Mancala
Sow seeds around the board, earn extra turns and build the larger store.
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How to play Mancala
- Local two-player Kalah-style Mancala starts with four seeds in each of twelve pits. Yellow uses the lower six pits and the store after them; Purple uses the upper row.
- Choose a nonempty pit on your side. Its seeds sow one at a time around the board, including your store but skipping the opponent’s store. Ending in your store grants another move.
- Ending in an empty pit on your own side captures that seed and the seeds opposite it, when the opposite pit is nonempty. When either side is empty, remaining seeds sweep into their owner’s store. Larger store wins.
Mancala practice guide
The final seed changes the value of a move
A sowing move changes many pits, but the final seed determines whether you gain another turn or a capture. Count around the board, remembering to include your own store and skip the opponent’s. A pit that looks small can be useful if its seeds land exactly in your store. An empty pit on your own side may also be a capture target rather than wasted space.
Four seeds can earn an extra turn
On Yellow’s opening row, the third pit from the left contains four seeds. Sowing visits the next three pits and then Yellow’s store. The last seed lands in the store, so Yellow chooses again. Starting from a neighbouring pit changes that final landing, even though both pits initially contain four seeds.
A focused practice session
- Count the landing place before selecting each pit.
- Look for a store landing that preserves your turn.
- Before emptying a side, compare both stores and the remaining sweep.
What to keep in mind
This is a local two-player Kalah-style ruleset. Other Mancala families use different sowing and capture rules. The store counts, including the end-of-game sweep, determine the winner.