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Antigua’s National board game arrived from Africa’s west coast via the slave ships. Witness cunning and mental arithmetic as shells are moved about a wooden fish-shaped board at the annual National Warri Festival in St John’s Multi-Purpose Cultural Centre.

Seen as a threat in the slave plantations and driven underground by the Europeans, the game has survived by word of mouth.

Warri refers to the hollows in a thick board made from local island wood and carved into the shape of a fish. The pieces or counters, traditionally known as ‘nickars’, were small nuts from the Guillandria Bush. Now they are usually small identical shells found on local beaches. The game can be played with two or more people and the object is to capture 25 counters.

The event is scheduled for October 2010.

For more information, E-mail: stjohnsdevelopcorp@candw.ag