Mancala

Mancala is one of the oldest counting games in the world. Scoop up the seeds from one of your pits, drop them one by one around the board, and try to finish with more seeds in your store than your opponent.

How to play Mancala

• Each player owns the six pits on their side of the board plus the large store on their right. Every pit starts with the same number of seeds (4 by default — choose 3 to 6).
• On your turn, pick one of your non-empty pits. All of its seeds are sown one at a time into the following holes, moving counter-clockwise. You drop seeds into your own store but skip your opponent’s store.
• Extra turn: if the last seed lands in your own store, you move again.
• Capture: if the last seed lands in an empty pit on your side and the pit directly across holds seeds, you take both the last seed and everything across into your store.
• The game ends as soon as one side has no seeds left. Each player then moves the seeds remaining on their own side into their store. The bigger store wins.

Controls

• Tap or click a highlighted pit to sow it.
• Keyboard: press 1–6 to sow the pits from left to right.

Tips

• Count ahead: a pit holding exactly as many seeds as its distance to your store gives a free extra turn. Play the pit nearest your store first, and you can often chain several turns.
• Keep an eye on empty pits on your side — and on pits across from your big piles, where the other player might land a capture.
• Hoarding seeds in your rightmost pits can pay off late in the game, because the player who runs out first ends the game for both.

FAQ

How do you play mancala?

Pick up all the seeds from one pit on your side and drop them one by one into the following pits counter-clockwise, including your own store but never your opponent’s. Land your last seed in your store for another turn. When one side runs out of seeds, the player with more seeds in their store wins.

What are the rules of mancala?

In this common version each pit starts with four seeds. Ending in your own store earns an extra turn. Ending in an empty pit on your side captures that seed plus everything in the pit directly across, as long as that pit is not empty. When either row is empty, each player banks the seeds left on their own side and the bigger store wins.

Who wins if the stores are equal?

The game is a draw. With four seeds per pit there are 48 seeds in total, so a 24–24 tie is possible.

Do I capture if the opposite pit is empty?

No. In this version a capture only happens when the pit across from your landing spot has at least one seed; otherwise the single seed just stays where it landed.

How strong is the Hard computer?

Hard looks many moves ahead, including chains of extra turns, and rarely misses a capture. Medium plays sensibly with a shorter view, and Easy makes plenty of mistakes.