How to play Mancala

Mancala is one of the oldest board games in the world — a family of "sowing" games played for thousands of years across Africa and Asia. The version here is Kalah, the rules most people in the West learn first. You play against a computer opponent, with no download and no sign-up. The board is two long rows of six small pits, with a larger scoring pit called a store at each end. You own the bottom row of six pits and the store on your right; the bot owns the top row and the store on its left.

The goal

Collect more seeds in your store than your opponent collects in theirs. The board starts with four seeds in each of the twelve small pits — forty-eight seeds in all. When the round ends, whoever has gathered more than twenty-four seeds wins; a perfect 24–24 split is a draw.

How a turn works

• On your turn, tap one of your own non-empty pits. All the seeds are lifted out of it.
• Moving counter-clockwise, the seeds are dropped one at a time into each following pit.
• When you pass your own store you drop a seed into it, but you skip your opponent's store — those seeds are never yours.
• The bot then takes its turn the same way, sowing from its own row into its own store.

The two special rules

Two rules make Mancala a game of planning rather than luck. First, the extra turn: if the last seed you sow lands exactly in your own store, you immediately move again. A well-chosen opening can chain several free turns in a row. Second, the capture: if your last seed lands in an empty pit on your own side, and the pit directly across from it holds seeds, you scoop up that last seed plus every seed in the opposite pit and drop them all into your store. A timed capture can swing a dozen seeds at once.

Ending the round

The round ends the moment either player's six pits are completely empty. The other player then sweeps every seed still sitting on their own side straight into their store. Because of this, it is often worth keeping seeds in reserve on your side late in the game — and it is sometimes worth emptying your own row deliberately to force the end while you are ahead.

Strategy tips

Look for moves that land in your store so you can play again and build a long chain of turns. Watch the pit count carefully so you can engineer a capture against a loaded pit on the bot's side, and guard your own loaded pits against the same trick. Hoarding seeds in the pit nearest your store gives you flexible single-seed "store drops" later. Against the harder bot, every wasted move is punished, so think a couple of turns ahead before you commit. Press the new-game button or the N key at any time to start a fresh board.