🫘 Mancala

How to play Mancala

1. Each player owns the six pits on their side of the board and the store at their right.
2. Pick up all the seeds from one of your pits and drop them one at a time, anti-clockwise, into each pit that follows.
3. Seeds land in your own store as you pass it, but never in your opponent's.
4. If your last seed lands in your own store, you take another turn.
5. If your last seed lands in an empty pit on your side, you capture it and everything opposite.
6. When one side is empty the remaining seeds go to their owner and the fuller store wins.

Controls

Tips & strategy

• Landing exactly in your store gives a free turn — look for that move before anything else.
• Chaining several free turns in a row is the strongest opening idea in the game.
• Keep an empty pit on your side when the opposite pit is loaded. That is how big captures are set up.
• Late on, hoard seeds on your side: when your opponent empties first, everything left on your side is yours.

Frequently asked questions

Which version of mancala is this?

Kalah, the version most people know: two rows of six pits, four seeds in each at the start, free turns for finishing in your store, and captures from empty pits.

Does the first player have an advantage?

Yes, and a substantial one — Kalah has been solved and the opening player wins with perfect play, which is why the free-turn chain matters so much.

What happens to seeds left at the end?

When either player has no seeds left, play stops and each player adds the seeds remaining on their own side to their store before the totals are compared.