Ayo is the Yoruba name for this game. In the East of Nigeria, the Ibo call it
OKWE from the tree whose seeds they use, and in Ghana they call it WARI. But the
Arabs who are probably the people who took it to South East Asia, call it MANCALA
meaning 'to move'.
It is an ancient game, which can be traced back to the second century BC. Some
old boards were found carved in the pyramid of Menkaura at Gizeh, in a cave in
Ceylon and in Surinam in South America.
You will need: A wooden board with 12 cups scooped out of it, holes in the ground, an egg box or cardboard apple tray from a grocer would do.
48 seeds, beans, shells or pebbles.
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
1. Four seeds are placed in each cup, then the two players sit down facing each other with the board between them
2. A move consists of taking ALL the seeds from any one cup on the player's side of the board and sowing them one by one round the board in an anti-clockwise direction till they all have a hole. You must not skip any cups.
Robin has moved first. He has taken the seeds from his fourth cup.
Kate
4 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
4 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
|
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
Robin
Kate has now taken them from her second cup leaving ...
Kate
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
|
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
5 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
|
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
Robin
You may find that a lot of seeds are piling up in one cup. You can check the number in your own cups but not your opponents.
3. If the cup in which you placed the last seed of a move is on your opponent's side and has in it, after adding your seed, 2 or 3 seeds, then you may take them all and scoop them out into a separate pile beside you. The winner of this game is the one who captures the most seeds.
4. If Robin's last seed falls into a cup to make it up to 2 or 3 and the cup behind it has also been made up to 2 or 3, he may take or capture those as well. But he cannot take any more from the previous cups of course, if they are his own.
Supposing the board now looks like this...
Kate
5 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
3 |
1 |
5 |
7 |
2 |
|
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
Robin
It is now Robin's turn to move. If he takes the 5 seeds from his 3rd hole the board will now look like this (see figure below). Can you see which seeds he can take or capture?
Kate
5 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
3 |
1 |
8 |
1 |
3 |
|
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
O |
Robin
Robin can take the 3 seeds from Kate's 2nd and 1st hole but he cannot take the 3 seeds from the next one back because it is on his own side.
5. The game finishes when one player cannot move. Each player must of course move in such a way that the other player can move too if at all possible. The game may also finish if there is no possibility of further captures. The remaining seeds left on the player's side are added to his score. Count your seeds and fit out who has won.
Taken from: Hello World. The Scout Association 1985
