Ayo Across The World: Oware & Tampoduo & (Ghana)

Jul 1

How To Play: Oware

Sowing Seeds:

The first player selects a cup in their own territory and sows its seeds, one at a time, in a counter clock direction, skipping the pockets on each end. Once they have sown those seeds, it is their opponent’s turn. All players can only begin by selecting seeds from cups in their own territories to sow.

Capturing Seeds:

In Oware, players can only capture seeds from their opponent’s territory. This happens when the player’s last seed is sown into their opponents territory in a cup containing either one or two seeds - making it now a two and three cup. The catch? Players can also capture seeds from the second-to-last cup in their opponent’s territory if the seed sown brings that cup to a two or three seed cup.

End of Game:

There are several ways to end the game: A player captures 25 or more seeds OR the game ties with each player having captured 24 seeds each OR One player does not have any seeds and the opposing player cannot make a play to sow seeds into his territory OR too few pieces remain on the board and no meaningful plays can be made. At this point, players will agree to stop, split the remaining pieces evenly. The player with the most seeds wins.

More Ways to Play:

If 12 or more seeds are picked from a cup, a player can sow enough seeds to get back into the cup they started from. They can skip that original cup and continue to sow all their seeds.
If a player doesn’t have seeds in their territory to sow, their opponent can sow seeds from a cup that will provide more seeds to keep playing. If such a play is not possible, the game ends and all the seeds on board go to the player with seeds remaining on their side.
The Grand Slam! If a player makes a move that leaves their opponent without seeds, no seeds will be captured - including a “grand slam” move where one player captures all the seeds on their opponent’s territory in one turn. If a player makes that move - no seeds are captured in that turn.

How To Play: Tampoduo

Sowing Seeds:

The first player selects a cup in their own territory and scoops all of its seeds. The player will then “sow” or distribute one seed into each cup, moving in a counter clock direction. Do not place seeds in the end pockets. If the last seed is sown into a cup filled with seeds, the player must scoop up all the contents of the cup and continue to sow each seed until the last seed ends in an empty cup. Then it is the opposing player’s turn.

Capturing Seeds:

Players capture seeds when the last seed is dropped into an empty cup in their own territory. If the opposite cup in their opponent’s territory has seeds, they must capture those seeds as well. If there are no seeds in the opposite cup in their opponent’s territory, no seeds are captured. If the player’s seed lands in an empty cup on their opponent’s side and the opposite cup in their own territory has seeds in it - no seeds are captured.

End of Game:

The game comes to an end when there is only 1 seed left in each territory OR there are too few seeds left to make any meaningful plays OR one player has captured 25 seeds or more.

More Ways to Play:

If one player runs out of seeds in their territory, the opposing player must make a play to sow seeds that will allow them to continue laying. If such a play is not possible, the game comes to an end and all remaining seeds on the board goes to the player who still has seeds in their territory.