Avril,

I think there is an old African board game, Mancala, which is played
with cowry shells (or seeds or pebbles). It consists of a board with
hollowed out bowl-like spaces, in which the players place and rearrange
their pieces. I can find out more about it if you like. Someone else may
have played it? I think a version was sold commercially in the U.S. a
few years ago, but I don't remember if it offered cowries as tokens.

Also, cowry shells were used in primitive cultures in Africa and Asia as
tokens of chance, like dice. Instead of the six options of standard
cubic dice, cowry shells only offer two, aperture or dorsum up, rather
like tossing a handful of coins and counting heads and tails.

Lynn Scheu
Louisville, KY
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