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Alak dolak

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 203.43.150.40 (talk) at 05:46, 19 August 2019 (Fixed general grammar and wording of article. Removed bullet ant ritual joke at the end...there are no bullet ants in Iran.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Alak dolak is a traditional Iranian game played between two teams of equal size. It is played in Iran, Afghanistan and in surrounding countries.

Known by several different names such as čalok-mosta, pel-čoftak, pel o čofta, čafta-bāzī, and several others, it dates back approximately 5,000 years to ancient Persia.

Rules

In alak dolak, a wooden peg, the dolak, is placed on two bricks lying on the ground parallel to each other. A bigger stick, called an alak, is held in between the dolak and the ground.

The alak is then thrust upward by the player so that the dolak goes flying. The player then tries to hit ("اصابت") the dolak while it is airborne. If the player misses the dolak, they will reset the dolak on the bricks and try again. When they do manage to hit it, the players of the opposing team will try to catch the dolak. If the opposing team catches the dolak, the player who hit it is out, and the next person takes the alak to begin their turn.

Sources