Play Mancala

This is another classic logic game you can play against the computer. Your goal is to gather more gems to your mancala (the right cup) than the computer gets into its mancala (on the left).

Click start to read the rules of the game in detail.

A brief history of the game

Board games like chess and mancala have been a part of a long legacy and tradition of board games that the human civilization has invented, based on mathematical puzzles and logical strategies. These games are examples of the marvellous ingenuity that the human brain is so effortlessly capable of and go on to show that intellectual stimulation of any kind is the elixir that ensures the continuous growth and evolution of human cognitive abilities.

The word "mancala" owes its etymological origins to the Arabic word "naqala", which literally denotes "moved". What is remarkable is that Mancala is not one specific game. Instead, it is a term that has been designated to a certain type of games, a certain kind of gameplay. The word has been consistently put to use in countries all over the world, but mostly in Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. The physical equipment of a standard mancala game consists of a pitted board, which has rows of depressions, arranged symmetrically. The players are provided with seeds or cowries or shells to put in the holes according to the prescribed rules.

Historical evidences of this game have been found in excavation sites in Ethiopia, which have been found to be as old as 6th to 7th century. There have been mentions of the game in various ancient texts as well, showing that it is part of a time-honoured tradition of pitting one’s wits and strategies against those of an opponent.

A general outline of the game mechanics

• The objective is to capture as many stones or seeds before the other player empties their side of the board.
• The players each have one side of the board to themselves (top and bottom). At the end of each side, there are larger sized pits(mancalas) that hold the seeds of the players.
• The player starts with putting the seeds from his mancala into the pits on his side of the board, if he ends his turn in an empty pit, he captures the opponent’s seeds in the pit that is next to that pit.
• If he ends in his own mancala, he gets to repeat the action again.
• The winner is the one with the most number of seeds in his mancala and also with any remaining on his side of the board.