"Akong" game

This game has been given various names, such as “akong” and “awale”, and is widely used in various cultures across sub-Saharan Africa. This example is from the Yoruba group in West Africa. Six kneeling figures hold the gameboard: two men hold it with their hands and four women do so with their heads while covering their breasts with their hands. The game is a strategy exercise in which the gameboard consists of 12 small circular hollows in 2 rows of 6, which could reproduce, to scale, the traditional distribution and social life of certain communities. In the game, two players play against each other and take turns trying to fill each hollow with the most chips, reflecting important concerns of the community such as fertility, the harvest, and an increase in fortune. Whoever is left with the smaller number of chips is the loser.