How to Play Dara

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Dara is a two-player abstract strategy game played on a 5x6 grid. Players first fill the board with their pieces under strict placement rules, then shift into a movement phase where forming a row of exactly three earns the right to capture an opponent's piece. The two distinct phases give the game a pleasing structure: careful seeding followed by sharp, tactical manoeuvring.

Players love Dara for the same reason they love draughts or Nine Men's Morris: it is easy to learn, genuinely hard to master, and the swings of fortune in the second phase keep both players alert. It is typically played on a wooden board, though scratch boards drawn in sand or earth are equally common in the regions where the game is most popular.

A little history

Dara is traditionally associated with the Dakarkari people of north-western Nigeria, and it is most widely documented as a game of that region. Its origins beyond that broad attribution are unclear: no reliable written record pins down when or precisely where it first emerged. It belongs to a broad family of alignment-and-capture games found across West Africa, and ethnographic accounts from the twentieth century confirm it was played by adults rather than children, often as a serious pastime between skilled opponents.

Setting up

1. Place the 5x6 board between the two players so each faces one of the longer edges.
2. Give each player their 12 pieces in their chosen colour.
3. Leave all squares empty. No pieces are placed before play begins.
4. Decide who places first, by agreement or by lot.

How to play

1. PHASE 1 - PLACEMENT: Players alternate placing one piece per turn onto any empty square.
2. During placement, you must not complete a row of exactly three of your own pieces in any straight line (horizontal or vertical). Rows of two are fine; rows of four or more are also forbidden.
3. Continue alternating until all 24 pieces (12 per player) are on the board. If a player cannot place without forming a row of three, they forfeit that turn.
4. PHASE 2 - MOVEMENT: Players alternate moving one of their own pieces to an adjacent empty square (horizontally or vertically, not diagonally). No jumps are permitted.
5. Whenever your move completes a row of exactly three of your own pieces in a straight line, you immediately capture one of your opponent's pieces and remove it from the board.
6. You may only capture one piece per turn, even if the same move completes more than one row of three.
7. A row of four or more pieces does not count as a row of three and earns no capture. Forming such a row is legal in Phase 2, but worthless for capturing purposes.
8. After capturing, your row of three remains on the board. On a future turn you may move a piece out of that row and back into it again to score a further capture.
9. A player with fewer than three pieces on the board cannot form a row of three and will continue to lose pieces, leading to the end of the game.

Winning and scoring

The first player to reduce their opponent to two or fewer pieces wins the game. With only two pieces left, the opponent cannot form a row of three and is effectively defenceless. Some players agree in advance that the loser is the first to reach three pieces (making that the final threshold), so confirm the exact losing number before play begins. There is no points system: Dara is a win-or-lose game.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns a row of four. A line of four pieces of the same colour does not trigger a capture and never has: only a row of exactly three counts. This means that stretching a row of three into a row of four in order to 'bank' a capture for later is not permitted under standard rules. Related to this is the question of simultaneous rows: if a single move creates two separate rows of three at once, the standard ruling is that only one capture is taken. Agree this before play if you want to award two captures instead, but know that the single-capture rule is the more widely recorded version.

During Phase 1, if a player places a piece and inadvertently realises it has completed a row of three, the standard ruling is to require them to take the piece back and place it elsewhere. If no legal placement exists, that player simply passes their turn. Do not allow the illegal placement to stand and award a premature capture: Phase 2 is the correct time for capturing play.

How to win more often

• Use Phase 1 to build flexible clusters rather than near-complete rows. Pieces sitting two-in-a-line become immediate threats the moment Phase 2 starts, giving you early capture opportunities.
• Deny your opponent lines. Placing your own piece to break up a forming row of two is often worth more than advancing your own position.
• Keep your pieces connected in Phase 2. Isolated pieces are hard to manoeuvre into rows of three and easy for your opponent to contain.
• A row of three that you have already used for a capture is a reusable weapon: slide a piece out, then slide it back in on a later turn to earn another capture. Protect these structures.
• Count pieces constantly. Once your opponent drops to five or six pieces, prioritise captures over building new threats. A collapsing position accelerates quickly.

Variations

Diagonal Movement

Some regional versions permit movement to diagonally adjacent squares as well as orthogonal ones. This dramatically increases mobility in Phase 2 and tends to produce shorter, sharper games. Diagonal rows of three do not count for capturing under this variant: only horizontal and vertical lines score.

Multiple Captures

Under this popular house rule, if a single move creates two distinct rows of three simultaneously, the moving player may capture one opponent piece for each row formed. This rewards advanced set-up play but can accelerate the endgame considerably, so agree the rule explicitly before sitting down.

Extended Board

A 6x6 grid with 15 pieces per player is sometimes used when both players are experienced and want a longer, more complex game. The rules are identical; the larger board simply increases the number of possible configurations and lengthens both phases.

Restricted Opening

To reduce first-mover advantage, some players require the first piece of the game to be placed in a corner square, or bar both players from placing in the central two columns during the first four turns each. This is an informal balancing measure rather than a documented traditional rule.

Dara: frequently asked questions