Mancala
What is it?
Mancala is a family of games played around the world, sometimes called sowing or count-and-capture games, read reviews here to get more information. It literally means ‘to move’. Mancala games play a role in many African and some Asian societies comparable to that of chess in
the West, or the game of Go in Eastern Asia.
History
The word Mancala comes from the Arabic word Naqala meaning literally “to move.” It may be one of the oldest games in the world.
What to do
Each player has six holes in a row each. You can do this with holes in the sand on the beach, any bowls you can find, or even make your own set with egg boxes.
Three pieces – stones / conkers / beans — are placed in each of the 12 holes.
Each player has a ‘store’ to the right side of the Mancala board.
One player picks up all the pieces in any one of the holes on his side.
Moving counter-clockwise, the player deposits one of the stones in each hole until the stones run out.
If you run into your own store, put one piece in it. If you run into your opponent’s store, skip it.
If the last piece you drop is in your own store, you get a free turn.
If the last piece you drop is in an empty hole on your side, you capture that piece and any pieces in the hole directly opposite.
Always place all captured pieces in your store.
When all six spaces on one side of the Mancala board are empty the game is finished.
The player who still has pieces on his side of the board when the game ends captures all of those pieces.
Count all the pieces in each store. The winner is the player with the most pieces.
Where’s the maths?
Counting Calculating Memory Concentration Strategy
Problem-solving
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