Mancala

About the game

Mancala is a two-player turn-based strategy game played with seeds or small stones, and rows of pits in a board. The objective is to capture as many seeds in your store as possible. The player with the most seeds in their store at the end of the game wins.

The Game Board

• The game board is made of 2 rows of 6 small holes known as “pits”, and large holes on opposite ends called “stores” or “mancalas”.

• The game starts with 4 “seeds” in each “pits”. The colors of the seeds don’t matter.

• Your scoring “store” is to your right, which is on the top side of the UI.

Gameplay

One player will start the game by picking any pits containing seeds from their own side.

The player will remove all the seeds from that pit, and deposit one seed at a time into neighboring pits going counter-clockwise until the seeds run out.

If a player encounters their own store, a seed is deposited in it.

If there are enough seeds to go past the player’s own store, seeds are deposited continuing on the other side’s pockets. However, if they encounter the other player’s store, that store is skipped over.

If the last seed is deposited in the player’s own store, the player gets another turn.

If the last seed is placed in an empty pit on the player’s own side, the player takes this seed as well as the other player’s seeds across from the empty pit landed in, and places them in their own store.

Ending the Game

The game is over when one player’s pits are completely empty. The other player takes the seeds remaining in their pits and puts those seeds in their store. Count up the seeds. Whoever has the most seeds wins.