#Mancala capture rules series#

Playing pieces are seeds, beans, stones, cowry shells, half-marbles or other small undifferentiated counters that are placed in and transferred about the holes during play.īoard configurations vary among different games but also within variations of a given game for example Endodoi is played on boards from 2圆 to 2x10. Sometimes, large holes on the ends of the board, called stores, are used for holding the pieces. The holes may be referred to as 'depressions', 'pits', or 'houses'. Some games are more often played with holes dug in the earth, or carved in stone. The materials include clay and other shape-able materials.

#Mancala capture rules series#

EquipmentĪ toguz korgool board with balls, KyrgyzstanĮquipment is typically a board, constructed of various materials, with a series of holes arranged in rows, usually two or four. Although the details differ greatly, this general sequence applies to all games. This leads to the English phrase 'count and capture' sometimes used to describe the gameplay. A turn consists of removing all seeds from a pit, 'sowing' the seeds (placing one in each of the following pits in sequence) and capturing based on the state of board.

A player may count their stones to plot the game.

Players begin by placing a certain number of seeds, prescribed for the particular game, in each of the pits on the game board. Most mancala games share a common general game play.

Toguz korgool or Toguz kumalak - played in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, where it is considered superior to chess.

Oware ( awalé, awélé) - close variants are played in the Caribbean, throughout western Africa, and in immigrant communities in North America and Europe.

Kalah - a modern game played mostly in the US (where it is simply known as 'Mancala') and Europe.

Congkak - close variants in South Asia from the Maldives to the Philippines, known by many different names (e.g.

Bao la Kiswahili - widespread along the east coast of Africa, and an integral part of Swahili culture one of the most difficult games to learn because of its rather complex rules.

Some of the most popular mancala games (with regard to distribution area, the numbers of players and tournaments, and publications) are: However, some names denote the same game, while some names are used for more than one game. More than 800 names of traditional mancala games are known, and almost 200 invented games have been described. There are many variations to the game with different names. The name describes the type of games played with this instrument, not a specific game played with it. The word mancala can also be found in the Akan. Which heavily influenced sub saharan languages. It is also using the Arabic instrument name format of mafaalah further solidifying the Arabic origin of the name. The old name mankalah is a clear indication of the Arabic origin of the word with the silent 'h' at the end of the word. This word is used in Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt, but is not consistently applied to any one game. No one game exists with the name mancala the name is a classification or type of game. The word mancala (منقلة) comes from the Arabic word naqala (نقلة) meaning literally 'to move'. Mancala is a family of board games played around the world, sometimes called 'sowing' games, or 'count-and-capture' games, which describes the gameplay.