About the game

A game carved in stone

Kōnane is a Hawaiian game of pure strategy, played with black and white stones on a grid of hollows. People of every rank once played it across the islands. Today it is being taught and played again.

The board and stones

The board is called a papamū. Traditional ones were often large carved rocks, with rows of small hollows (puka) pecked into the surface, and they served as both board and table. Stone boards survive at places such as Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau on Hawaiʻi Island. The pieces were small stones: black from lava and white from coral. Boards came in many sizes, often rectangular. Captain James Cook's expedition, which reached Hawaiʻi in 1778, described a board of 238 squares about two feet long, and wrote that the game was "very much like our draughts".

How it's played

The board starts full, black and white alternating like a chessboard.
Black opens by lifting one of its stones from the centre or a corner. White then lifts one of its own stones next to the gap.
From then on, every move is a capture. A stone jumps over an enemy stone next to it, in a straight line up, down, left or right, into the empty hollow beyond. It can keep jumping in the same direction, but it can't turn.
If you can't make a capture on your turn, you lose.

Suppression and revival

Kōnane was played by chiefs and commoners alike. After Christian missionaries arrived in the 1820s it declined sharply. They disapproved of games linked to gambling as frivolous, and the game was suppressed until it was nearly lost. A 2026 magazine feature also reports that it was banned after the 1893 overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani. I couldn't find the original evidence for that ban, so treat it as reported, not established.

Today the game is being revived. On Kauaʻi, John Kaʻohelauliʻi of Anahola teaches it at workshops, schools and community events, organises middle-school tournaments and makes boards through his project hawaiiancheckers.com. He describes kōnane as "resource management". According to Wikipedia, the Bishop Museum held the first professional kōnane tournament in 2026. If you enjoy this version, a real papamū and a real opponent are the best way to play.

Choices this version makes

Square boards of 6, 8 or 10 stones a side, as in most modern play. Traditional boards were often larger and rectangular.
Black always opens, lifting a stone from the centre four squares or a corner.

Sources