Bao is a traditional mancala board game played in most of East Africa including Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Comoros, Malawi, as well as some areas of DR Congo and Burundi.

In Malawi, a close variant of the game is known as Bawo, which is the Yao equivalent of the Swahili name.

As with most traditional mancalas, precise historical information on the origins and diffusion of Bao is missing.

Early accounts and archaeological findings are arguable as there are many games that are similar to Bao in both equipment and rules.

[4] For example, a 1658 account by French governor Étienne de Flacourt about a game played by the Sakalava people in northwestern Madagascar is sometimes quoted as the earliest reference to Bao, but scholars are more cautious about identifying Flacourt's game with Bao proper.

Nevertheless, as traditional boards are made of wood, ancient evidence of the game of Bao is unlikely to be found.

As of today, the oldest Bao board is supposed to be one from Malawi, exposed at the British Museum, and dating back to no earlier than 1896.

In the 1820s, Swahili poet Muyaka bin Haji from Mombasa celebrated the game in his poem Bao Naligwa.

The most influential transcription of the rules is due to board game scholar Alex de Voogt, who wrote it between 1991 and 1995 based on the teachings of Zanzibari Bao masters.

Each player has 32 undifferentiated counters (or "seeds" according to the standard mancala terminology) that are termed kete ("shells").

Note that a similar equipment (a 4x8 board and 64 seeds) is shared by a number of other African mancalas, including Omweso (Uganda) and Isolo (Tanzania).

In the namua phase, each player begins his or her move by introducing one of the seeds he or she has in hand into the board.

While the player is relay-sowing, if the last seed in any individual sowing is placed in a marker, a new capture occurs.

Note that the word "mtaji" is used both to refer to a turn and to a game phase; the two meanings must not be confused.

Also note that in Bao la kujifunza, the game begins with the mtaji phase, as there are no seeds in hand.