How to play Mancala

The mancala games are a family of two-player turn-based strategy board games played with small stones, beans, or seeds and rows of holes or pits in the earth, a board or other playing surface. The objective is usually to capture all or some set of the opponent's pieces.

Don't have a Mancala board? You can buy it here.

RULES

There are many variations to this game, these rules are is for the classic two-rank Mancala.

The object of the game is to capture the most stones. Setup: layout the board horizontally between two players and place 4 stones into each of the 12 small pockets. Board is divided into two rows of 6 pockets each. Each player controls the 6 pockets on the side closest to them. The two larger pockets are called Mancolas. Each player owns the Mancola to the right of their row.

Pick a player to go first. On your turn pick up all the stones in any one of the pockets on your side of the board. Moving counter-clockwise from the pocket picked, deposits one of the stones in each pocket you pass until the stones run out. If you run into your own mancola, deposit one stone in it. If you run into your opponent's mancola, skip it. If the last piece you drop is in your own mancola, take another turn immediately.

If the last piece you drop is in an empty pocket on your side of the board, you capture that piece and any pieces in the hole directly opposite of it. Always place all captured pieces in your mancola.

The game ends when all six spaces on one side of the board are empty. The player who still has pieces on his side of the board when the game ends, capture all of those pieces and puts them into their mancola. Count all the pieces in each mancola. The player with the most pieces, wins.