Lau kata kati information

Lau kata kati is a two-player abstract strategy game from India, specifically from Lower Bengal, and also from United Provinces, Karwi Subdivision where it is called Kowwu Dunki, and it was described by H.J.R. Murray in A History of Board-Games Other Than Chess (1952).^[1][2] The game is related to draughts and even more so to Alquerque. Pieces are captured by leaping over them. The board is a pattern of two triangles joined together at a common vertex with further lines subdividing them. It is the same game as Butterfly (game) from Mozambique, which suggests a historical connection between the two games. Lau kata kati belongs to a specific category of games called Indian War-games, and the other games in this category are Dash-guti, Egara-guti, Pretwa, Gol-skuish.^[2] All Indian War-games have one important thing in common, and that is that all the pieces are laid out on the patterned board, with only one vacant point in the center.^[2] This forces the first move to be played on the central point, and captured by the other player's piece.^[2]

It is important to realize that Lau kata kati's patterned board is the basis of other games, in particular, Dash-guti and Egara-guti, as the boards of those two games are an expansion. It serves as a basis for other games in the same way that the standard Alquerque board and the draughts board is a basis for other games.

Lau kata kati is also known as Lau kati kata and Nau Keti Keta.^[3]