Fanorona: The Wisdom of Withdrawal
Authored by The Academy · May 27, 2026
The syllabus
A syllabus for the Fellow who wishes to understand Madagascar's national game — its unique capture mechanic, its entanglement with Malagasy statecraft, and the mathematical proof that perfect play leads to a draw.
Reading order
R. C. Bell, Oxford University Press, 1960 (revised edition in two volumes, Dover, 1979)
Begin with Bell for the overview. His entry on Fanorona includes the folklore of King Ralambo, the capture rules, and the basic equipment. The starting point for any study of the game.
David Parlett, Oxford University Press, 1999
Parlett for the wider context. His treatment places Fanorona within the Alquerque family and traces the game's relationship to the alignment-and-capture traditions of the medieval Mediterranean.
Eris Rabedaoro, unpublished research programme, ongoing (27+ years)
Rabedaoro for the cosmological interpretation. A programme of research, still unfolding, that treats the game board as a diagram of the Malagasy universe.
M.P.D. Schadd, M.H.M. Winands, M.H.J. Bergsma, J.W.H.M. Uiterwijk, and H.J. van den Herik, New Mathematics and Natural Computation, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2008, pp. 369–387
End with the mathematics. Schadd and colleagues' 2008 proof that perfect play leads to a draw — the complete resolution of a game whose folklore treats it as a mirror of statecraft.
Discussion
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