How to play Mancala

Mancala is a family of “count and capture” board games played for centuries across Africa and Asia. The version most people learn today is often called Kalah, and it is the one described here.

Two players share a board with two rows of six small pits and one large store (the mancala) at each end. Each player owns the six pits on their side and the store on their right.

Place four seeds in each of the twelve small pits — 48 seeds in total. Both stores start empty. Decide who goes first.

Pick up every seed from one pit on your side. Moving counter-clockwise, drop one seed into each following pit, including your own store — but skip your opponent’s store.

That’s called sowing. You can never pick from an empty pit, and you only ever pick from your own side.

If the last seed you drop lands in your own store, you immediately take another turn. Chaining extra turns is one of the strongest things you can do.

If the last seed lands in an empty pit on your side, you capture it together with all seeds in the pit directly opposite, and move them into your store.

Some tables only allow the capture when the opposite pit has seeds in it — agree on this before you start.

The game ends when all six pits on one side are empty. The other player moves any seeds left on their side into their own store.

Count the stores. Whoever has the most seeds wins — with 48 seeds, 25 guarantees victory.

Count ahead: a pit with exactly the right number of seeds to reach your store gives a free turn. Play those first, starting with the pit closest to your store.

Keep an empty pit ready for captures, and watch for empty pits on your opponent’s side facing your big piles.

Hoarding seeds in your rightmost pit keeps options open late in the game, when your opponent may run out of moves.