Mancala with Kalah rules, six pits a side and four seeds per pit. Play the computer at three levels or a friend on one device.
What is Mancala?
Mancala is a family of two-player board games in which players take all the seeds from one pit, sow them one by one into the following pits, and capture seeds into their store, with the goal of ending the game with more seeds than the opponent. Our Mancala uses the rules of Kalah, the version best known in Europe and North America: six pits per side, four seeds in each pit and one store for each player.
There is no luck involved. Every seed is visible, every move can be counted in advance, and a single well chosen pit can win a free turn or a large capture. That mix of simple actions and exact calculation is why mancala games have been played for centuries.
How to play Mancala: Kalah rules
The board has two rows of six pits, one row for each player, and a large store at each end. Your store is the one to the right of your row. At the start every pit holds four seeds, 48 seeds in all, and both stores are empty.
On your turn, pick one of your pits that holds seeds. All its seeds are taken out and sown counter-clockwise, one per pit, into the next pits along your row, into your store, and on into the opponent's row if seeds remain. The opponent's store is skipped. A pit with 13 or more seeds sows all the way round the board.
Two things can happen depending on where the last seed lands. If it lands in your own store, you take another turn at once. If it drops into one of your own pits that was empty, and the facing pit on the opponent's side holds seeds, you capture both: the last seed and all the seeds opposite go into your store. If the opposite pit is empty, nothing is captured.
The game ends as soon as either row is completely empty. Each player then adds the seeds left in their own row to their own store, and the player with more seeds in the store wins. With 48 seeds, 25 guarantees a win, and 24 each is a draw.
Mancala strategy: free turns, captures and endgame
Open with the free turn. At the start, the third pit from the left on your side holds exactly four seeds and sits four steps from your store, so playing it ends in your store and gives you an extra turn. Moving first and taking this free turn is the standard opening.
Chain free turns from the store outwards. When several pits can reach your store exactly, play the one nearest the store first. Sowing from a farther pit drops a seed into each nearer pit and spoils their exact counts. Played in the right order, two or three free turns can come in a row.
Watch the empty pits. An empty pit on your side facing a full enemy pit is a capture waiting to happen; count whether any of your pits ends exactly there. The same is true in reverse: before each move, look at the opponent's empty pits and check which of your pits face them. You can protect a threatened pit by moving its seeds or by filling the empty pit that attacks it.
Remember the full lap. A pit with exactly 13 seeds sows around the whole board and drops its last seed back into the pit it started from, which is now empty except for that seed. If the opposite pit has seeds, that is a capture, and often a big one.
Plan the ending. Because each player keeps the seeds left in their own row, a player who builds up seeds on their side while the opponent's row runs empty collects all of them. Near the end, count the seeds on both sides and in both stores, and aim for the 25 that wins.
Game options and computer levels
Our Mancala offers Kalah with six pits and four seeds per pit. You can play the computer at Easy, Medium or Hard and choose who moves first, or play a friend on one device. Easy looks one move ahead and plays some moves at random. Medium searches four moves ahead. Hard keeps searching deeper for about a second per move.
When you play the computer, you always sit on the bottom row. Sowing is shown with a ripple along the pits, and extra turns and captures are announced under the board. Hundreds of other mancala games exist with different board sizes, seed counts and capture rules, but this game uses Kalah only.
The history of mancala games
Mancala games are among the oldest board games still played. They are found across Africa, the Middle East and South and Southeast Asia, often played on boards carved from wood or on pits dug in the ground. The name comes from an Arabic word meaning to move. Well known members of the family include oware in West Africa and bao in East Africa.
Vietnam has its own mancala game, ô ăn quan, traditionally played by children with pebbles on a board drawn on the ground. It uses ten small squares and two large end squares that hold the quan pieces, and players may sow in either direction, so its rules differ from Kalah. Kalah itself is a modern version that was introduced in the United States in the 1940s by William Julius Champion Jr. and spread through commercial sets.
Play Mancala free on Hevagames
Mancala runs in the browser on phones, tablets and computers, with no download. Tap or click one of your pits to sow, or use Tab to move to a pit and Enter or Space to play it.
Undo, with the button or Ctrl+Z, takes back your last move and the computer's reply. If you leave mid-game, the board stays in your browser and the start screen lets you resume it. Wins in a row against the computer are counted as a streak, and in two-player mode a coloured bar and a glow around the board mark the player to move.
How to play
- 1Choose vs Computer (Easy, Medium or Hard, and who moves first) or 2 Players.
- 2Tap one of your pits. Its seeds are sown one by one counter-clockwise into the next pits and your store, skipping the rival's store.
- 3If the last seed lands in your store, you move again. If it lands in an empty pit on your side and the opposite pit has seeds, you capture both.
- 4When one row is empty the game ends; each side keeps the seeds left on its own row. Most seeds in the store wins.
Controls
Tips
- Count seeds: a pit with exactly enough seeds to reach your store gives a free turn.
- Watch the rival's empty pits; the pits opposite them can be captured.
- Against the computer your row is always at the bottom.
