Mancala

Setup

• Players: two. Our practice table is you against one bot.
• Board: six houses a side, and a store at each end. Yours is on your right.
• Seeds: four in every house, 48 in all.
• First move: decide who starts. At our table, it swaps each game.

How to play

1. 1Sow a house. Pick up all the seeds in one of your houses. Drop one into each pit after it, counter-clockwise.
2. 2Your store, not theirs. Sow into your own store as you pass it. Skip the other player’s store.
3. 3Land in your store. If your last seed lands in your store, you go again.
4. 4Capture. If your last seed lands in an empty house of yours and the house opposite has seeds, take them all, with your seed, into your store.
5. 5One side empty. The game ends. Count the stores.

Winning

When either side runs out of seeds, each player adds the seeds left on their side to their store. Most seeds wins; a tie is a draw.

Scoring

Our Classic rules: four seeds a house, no capture from an empty house opposite, and the seeds left on a side go to their owner. Some tables play with five or six seeds, or capture even when the house opposite is empty.

Key terms

House:

One of the six small pits on your side.

Store:

The big pit at your right. Seeds there are yours to keep.

Sow:

Drop seeds one at a time into the following pits, counter-clockwise.

Free move:

Your last seed lands in your store: go again.

Capture:

Your last seed lands in an empty house of yours: take it and the seeds opposite.

Kalah:

The version of mancala we play, with six houses and four seeds.