Mzansi Party Games

How to play Morabaraba

1. 12 cows each; Yellow starts. Take turns placing a cow on any empty point until all are placed or shot.
2. Mill: three in a line (corner diagonals count). Each new mill shoots an enemy cow, but not one in a mill unless all of them are.
3. Move: once all are placed, slide a cow along a line to the next empty point. Down to three? Fly to any empty point.
4. Win when your opponent has two cows left or can’t move.

Both on three cows and ten moves each with no shot: a draw. Stepping out of a mill and straight back doesn’t earn a shot.

Words of the game

Kgomo

A cow. Each playing piece is a cow in your herd.

Mill

Three cows in a row along one line.

Shoot

Remove an opponent's cow after making a mill.

Fly

Jump anywhere, allowed with three cows left.

Umlabalaba

The isiZulu name for the same game.

Morabaraba is played across Southern Africa, traditionally on boards scratched into rock or drawn in the sand, with stones or seeds for cows. It is recognised as a formal indigenous sport in South Africa.

How to play Diketo

1. Ten stones sit in a hole; you throw one more, the gho.
2. Throw it up (Space, the big button or tap the sky), then scoop while it’s up: tap the hole, Scoop or J once per stone.
3. Catch it in the green band on the height bar; the darker middle is a perfect catch and scores extra.
4. Levels: out in ones, back in twos, out in threes, back in fours, out in fives, then all ten back in one sweep.
5. Wrong number of stones, grabbing early or a drop is a miss: the stones go back and you retry.

Solo: three misses; clear all six levels for a full clear and a leaderboard score. Two players: a miss passes the turn; first to clear all six wins.

Words of the game

Diketo

The Sesotho and Setswana name. Many isiZulu speakers call it Upuca.

Gho

The throwing stone, usually a little bigger than the rest.

Lesoba

The hole scooped into the ground that holds the stones.

Diketo is a hand-eye coordination game played with pebbles around a small hole in the ground, much like jacks. It is one of the games in South Africa’s indigenous games programme for schools.

How to play Moruba

1. Four rows of eight holes, two seeds each. Your two rows are nearest you.
2. Sow: scoop a hole of 2+ seeds and drop one per hole, anticlockwise around your rows.
3. Last seed in an empty hole ends your turn. In a full hole with no capture: relay, scoop it and keep sowing.
4. Capture: last seed in a full hole in your front row, with both opposite enemy holes full? Take them and sow them from your starting hole; turn ends.
5. No hole with 2+ seeds at the start of your turn? You lose.

Seeds never leave the board: captures move them to your side, and your seeds are your strength.

Words of the game

Sow

Drop seeds one at a time into the holes ahead.

Relay

Pick up a full hole where your last seed landed and carry on.

Front row

Your row that faces the opponent. Only your front row can capture.

Lap

One handful sown. Long relays can run many laps in a single turn.

Four-row seed games are played across Southern and East Africa, usually with holes dug in the ground and stones or seeds as counters. Moruba is the Sesotho and Sepedi name, and Tshivenda players know a close relative as Mefuvha. Rules differ from place to place; this is one common way to play.