Diketo, also known as Magave, Upuca, or Puca, is one of ten recognized indigenous games of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

. It is similar to the game Jacks.

Rules

Diketo is usually played by two players and can be played with pebbles or marbles. The player throws a stone called "mokinto" into the air and then tries to take out as many stones as possible from the circle before they catch it again with the same hand. Then they put the stones back into the hole, one stone at a time, until all ten stones are back in the hole. The player can only move a stone while the "gho"/"mokinto" is in the air, and before catching it again with the same hand. The player then takes out all the stones again and puts them back in the hole now two at a time and so on. If the player fails to catch the gho, it is the next player's turn. The player who manages to do ten rounds of taking the stones out and systematically placing them back in first, wins the game.

References

Children's games Games of physical skill Physical activity and dexterity toys Historical games {{game-stub