Two Yoruba messengers of the Oni of Ife playing old African game of Ayo on porch of Oni's palace, Ife, Nigeria

Mancala may well be the oldest board game in the world. For instance, in Africa, people often play with pebbles using hollows scooped into the earth, with cowrie or other seashells in rings in the sand or specially carved wooden board with seeds. It is a wholly mathematical game. Mancala variations are played all over Africa, the two rank Mancala board generally being found north of the equator, the four rank boards, South of the Equator. The two best know Mancala games are Ayo from Nigeria and Wari which is played without much variation across West Africa and much of the Caribbean. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for Life magazine and traveled to Africa from August 18, 1959 to December 20, 1959.