Collection · 6 games · 2 players
Traditional African Board Games
Africa holds one of the deepest board-game traditions on Earth. The mancala family — sowing games of seeds and pits — may be thousands of years old, and across the continent people developed sharp games of capture, alignment and strategy, often scratched into the earth and played with stones or seeds. Here are six you can play free in your browser.
The most famous is Oware, the Akan mancala of West Africa, whose “starvation rule” builds fairness right into the rules. Capture games like Yoté from Senegal and Mali reward bluff and sudden aggression, while Fanorona, the national game of Madagascar, uses a capture-by-approach mechanic found nowhere else in the world.
From Southern Africa comes Morabaraba, the Sotho and Tswana “mill” game of cattle and corner diagonals, now a recognised mind sport. And from Zimbabwe, the Shona Tsoro Yematatu packs real tactics into a tiny seven-point triangle. We also include Senet from Ancient Egypt — the continent's, and arguably the world's, oldest board game.
The games
West Africa
Oware
One of the world's oldest continuously played games, with roots in Akan culture going back at least 7,000 years.
West Africa
Yoté
A fast, aggressive capture game played across West Africa — especially Senegal, Mali, and Gambia — traditionally in the sand, with pebbles and pieces of broken pottery as pieces.
Madagascar
Fanorona
Madagascar's national game, played on a grid of intersecting lines whose pattern mirrors the woven mat — a central Malagasy cultural symbol.
Southern Africa
Morabaraba
Morabaraba — "the mill" in Sesotho, and Mmela in Setswana — is a strategy game of the Sotho and Tswana peoples of Southern Africa, where each player commands twelve "cows" on a 24-point board of three nested squares plus four corner diagonals.
Zimbabwe
Tsoro Yematatu
Among the Shona of Zimbabwe, "tsoro" names a whole family of traditional board games, and "yematatu" means "of three" — for the three seeds each player commands.
Ancient Egypt
Senet
One of the oldest known board games on Earth, played along the Nile for over 3,000 years — from boards scratched into temple stones by workers to the four ornate sets buried with Tutankhamun.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most famous African board game?
Oware (a mancala game of the Akan people of West Africa) is among the most widely played and well known African board games, part of a sowing-game family found across the continent and the diaspora. Morabaraba is also widely played as a competitive mind sport in Southern Africa.
What is mancala?
Mancala is a family of "sowing" board games played by scooping seeds or stones from pits and dropping them one by one into following pits, capturing under certain conditions. Oware is one of the best-known mancala games and one of the oldest board games in the world.
Can I play African board games online for free?
Yes. Cultural Games offers free, browser-based versions of Oware, Yoté, Fanorona, Morabaraba and Tsoro Yematatu, playable against the computer or a friend with no download or account.
Where does Morabaraba come from?
Morabaraba is a strategy game of the Sotho and Tswana peoples of Southern Africa, traditionally said to have been played by herdboys using stones as "cows" on a board scratched into the ground. It is now governed as a competitive mind sport in South Africa.