A scene carved into the lid, natural olive-green seeds, and pits wide enough that your hand goes in without thinking. This is the board you bring out on a Sunday, teach to children from the age of five — the rules are in the box — and take on holiday: folded shut, it takes up no more room than a paperback.
The more refined of the two. Its lid is carved from end to end — fish, chequer patterns, waves — its six pits are wide and deep, and its fifty seeds wait inside. Closed, it is an Iroko case you leave out on a coffee table; open, it is a tournament board.
A complete set of seeds, to add to a board or replace a worn one. Almost round and almost flat: you scoop them up by the handful and they stay in the pit. Hollow, light, smooth — and bio-based, like everything else.
Bio-based materials
Smooth and almost flat: they do not roll away
Hollow and light in the hand
To complete or replace a set of seeds
Dimensions
10 × 10 × 2 cm
Weight
0.15 kg
Prices, stock, photos and product links are checked at Club Awalé every week — their site is what counts. The sale, the payment and the shipping happen there: PlayAwale receives neither your address nor your payment.
Club Awalé, oware craftsmen
Club Awalé makes and sells genuine oware boards. Each one is cut from a single piece of Iroko wood, then hollowed, sanded and carved by hand: these are not machine-made objects but unique pieces, whose patterns, curves and shade differ from one board to the next.
The wood, the seeds — everything is bio-based and chosen to last. Natural seeds, smooth and light; stainless steel hinges; a board that folds shut like a case and slides into a bag. It is a game, a decorative object, and a gift people remember. Mine goes everywhere with me — and it never needs charging.
Going through this page is what lets me keep going. PlayAwale is free and ad-free: every order placed with the discount code directly supports the development of the online game — and encourages me to write what comes next.
Club Awalé keeps the game alive off-screen: at its stands, workshops and tournaments.
Club Awalé does more than sell boards
It is an association, founded in 2016. Its aim: to place African strategy games — oware, songo and their cousins — on the same footing as chess, draughts or go, to build a real profession around them, and to give as much as possible to the people who play them. The shop is only one of its four roles.
Workshops in person
Schools, games libraries, public libraries, local councils, companies, family gatherings: they come, they get people playing, and they tell the stories.
Online introductions
The same thing by video call, alone or in a group, with a format cut to fit each organisation.
Research and support
They have supported serious work: the effect of oware on child development, game theory, a prototype for a connected board.
Design and publishing
The boards, the seeds and the printed rules are designed and made by them. That is what you have just seen.
Buying from them therefore funds all the rest: the workshops, the tournaments, the game clubs and the research.
1You chooseHere, at your own pace, with every photo and every measurement.
2You keep the codeA window reminds you of it, and copies it in one click.
3You finish at Club AwaléTheir product page opens in a new tab: basket, discount code, payment.
4They ship itFrom France, worldwide. Tracking comes from them.
PlayAwale sells nothing and takes no payment. No order data is stored on this site.
Questions before you buy
Do you ship abroad?
Club Awalé ships from France and states that it delivers worldwide. The countries served, the costs and the times appear in your basket, on their site, before any payment: their terms are what count, not this page.
What is the discount code for?
Two things at once: it saves you money on your board, and it tells Club Awalé that you came from PlayAwale. That is what supports the online game. Paste it into the dedicated field in your basket.
Who sells, and who takes the payment?
Club Awalé, on their own site: the sale is a contract between you and them, and them alone. PlayAwale sells nothing, takes no payment and receives no order data — this page asks for no name, no address and no payment. See “Who sells, and who does not”, at the foot of the page.
Will the board I receive be exactly the one in the photos?
It will look very much like it, without being identical. These are handcrafted pieces: the shade of the wood, the curves and the carvings vary slightly from one board to the next. That is what makes a handmade object.
Can I play the site's rules on it?
Yes, they are exactly the same: twelve pits, forty-eight seeds, the rules of oware — awale, wari — as explained on PlayAwale. The Awalé pittoresque even comes with its printed rules.
PlayAwale shows you these products and points you to Club Awalé. It sells nothing, takes no payment, ships nothing, and receives neither your name, nor your address, nor your payment details: this page never asks for them.
The sale is a contract between you and Club Awalé, and them alone. The price actually charged, availability, payment methods, shipping costs and times, returns, warranties and after-sales service are theirs, and are governed by their terms and conditions — read them before you order. The catalogue above is checked once a week: their site is what counts, not this one. PlayAwale guarantees none of these points and is not a party to the sale; for any question or dispute about an order, Club Awalé is who to write to.
This partnership is paid: orders placed with the discount code are credited to PlayAwale, and that is what funds the online game. Links to Club Awalé are marked as partner links.
Partner shop 
