Majlis Al-Dama at Qatar’s Souq Waqif witnesses a great official interest, in an attempt to preserve the traditional board game for the upcoming generations.
Majlis Al-Dama, which was established in 2010, is a body tasked with preserving and spreading the game, where anyone who is interested in learning it can receive free lessons and take part in practice games.
In remarks to KUNA, Member of Majlis Al-Dama, Executive Director, Mohammad Al-Sulaiti, said that the body was established to preserve the heritage game, especially during the time of digital games.
He also noted that the officials in Qatar decided to establish councils that preserve folklore games, in addition to introducing the present generation to the heritage of their ancestors, pointing out that the game of Dama is well known in the Arabian Gulf region.
Moreover, he affirmed that there is a desire among the current generation to learn the game and learn about the past of their grandfathers and how they spent their free times in the past, adding that tourists visiting Souq Waqif are also attracted by the game.
In the past, following the diving season, when the winter was just beginning, the men found themselves with a lot of spare time on their hands. This is when they would play Dama, in the coffee houses, and in the majlis.
Dama is essentially a strategy game, which requires intelligence, and a certain amount of talent. In terms of the actual gameplay, Dama is not exactly like chess, but there do remain similarities.
The game is played by two players, and either player starts with 16 pieces which is called ‘hatab’, and these are the soldiers, as it were. The game involves a strong element of competition, as each player races to change these soldiers into a king, a special piece that gives the player who has it an advantage in the game.
Source: Kuwait News Agency