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In the age of Pokemon Go and other immersive video games, where children can lose themselves for hours at a stretch, it is surely heartening to see organisations demonstrating a commitment to, and a connection with, the traditional games and pastimes of their elders and ancestors.
Such an experience greeted visitors to the Youth Majlis (or meeting room) of the Qatar Sports Club (QSC) in Dafna on a recent afternoon, which was dedicated to the study and practise of the traditional Qatari board game of dama, organised by the club's cultural committee.
Dama is a renowned traditional strategy board game similar to chess or backgammon, which was once a highly popular way to pass the time while honing one's mental faculties.
The game plays such a part in the country's cultural heritage that a dedicated organisation, the Aldama Council, was founded by the country's leadership to ensure that the game is preserved and passed on to the coming generations.
Qatar Tribune spoke with Mohammed Sultan Fakhroo, head of QSC's cultural committee about the thinking behind organising the event, and the significance of dama today.
Explaining the game of dama for those who are not familiar with it, Fakhroo pointed out that it was in fact a challenging game which required mental skills perhaps similar to those employed in the game of chess, including patience, foresight and a certain sense of adventure.
"Each of the two players can be thought of as directing an army, or a 'team' of pieces. The player then needs to strategise and respond to their opponent in organising attacks and defences with the goal of reaching their opponent's 'region', or side of the board," he said.
Fakhroo noted that the event was organised as a sort of championship,"with awards and trophies for the winners, while allotting time during the evening for the competitors to practise, and for the less experienced, who were not yet in a position to compete, to play against more seasoned players from whom they might learn a thing or two".
"The dama championship was organised in three divisions, one for those aged 10 to 14, another for 15 to 20-year-olds, and the third, which perhaps saw the most heated and intense games, for 21 years and above.
"In this way, we could demonstrate the social aspects of the game of dama, which has always been part of the game, while also offering the participants the challenge and friendly competition of a championship," he added.
He noted that the event saw the participation of 27 young Qataris,"who were eager to practise dama and to compete to test their skills against those of their peers".
"We organised the event in collaboration with the Department of Youth Affairs of the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Aldama Council, which is of course the major organisation tasked with keeping alive and transmitting dama," he added.
As for the objective and underlying aims of the event, Fakhroo said that"organising such gatherings is in line with the cultural committee's mission, which emerges from the definition of culture as the cultivation of its members' intellectual and social faculties".
"We want to do what we can to preserve and popularise Qatar's cultural heritage, of which the game of dama is a well-known and loved component. What better way to do that than through a friendly competition?
"The heritage game of dama continues to engage the younger generations of Qataris, as is clear to anyone who attended this event," he added.
