Ayo Across The World: Ouri (Cape Verde)

Jul 1

How To Play: Ouri

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:

Players can only capture seeds from their opponent’s territory. If the last seed is sown into a cup in their opponent’s territory with one or two seeds - making the cup a two or three seed cup - then all the seeds from that cup are captured. If the second to last seed sown in their opponent’s territory brings that cup to a two or three seed, those seeds are also collected.

End of Game:

The game ends when a player captures 25 seeds or more. Players agree to end the game and take the remaining seeds in their own territories. OR The game ends in a tie with both players capturing 24 seeds each. OR One player has now seeds in their territory and the opposing player is unable to sow seeds into the opposite territory OR There are not enough seeds on the board for either player to make a meaningful play and the seeds are simply “chasing” around the board. At this point, players agree to end the game and split the remaining seeds evenly. If there’s an odd number of seeds remaining, the player with the most seeds in their territory keeps the remaining seed.

More Ways to Play:

Single seeds can’t be sown unless the player has single seeds in their territory.
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 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 go to the player who still has seeds in their territory.
Grand Slam Plays are allowed - When a player makes a play that captures all the seeds in their opponents territory in one turn. If that happens, that player goes again, sowing seeds in a way to allow their opponent to keep playing.