Steem4Nigeria Accelerator Contest Week 8 - An Indoor Game Native To My People

Hello dear Nigeria community, I greet you all today. Hope you're doing very well? With pleasure I will like to let us know some certain things concerning Native game relating to a particular culture and other necessary information, see below my entry!!..

Tell us a little about the culture of The People who play this game

Ayo is known to be a traditional game played by the Yorubas who base in South Western part of Nigeria, it is therefore Known as the 'Game of the Intellectual', and it requires lots of mathematical skills. This game can be called 'mancala in other cultures, it therefore consist of two-player.

The Yoruba culture comprises of cultural religion, folktales and philosophy. Their cultural thought has a witness of epochs, the first essential epoch has the history of cosmogony and cosmology.

How many players can play the game and Is it gender or age sensitive?

Ayo is a game played in with carved rectangular wooden box, which contains exactly twelve holes with six holes on both the left and right sides. It has good 48 Ayo seeds in total and four seeds in each hole. This game like I said before can only be played by two player which goes round in counter-clockwise.

It doesn't really matter About age sensitive or gender, anyone who has the knowledge of it can be able to play it. Back then in my school, we play it alot as indoor games and then, slot if junior students participate in it alot more than the seniors.

Can the game be played in different ways? And What are the rules of the game

For all I know,I thi k the game is played using ony way or following one particular rule. In the game, Players can pick seeds only from their own sides of the board. unless if they are "collecting" seeds from the opponent's side of the board( which belongs to them as the have won). The main objective there is learning how to “capture” all your opponent's seeds. The first player starts by picking all the seeds from one of their holes then run them counter-clockwise.

Can a player cheat in this game? and Are they any useful skills, physical or intellectual ability that can be acquired playing this game

Ayo Olopon just as the Yorubas call it, the game is all about engaging the mind and brain. It is a game used in promoting positive mindsets, it therefore gives us the ability to think faster on the spot, learning to take the right decision and then make the right move when it necessarily matters.

Players involved in this game can actually cheat by trying to drop the seed in the opponent's box to complete it four and 'capture' it out.

What could you do to preserve this cultural heritage yours ?

I will keep teaching the young ones amongst us inorder for them to learn the game, keep playing it and then pas it on to generations.

It's a pleasure presenting my article before you dear friends, I believe to have iven my opinion well about this contest topic, thank you all for being with me today, appreciation to you all!