopist Richard Pankhurst learned the same game in 1971 from Abba Pawlos Tzadua of Serae, Abba Zacharias of Akala Guzay, Michael Yacob of Akala Guzay and Gabra Sellasé Gabra Amlak of Serae. All these players were Christians who either served at the Catholic Cathedral of Addis Abbaba or were students at the Haile Seilassie I University. (...) [It] is played by males and females, usually in holes in the ground, particularly in the period of marriages largely after the harvest season from November to January."

The first move is played simultaneously in a racing manner until both players have reached an empty hole.

Rules of play and demeanor can be found on the aforementioned site.

Filed Under

Categories
Mechanics
BGG ratings
3
BGG data
refreshed Jul 20, 2026