HISTORY OF AFRICAN BILLIARDS
African billiards was developed from an indigenous game of marble seeds derived from some leguminous plants that permeate many parts of West Africa from the bush –fallowing system .It is called “ Erin ” in Ayegbaju-Ekiti,Oye-Ekiti Local Government area of Ekiti State , where the game was being played on bare ground. In standard Yoruba it is called “ Aarin ” and it is also called “ Ege /Ise “ and In Benin City,Edo State and Urhobo speaking part of Delta State in Nigeria, it is called “ Akwe ”.Infact it is said to be one of the coronation rites of the Oba of Benin.It is over 1000 years old.
AFRICAN BILLIARDS BOARD DESIGNED BY ELIAS YUSUF (1988).
It has now being modernized and played on a well designed board of 122cm x 488cm and, it is now called African Billiards with well calibrated playing surface to ensure equity and beauty. It is one of the most popular seed games in Nigeria . It was demonstrated at the 1 st Oba of Benin Traditional Sports Open championship 2001, It was billed to be at the 4 th world festival of Traditional Sports, Montreal Canada in 2004 through Sports For All Nigeria (SFAN).It was also billed to be at the 1 st African Festival of Traditional Spots in Lagos Nigeria, early 2004.The African Billiards board was designed by Mallam Elias Yusuf in 1988 at Ajumoni Secondary School, Mushin Lagos, Nigeria. He learnt how to play the game as a kid in his native town-Ayegbaju-Ekiti,where playing Aarin was a passion.
THE NAME AFRICAN BILLIARDS
The game African Billiards has a lot of similarities with the western world billiards. The place of cue in the western billiards has being taken up by the bullet seeds
