Ayò is the Yoruba member of the Oware/Awale group of sowing games found across West Africa and the Caribbean. It is played on a carved wooden board (ọlọ́pọ́n) with hard ayò seeds, and has an unusually rich body of tactical knowledge for a game with such simple rules.
Variant implemented
Yoruba Ayò Ọlọ́pọ́n, 2×6 pits with 4 seeds each, single-lap anticlockwise sowing, capture on 2 or 3, "feed your opponent" rule enforced.
Board and pieces
A carved wooden board ("ọlọ́pọ́n") with two rows of six pits and a store at each end.
Setup
Four seeds in each of the twelve pits — 48 in total.
Turn
Take all seeds from one of your own pits and sow them anticlockwise, one per pit. Sowing does not put seeds in either store. A lap of twelve or more seeds skips the pit it started from, so a pit is never refilled by its own lap.
Capture and scoring
If your last seed lands in a pit on your opponent's side and leaves it holding exactly two or three seeds, you capture that pit. Then work backwards: each preceding enemy pit holding two or three is also captured, until the chain breaks.
Win condition
The player who captures more than half the seeds — 25 or more — has won. The game also ends when a side is empty.
Draw condition
Twenty-four seeds each is a draw, as is a long stretch with no capture.
Special rules
Two rules define the game. Feed your opponent: if your opponent has no seeds you must play a move that gives them one, and if you cannot, the game ends. No grand slam: a move that would capture every seed the opponent owns is played, but the capture does not happen.
Computer opponent
Alpha-beta with an evaluation that combines captured seeds, seeds under control, and a penalty for leaving your own pits holding one or two seeds where they are vulnerable to capture.