Mancala Rules: How to Play Mancala

These mancala rules cover the version most families play on the wooden board with two rows of six pits and a large store at each end. Mancala is really a whole family of "sowing" games played for centuries across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The two-player game described here, often called Kalah, is the standard in most stores and classrooms. It takes two minutes to learn and a long time to master.

Quick rules

• Two players sit on opposite sides. Each owns the 6 pits nearest them and the store on their right.
• Put 4 stones in each of the 12 small pits.
• On your turn, pick up all stones from one of your pits and drop them one by one counterclockwise.
• Drop stones in your own store but skip your opponent's store.
• Last stone in your store: take another turn.
• Last stone in an empty pit on your side: capture it and the stones directly opposite.
• When one side is empty, the game ends. Most stones in your store wins.

What you need

• A mancala board: two rows of 6 small pits, with a large store (also called a mancala) at each end. An egg carton with two bowls works perfectly at home.
• 48 stones, beads, beans or seeds.

Setup

1. Place the board lengthwise between the two players.
2. Your side is the row of 6 pits closest to you. Your store is the large pit on your right.
3. Put 4 stones in each small pit. Leave both stores empty.
4. Decide who goes first, for example by a coin toss. Alternate the first player in later games.

How to play

Sowing

1. Choose any non-empty pit on your side and pick up all the stones in it.
2. Moving counterclockwise (to the right along your row), drop one stone into each pit in turn.
3. When you reach your own store, drop one stone in it, then continue along your opponent's row.
4. Skip your opponent's store; never drop a stone there.
5. If you have many stones, you may go all the way around the board and back onto your side. The pit you emptied gets a stone as you pass it again in most rule sets.

Extra turns

If the last stone you drop lands in your own store, you take another turn straight away. Chaining several extra turns is one of the best moves in the game.

Captures

1. If the last stone you drop lands in an empty pit on your own side, you capture.
2. Take that last stone plus all stones in the pit directly opposite on your opponent's side.
3. Place all captured stones in your store.
4. Landing in an empty pit on your opponent's side does nothing.

Sources differ on one point: some rules only allow a capture when the opposite pit has stones in it, so landing opposite an empty pit simply ends your turn. Agree before you play.

Ending the game

1. The game ends when all six pits on one player's side are empty.
2. The other player moves all stones still on their side into their own store.
3. Count the stones in each store.

Example turn

Your third pit holds 4 stones. You pick them up and drop one each in your fourth, fifth and sixth pits, and the last one in your store, so you take another turn. Next you play your first pit, which has 2 stones; the last lands in your empty third pit, so you capture it along with the 5 stones opposite. That is 7 stones banked in one turn.

Scoring

Some families give leftover stones to the player who emptied their side first instead. The standard rule gives them to the player on whose side they sit.

How to win

The player with more stones in their store at the end wins. A 24 to 24 result is a tie. For a longer match, play several games and add up the totals.

Variations

• Three stones per pit: a shorter, easier game for young children.
• Five or six stones per pit: longer games with more captures.
• Oware: a West African version with no stores in the sowing path, captures of 2 or 3 stones on the opponent's side, and different end rules.
• Bao and Pallanguzhi: regional versions from East Africa and South India with more pits and different capture rules.

Tips and strategy

• Look first for a move that lands exactly in your store. Your rightmost pit with 1 stone, or the next pit with 2, often gives a free turn.
• Play extra-turn moves from the pits closest to your store first, so the pits further left still line up.
• Watch your opponent's empty pits. If one is opposite a big pile of yours, move that pile or block the capture.
• Keep an empty pit on your side as a capture trap, especially opposite a growing pile.
• Hoarding many stones in your rightmost pits late in the game can pay off, since they stay yours when the game ends.
• Count before you move. Knowing exactly where your last stone lands is the whole game.

Common mistakes

• Dropping a stone in the opponent's store.
• Sowing clockwise. Always move counterclockwise.
• Capturing after landing in an empty pit on the opponent's side.

Enjoy two-player strategy games? Try checkers, chess, backgammon, or the classic Indian game of carrom. For more ideas see board games for kids.