I just got back from three and a half weeks in Eritrea, spent mostly in the capital Asmara. Asmara is a place where Africa, Italy, and Arabia meet -- a wonderful city with beautiful architecture, where la dolce vita still goes on despite not the best of economic situations, where people park their bicycles without locking them (talk about culture shock), and where men play this game on a billiards table in bars / cafes -- bars and cafes are basically the same thing, each serving coffee, tea, and alcohol though mostly coffee and tea.
I happened upon Bar Zeira early one Sunday morning, kept up most of the night by an Eritrean wedding celebration going on next to my hotel, rushing to catch a circa 1930s train (the whole city is basically circa 1930s) desperate for a coffee. Inside I found a very friendly working class bar with, as it turns out, the best coffee in town.
I heard the clacking of billiard balls from the back room and, as Bar Zeira became part of my routine I eventually worked my way to the back room and started hanging out.
No cue stick is used. Balls are rolled by hand...
...often with a bit of English.
I never figured out the scoring.
Men gather there early each morning, generally by 7:30. This was a weekday. On Sundays the back room is packed with men waiting to take their turn against the winner.
Part of the game involves these five little things that look like miniature Parchesi pieces. Sometimes they get knocked down and that figures in the scoring but... I still don't get it.
