Ayoayo
Ayoayo is a traditional mancala played by the Yoruba people in Nigeria. It is very close to (and possibly a direct ancestor of) the Oware game that spread to the Americas with the atlantic slave trade. Among modern mancalas, which are most often derived from Warri, the Kalah is a notable one that has essentially the same rules as Ayoayo.
There are games with identical rules also in other areas of Africa. One such game is the Endodoi, played by the Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania.
Rules
The Ayoayo board is composed of two roles of six holes each, and 48 seeds are used; at the beginning, 4 seeds are placed in each hole. These are exactly the same equipment and setup as those of Warri and many other 2-row mancalas such as Layli Goobalay. Each player own one of the rows.
At his or her turn, the player takes all seeds from one of his holes and relay sows them counterclockwise; during each individual sowing, the starting hole is skipped (i.e., no seeds are dropped there even if more than 12 seeds are to be sown). When the last seed is sown in an empty hole, and if this hole belongs to the player in turn, he or she will capture any seed in the opposing hole.
When one of the players cannot move anymore, the game is over. The opponent captures all the seeds that are left on the board and the winner is the player who captured most seeds.
Notice that if a player ends his or her turn with no seeds left in his or her row, the opponent must (if it is possible) choose his move in such a way to bring one or more seeds into the other's row. This scheme is found in many mancalas and sometimes referred to as "feeding" the opponent (i.e., save the opponent from starving).[1]
Footnotes
References
- Ayoayo rules collected by John Pratt