Indigenous Games in Africa Project

Umlabalala is a traditional Swati game played by 2 people. It is played on a board game drawn by the kids. Each player has 12 stones or marbles to start with. The kids then take turns in placing the stones on the board one by one. The idea is to form a line of 3 stones, one player has to capture the stones of the other player to form the line. One player has to block the other player from creating the line of 3 stones.  One wins the game after having 10 stones, so the first person to win the gave should have 10 stones from the other player. The game is played at home or anywhere in children's play grounds, it is played by 2 people. It is played in eSwatini (Formerly known as Swaziland). Promote literacy skills. It can be good for learning mathematics. Bongiwe V. Sithole

You need two or more people to play this game. The materials you require to play this game are paper and pens. Everyone would need their own paper and pen, and one page would need to be free to draw the alphabet on. Before the game begins, everyone will need to draw a table with columns on their page. In each column, you will need to write boys, girls, fruit, veg, colour and country. Once everyone has completed their table and the alphabet page is drawn up, to start, one person will close their eyes and point to a mystery letter on the alphabet page (everyone in the group will get a chance). The letter that they pick, for example, “B”, everyone must write down a boy’s name, a girl’s name, a fruit, a vegetable, a colour, and country with the letter B. Each correct answer will get 10 points, an answer that matches with someone else will get 5 points and no answer gets you 0 points. The person who gets the most points wins and gets a turn with the alphabet page. The person who gets the mo

We play a game called durru ( runyankore language). This game is played using Marbles, where one wins by hitting the opponents' marble in a determined distance using one of fingers of the player. The figure used is the player's choice, any convenient figure to player can be used. Rules  For one to win, the marble of the person said to have won must have hit the marble visibly to both sides or third party( officiating official). Stipulated distance is determined in which this game is played and agreed on by both parties. The game can also base on the number of times the marble is hit. Indigenously, seeds called durru are used instead of marbles.

The game is played by anyone interested, both girls and boys. A pile of stones is placed 2 meters away from the players and the players have to throw a stone to hit the pile of stones.  Rules of the game: 1. Players throw  stones 1 by 1 until every player has gotten a chance.                                    no player is allowed to move closer to the pile of stones , all players have to                                      maintain the 2 meters distance placed. To win the game, one has to hit the pile of stones and all stones should fall together at once. The game was played by children at one homestead.

  This group is popular with young children from pre-school going age to around ten.  The player are usually spread in a rectangular open field.  One member who is "mama" stands on the one end of the field,  the other – "the children" – will be standing on the opposite end of the field.  The "wolves" will be on the adjacent sides.   The mother and her children engage in a long dialogue.   Mama:  Bantwana bam (Kids) Chidren:  Mama Mama:  Yizani kum (Come over) Children:  Siyoyika (We are scared) Mama:  Noyika ntonin (What scares) Chidren:  Ingcuka (Wolves) Mama:  Senza ntoni?  (What are they up) Children:  Siyatya (They are eating) Mother:  Zitya ntoni (What are they eating?) Children:  Isonka (Bread) Mother:  Zilumela ngantoni? (With what?) Children:  Ngegazi (Blood) Mother:  Elikabani (Whose blood?) Children:  Elakho ( Yours) Mother:  Balekani! (Run!)   The children run towards their mother ducking the wolves.  The wolves will try to capture as many child

Sonko/Hopscotch   Name of the Game: Sonko Game Description Sonko game would starts off by drawing (painting) a series of squares or rectangles on a clear ground (paver) using broken glass or black charcoal or colored chalk. The squares would then subdivided horizontally into five different compartments and a longitudinal line drawn in the middle to make it ten compartments. The lines drawn would not always be permanent so that they could be easily erased to change the designs if need arose. Sonko game was ideal for children of all ages (older and younger children); girls and boys who could engage with a flat stone locally referred to as 'ekyaana' (baby) to throw in the created squares. At the start of a game, 'ebyaana' (babies) would be placed in the very first square on either side. The gist of the game was for the children to hop over a series of squares with the aim of picking up 'ekyana' (flat

1. Select 12 small round stones. 2. Have 2 players,  each taking turns. 3. One child starts playing by starting to separate one stone while throwing another stone in the air. 4. The process goes on with a 2nd stone,  till the 12th stone are all separated.   5. As the child does that, s/he should not move other stones, s/he is eliminated.  6. If the child drops the throw stone rather than pick it up in the air, s/he is eliminated and the other takes the turn 

A game played by adult men as well as adolescent boys. The aim is to move small stones from one hole to the next. The holes can be made in the ground or on a hollow board game shown in the image. ..... Annette

Dibeke or Skululu is a multi-skill running ball game or sport.   The game is a competitive team sport, played by two teams of twelve members /players which consist of six females and six males in each team and one of the members in each of the team are selected as the Captain.   Each team is also allowed to have an unlimited number of substitutes, however, the number of substitutes in each time are regulated to three players during a match.   All three substitutes cannot play at the same on the field and the substitutes are also not allowed within three minutes on the field after the last substitute.   There will be one score keeper (SK) assigned by each time and a match facilitator (MF) who are assigned to keep a record of all substitutions.   An MF is appointed before each match who will need to be impartial, and he /she will be in control of the game and will need to check if the field is in a good enough condition for players to play on and will report to them 30 minutes b

Upuca, uses small stones and can be played by a number of people. A circle is drawn on the ground where these stones are put in. A player has to have one bigger stone in her hand. She throws it in the air and in the same breath pulls out the stones from the circle. Then she throws the bigger stone in the air again and pushes the rest of the stones back in the circle leaving one or more stones depending on the level of the game. The aim would be not to drop the bigger stone and also to collect the correct number of stones for the level she is playing. For example, if you are on level two, you must collect two stones. Once you miss catching the bigger stone then the game goes to the next player. The winner will be the one who collects the most stones from the circle. "Nize nithi nisakufumana inkululeko, nilime amasimi, nifuye nibuyele kumasiko nezithethe zendlu kaNtu." S.E.K Mqhayi

This game is played by two or more people. The game is about finding and naming the object or a thing that the player has spied on. For example, a player would say, I spy Mandela. The other players will have to find where Mandela photo or anything that represents Mandela has been spotted. If they fail to identify it, then the player wins the round, and continues with 'I spy...' If people find it, the turn is lost and whoever found it, plays next. The game is played indoors, outdoors or on road trips. It works well when all players are in a new environment as this gives no one an advantage of knowing the space. D Ng'ambi

Nhombo So this game is when you put a stick upright and cover its bottom with sand like a cone shaped. Thereafter children start to take the sand off in small bits and anyone who takes off the sand and the stick falls has to run to a nearby selected object e.g. tower light, tree etc without getting caught. If you are caught, then you are out of the game. Lovejoy

Snakes and Ladders is an ancient Indian board game, orginally known as Moksha Patam. The historic version had its roots in morality lessons, on which a player's progression up the board represented a life journey complicated by virtues (ladders) and vices (snakes).  Today it is a classic game. There are also variations of the game and rules that have been developed over the years. It is played on a game board with numbered, grided squares. A number of "snakes" and "ladders" are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares. The object of the game is to navigate one's game piece in accordance to die (single dice) rolls, starting from the bottom square of the board to the finish (top of the board square), helped by climbing ladders, but hindered by falling down snakes. Players: 2 or more Skills: Counting, Observation Game Play :  Each player starts with a token on the startin

A fun maths game from Kenya. It is a two-player abstract strategy game played by the Triiki people of Kenya. This game is similar to Tic-Tac-Toe, where you have to place three counters/pieces in a row. It is called Shisima (meaning: "body of water"/ "source of water"). Given this name because the center of the game board is the "water", and they call the game pieces "impalavali" (meaning: "water bugs/insects"). The reason for this is that water bugs move very quickly and it is hard to keep track of where they are. In the same way, Shisima players move their pieces so quickly, it's hard to keep track of them. Generally, the kids in Kenya would draw the Shisima game board on the dirt and use twigs and rocks as imbalavali. To play the game you can draw an octagon on a piece of paper with 4 lines connecting each set of opposite points intersecting in the middle. Game Boar