Mancala

Introduction

  • A turn-based strategy board game for two players. With its history of over 7000 years it is one of the oldest games known.
  • The game is based on moving playing pieces around holes in a playing surface. The word mancala comes from the Arabic word naqala meaning "to move".
  • Mancala is actually the name of a family of games played around the world in about 100 countries, with more than 800 local names. These variants also differ to a great extent in terms of number and arrangement of holes, number of playing pieces, and rules.

History

  • It is believed that Arab traders spread the game to Africa, and it was brought to Americas during trans-atlantic slave trade. However, it is uncertain where the game first originated. Middle East seems the most likely origin: evidence suggests that the game existed in Ancient Egypt and oldest mancala boards found in Jordan are dated to ~5800 BC. It is still widely played today in Africa and Asia as a traditional game with many local variations. 
  • In Europe, oldest mancala board discovered dates back to 18th century. After being discovered by the game industry, commerical mancala game sets become available with further variations (partly due to copyright reasons). 

Gameplay 

  • Notwithstanding the great variety in the game family, the game consists of 2-4 rows of holes along which the players move and capture the pieces (seeds) in turns according to the rules of a given version.
  • Versions of the game around the world vary significantly in terms of arrangement of the play surface, number of seeds, and rules of moving and capturing. For instance, total number of holes varies between 4-160 (from 2x2 to 4x40), and number of seeds between 16-320.
  • Here we will describe an introductory basic version (Kalah), the most popular modern version of the game in the western world. Those interested can browse through many other more complicated variations in the links below.
  • Before the gameplay, a few words about the game material. The game is also pretty rich in this sense. In ancient societies, especially in nomadic cultures, it is common to play on holes simply dug on earth, with seeds, beans, pebbles,  etc. as moving pieces.
  • Later on, playboards with holes carved in wood or stone become more popular. Today hundreds of different commercial sets of the game are available on the market.
  • You can also make your own mancala set at home. One practical way is to use an egg carton (see here how). Or you can simply draw circles representing the holes on paper and use beads, pebbles, etc. as moving pieces.

Rules

  • The Kalah version comprises a game surface with two rows of six holes (12 holes), and a bigger hole (store) for each player at each end; played with 48 pieces (stones or seeds). The object is to capture more stones in your store than your opponent. 
  • Each player claims the row of 6 holes on their side as their own zone, and the big hole to their right as their own store. By moving the stones picked from their own zones along the holes, players, in alternating turns, try to collect as many stones in their own store as possible.
  • 4 stones are placed in each of the 12 holes and it is decided who will start the game.
  • The first player selects a hole on his/her own zone and picks all the stones from that hole. Then, drops the stones one by one (also called sowing) starting from the hole right to the picked hole, in counter-clockwise direction, including his/her own store but skipping opponent's store. 
  • If the last stone lands in the player's own store, the player is given a free turn to make another move.
  • If the last stone dropped lands in an empty hole on the player's own side, he/she captures all the stones from the opponentis hole directly opposite of that hole, including the stone dropped in the empty hole, and moves the captured stones into his/her store.
  • When the first player's turn ends, now it is the other player's turn and the game continues in this alternating manner.
  • The game ends if a player clears all of their stones from their side of the board.
  • The remaining stones on  opponent's side are added to opponent's store.
  • The winner is the player with highest number of stones in his/her store.

Sources

  • https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangala
  • http://www.oware.org/mancala.asp
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mancala_games
  • https://www.savannahafricanartmuseum.org/2020-workshops/05-2
  • https://www.mathplayground.com/mancala.html (play online mancala against computer)
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HOW TO MAKE A MANCALA BOARD FROM EGG CAR
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