To play Mancala, all you need are two players, a game board, game pieces, and the rules. There are many variations of the game, but they are all quite similar.
Mancala: Naming and Game Setup According to the Rules
The term Mancala refers to board games that are usually played by two people. These games typically feature a game board covered with pits. The game pieces resemble beans, which is why Mancala is also known as the bean game in Germany and is considered one of the classic board games.
- Playing field: The playing field consists of a board with twelve hollows. These are arranged in two rows. At each end of the board there is a large hollow for collecting the game pieces. The large hollows are also called mancala.
- Setup: The number of starting stones used per hollow can vary depending on the variant. Two to six stones are common, with four being standard according to tournament rules. These are placed in each of the twelve small hollows. The large mancala hollows remain empty at first. The players sit opposite each other at the game board. Each player owns the six hollows in front of them.
- Variations: There are many variations of the Mancala board game. They usually differ in the number of game pieces and the rules for “capturing” or “scoring.” You can also introduce special rules.
Mancala rules: One possible variation
Once the board has been set up and the players have taken their seats, the game can begin. The exact mechanics of the game can vary greatly depending on regional traditions. For example, there are African and Arabic variations. However, the aim of the game is always to collect as many game pieces as possible in your own mancala hollow.
- Start of the game: First, decide which player will start. You are free to choose. Usually, a coin is tossed or a round of rock-paper-scissors is played to decide who starts.
- Gameplay: The player whose turn it is chooses one of their pits and takes all the game pieces in it into their hand. These are distributed individually according to the chosen distribution direction (e.g., left/right or clockwise). First into your own pits and then into your opponent’s. In some versions, your own kalaha is included in the distribution, in others it is skipped. This gives you a free choice and you can decide which variant to use. The mancala hollow is omitted.
- Note: Collection hollows are sometimes considered active game hollows and are included in the move, while in other versions they are purely passive.
- Capturing: Capturing is also not uniformly regulated. In some rules, opponent’s stones are only stolen when they land in empty pits, in others when there is an even number of stones. If you place the last stone and the pit already contains two, four, or six stones, then the stones land in your mancala pit. If there are also two, four, or six stones in the pits in front of the mancala pit, these will also land in your mancala pit.
- End of the game: The game is over as soon as there are no more stones on one player’s side. The player with the most game pieces in the mancala hollow wins. There can also be a tie if the number of stones in the kalahas is identical. You can define the final score more precisely by adding additional rules (e.g., counting stones in remaining hollows).
The game ends abruptly when the opponent collects all remaining stones on their side if their opponent’s rows are empty.
- Tie: A tie is possible if the number of stones in the kalahas is the same. However, if you want to clarify the end of the game, additional rules can help. One option is to count the stones in the remaining bowls.
- By the way: Repeat moves are not only possible when the last stone lands in your own kalaha, but in some variants also when certain numbers of stones are hit in pits. Here, too, you are free to choose which rules you want to introduce in your game.
