They would then try to score a point by hitting it with one of the smaller skeys. When stagecoaches and trains replaced ox-wagons, clubs and sticks were used, and the game became very popular on Cape beaches during the early part of last century. Whatever the origins of the river's name, the modern version of the game is fairly complex and involves strategy and skill. The game was popular on the mines and is still known and played in many other African nations. It can be played on a board or by digging four rows of four holes into level ground.
Players manouvre their pips around the board so as to end up with more pips than their opponent.
Other games in the book demand ball skills, running and co-ordination. The game is played among all South Africa's ethnic groups and variations of it, known as Gqaina and Tsumkwe were played among the Khoi San. Marbles or small stones are used. Each player has an object which is thrown into the air while an allocated number of smaller stones have to be scooped up, before the object is caught again. Of all the games in the booklet, perhaps moraboraba is the most illustrious.