Urubugu/Igisoro is one of the games that my cousins taught me how to play when I was 9 years old. It is not common for a big city kid to know how to play Urubugu. It is a two player game where the players set their beads on the board and attempt to move in a way that allows them to take all the beads from the other player. I remember one time we lost both the wood board and the beads, we had to come up with an idea to replace them so we went ahead and dug holes in the ground and would use stones as beads.
Last year I was in Burundi and I saw it at one of the art markets. I asked if I could play with the person who was selling it, he and his friends looked at me and underestimated me, for them I didn’t look like someone who know how to play Urubugu.
We placed our beads then he told me to go first, with an attitude of I will just let you go first because I know you can’t play better than me. I then went on and played first and he couldn’t believe his eyes when I won against him with Imfufu (master victory where you play, don’t fail and get all the beads from the other person without them having a chance to play).
He and his friends couldn’t believe their eyes. He then said I could’ve sworn that you didn’t know how to play this game at all. I went ahead and bought it because I am planning to teach my husband and future kids how to play it.
A week ago, when we were all set after our trip to Burundi, Kenya and Tanzania, I decided to teach my husband how to play Urubugu. Now he is getting better at it and he is dedicated to beat me with Imfufu.
