General information
- What is K.I.B.A.?
- K.I.B.A. is the acronym of the Esperanto Klubo Internacia of Bao-Amantoj, which can be translated into International Club of Bao Lovers. It would like to be a federation of individuals, groups, national societies and institutions interested in playing and promoting worldwide the East African traditional game, known as Bao la Kiswahili, belonging to the big board game family of Mancala.
K.I.B.A. aims- to promote Bao la Kiswahili, the East african traditional game belonging to the oldest family game in the world: the African board game known as Mancala. through education, organizing all local competitions, national or international, conferences, workshops, demonstrations, or any other favorable development of Bao activity. This also includes a website and distribution of game materials.
- to bring Bao players and enthusiasts of all abilities, from beginner to grandmaster, together, connecting them with each other no matter where they are or are from.
- to gather any and all data related to Bao la Kiswahili
- to create a data depository and make this information available to the community.
- to do all this in an atmosphere of pure fun by simply playing a strategy board game based on the art of counting.
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- How much does K.I.B.A. membership cost?
- At the moment it costs nothing. K.I.B.A. is still a project, so now we are collecting adhesion to it. After that we can formally found the federation and then a virtual convention will decide about membership.
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- What is K.I.B.A. website or KIBAO?
- KIBAO is a mixing of the acronym K.I.B.A. and the Swahili word Bao. This is the official website of K.I.B.A. (Klubo Internacia de Bao-Amantoj) devoted to make information about Bao available to players and to those just seeking infomation.
This website is also a turn-based Bao game server which allows you to play games against players who may not be online at the same time you are. Games usually take several days or weeks to complete. In fact, games lasting many months are not uncommon. - Top
- What is the Forum?
- The Forum is place to post questions, post topics for discussion, post general questions or comments about the server, post questions or comments related to any specific rule of the game, get to know some of your fellow players, etc. Look here for more specific information.
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- Where can I find Bao game rules?
- Look here: The rules of the game for a short step by step guide. You can download the complete Official Rules in some languages from here.
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- Where can I find information about tactics and strategy
- Unfortunately, as far as we know there isn't any study on tactics and strategy!. See Game analysis in these hel page, too.
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- How does this site works?
- To play you have to subscribe (it's free) giving us your e-mail address. We use your e-mail only to write you when it's your turn to move and to inform you about K.I.B.A. activities: live tournaments, online tournaments etc.
It is NOT possible to play realtime games in this site. You play your move and when it's your turn again you'll receive a mail. Anyway you can make an appointment with your opponent and play nearly realtime. - Top
- Why have I to subscribe?
- During subscription time we ask you your username, password and a valid e-mail address.
This way you are sure no one can play your move, and you will receive a mail when it's your turn to play. - Top
- Do I have to pay?
- Absolutely not! Site access is totally free. The site is managed on voluntay basis, only the hosting server requires an annual fee. If you think we deserve help to pay the hosting server (and we hope so!), you can donate us some money using PayPal through your Personal page.
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- What can I do to help K.I.B.A.?
- Tell your friends about us: If you have friends interested in abstract games (other mancala games, chess, shogi, backgammon, go, draughts/checkers etc.) you can invite them to consider learning Bao and play with us on www.KIBAO.org.
- Advertise www.KIBAO.org: If you play on other game website or have subscribed any game related forum advertise our site.
- Improve the site code:
- If you are at home with php, html and css help us to improve the code.
- You can help us to localize the site (revising or translating the different messages or pages).
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