The background of the Game

Ayo is a traditional mancala played by the Yoruba people in Nigeria and the Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania

Rules

As you can see the Ayo board comprises two rows of six holes each, and 48 seeds are used; at the beginning, 4 seeds are placed in each hole. Each player owns one of the rows.

Each turn the player takes all the seeds from one of their holes and 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 of a particular 'sowing' is sown in a hole containing 1 or 2 seeds (the seed being sown making 2 or 3 seeds) then these seeds are captured, with the addition of any 'adjacent' clockwise holes containing 2 or 3 seeds.

The first player to capture 25 seeds wins.

If a turn ends with no seeds left in their row, the opponent must (if it is possible) choose their move in such a way as to bring one or more seeds into the other's row. This scheme is found in many mancalas and is sometimes referred to as "feeding" the opponent (i.e., saving the opponent from starving). If as a result of this a player has no seeds to play then they capture all the opponents seeds.