MORABARABA ONLINE — Umlabalaba
South Africa's legendary strategy game, now digital.
Morabaraba — known as Umlabalaba in Zulu — has been played across Southern Africa for generations. A game of patience, skill, and strategy passed down not through books but through watching and playing. Now it lives in your pocket.
THE GAME
Place your 12 cows. Form a mill. Shoot your opponent's pieces. The last player standing wins. Simple to learn. A lifetime to master.
PLAY ONLINE
Challenge players across South Africa and the world in real-time ranked matches. Every game counts. Every move matters.
YOUR ELO RATING
Every player carries an ELO rating — a live measure of your skill. Win and climb. Lose and learn. Track your progress from your first game to your last.
CLIMB THE RANKS
Start at Iron. Rise through Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Master. Reach Grandmaster — where fewer than 1% of players ever get.
TOURNAMENT PLAY
Enter live tournaments. Compete in Blitz, Rapid, and Classical formats. From daily quick-fire events to monthly championship showdowns — there is always a competition to enter.
PLAY YOUR WAY
Blitz — fast, intense, unforgiving
Rapid — balanced, strategic, competitive
Classical — deep, deliberate, prestigious
AI OPPONENTS
Not ready for online play? Train against 12 AI characters — from Lesedi at 200 ELO who plays like a complete beginner, all the way to Mosadi at 2800 ELO who plays like a grandmaster. Find your level. Beat it. Move up.
LEARN AND IMPROVE
After every game get a full performance review. See every mistake, every missed mill, every blunder. Understand exactly where the game changed and what to do differently next time.
CHALLENGE FRIENDS
Add friends, see when they are online, and challenge them directly to a game. Track where you stand against everyone you know on the Friends Leaderboard.
LEADERBOARDS
Friends — see how you rank among people you know
South Africa — compete for your place on the national ladder
Global — measure yourself against the world
FREE TO PLAY
Morabaraba Online is free to download and free to play. Always.
Ratings & Reviews
This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
A new daily tournament — and more ways to play!
• Evening Clash — a fast new tournament every evening at 20:00, alongside the weekly Sunday Showdown. Open the new Tournaments hub to see what's on and register.
• Watch live games — follow tournament matches in real time from the new spectator view.
• Smarter new-player ratings — your first few ranked games now calibrate faster, so you reach your true ranking sooner. You'll see "Unranked" with a progress count until your placement games are done.
• In-app announcements — occasional messages from the Morabaraba team with event notices and important updates, shown as a popup you can dismiss.
• A refreshed tournament screen, plus stability and performance improvements.
Version 1.1.3
The developer, The Mahlangu Elites (Pty) Ltd, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
Seller
The Mahlangu Elites
Size
56.7 MB
Category
Board
Compatibility
Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
iPhone Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
iPad Requires iPadOS 15.0 or later.
iPod touch Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
Mac Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
