Ayo
The Yoruba name for the Oware family of Mancala games, played in Nigeria and among Yoruba communities worldwide. The game is culturally significant in Yoruba tradition — historically associated with philosophy, divination, and social ritual — though the rules are functionally identical to Oware. The cultural framing and terminology are distinct: seeds are called ayo beads, and the board (opon ayo) is carved with traditional motifs.
Ayo — starting position
https://engine.moddable.games/play/?game=mancala&variant=ayo
| Item | Qty | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Board | 1 | 2 rows of 6 pits |
| Seeds | 48 | 4 seeds (ayo beads) per pit at start |
Setup
48 seeds distributed equally, 4 per pit. No stores — captured seeds are held separately. Each player owns the 6 pits on their side.
Rules
Sowing: Pick up all seeds from any one of your six pits. Sow counter-clockwise, one seed per pit, skipping the original pit if the circuit returns to it.
Capture: If the last seed lands in an opponent’s pit and that pit now contains exactly 2 or 3 seeds, capture those seeds. Continue capturing backwards through consecutive pits that also contain exactly 2 or 3 seeds.
Grand slam: If sowing would capture every seed on the opponent’s side, the move is illegal. You must choose a different pit. If no legal move avoids a grand slam, all opponent seeds remain and your turn ends.
Feeding obligation: If the opponent has no seeds, you must play a pit that gives them seeds. If no such move exists, the game ends and you take all remaining seeds.
End of Game
The game ends when one player has more than 24 seeds, when fewer than 4 seeds remain on the board and both players agree, or when a position repeats. Remaining seeds go to the player who owns those pits.
Winning
The player with more captured seeds wins. 25 or more seeds wins outright.
Attribution
Ayo. Traditional game, Yoruba people, Nigeria. Public domain. Source: Wikipedia (CC-BY-SA); Russ, Laurence — The Complete Mancala Games Book (1984).