We recently held an Ayo games night in London, with beginners learning to play the Nigerian strategy game and seasoned pros playing alongside, and delicious sparkling palm wine from Manya.
Look out for another pop-up shop and curation of events coming soon. Sign up to our newsletter to find out first.
WHAT IS AYO?
Ayo (or Ayoayo) is a traditional game originating from the Yoruba people in Nigeria. The name is an abridged ver- sion of Ayò Ọlọpọn, whereby ‘ayò’ means ‘seeds’ and ‘ọpọn’ means ‘holder’ and together the words imply ‘seeds’ in a holder’. The culture of playing the game is called Ayò Tita by the Yoruba people, who tend to play the game at night following the day’s work and effort.
Although Ayo only accomodates two players at a time, the game brings people together and creates a community aspect. The spectators also become a part of the performance as it is customary for a passer to greet the players by saying ‘Mo ki ota, mo ki ope e’. This directly translates to ‘I greet the winning player (‘ota’ meaning bullet) and I salute the losing party (‘ope’ meaning knowledge- able) too’. Only the player who has the upper hand at the time in the game can respond.
HOW TO PLAY
The aim of the game is to capture more seeds than your opponent.
To set up, each player decides on a side of the board and places four seeds in each house. To determine which player starts first, one player should hold a seed in a closed fist and ask the other player to guess which hand holds it. If the guesser is correct, they begin the game and if incorrect, the other player starts.
SOWING
From their own territory, a player chooses a house and scoops out all the seeds within it. The player now ‘sows’ seeds in an anti-clockwise direction, placing one seed at a time in each successive house around the board. If the last seed drops in a house with seeds, the player must scoop up all the seeds from that house and continue to sow. If the last seed drops in an empty house, it is the next player’s turn.
CAPTURING
Seeds are captured once the last seed drops in an empty house, given that it lands on the player’s territory. If the house opposite, on the opponent’s territory, contains seeds, they are all captured along with the player’s last seed. All captured seeds are put aside. If the last seed lands on the opponent's territory, no seeds are captured. If there are no seeds in the opposite house, no seeds are captured. If the player's last seed lands in an empty house, continue to sow and capture until:
- there are too few seeds for the game to continue
- a player captures 25 or more seeds
- as the last seed lands in a house with seeds, the player continues to sow
The player with the most number of seeds wins the game.
