Mancala (Kalah)
2 players - ± 15 minutes - board with 12 pits and 48 stones
Aim
Collect the most stones in your own store.
Setup
The board lies lengthways between the two of you, with a row of six pits in front of each player and a large store at either end. The store to your right is yours. Put four stones in each of the small pits; the colours do not matter. The large stores stay empty.
Play
Take all the stones out of one of your own pits. Drop them one by one into the following pits, moving to the right, anticlockwise. When you pass your own store, drop a stone in there too. Always skip your opponent's store. The stones therefore travel right around the board, past your opponent's pits as well.
Where your last stone lands decides what happens:
- The last stone lands in your own store: you may go again.
- The last stone lands in a pit that already holds stones: your turn is over.
- The last stone lands in an empty pit on your side: you take that stone and all the stones from the pit directly opposite it, and put them in your store. If your last stone lands in an empty pit on your opponent's side, your turn simply ends.
End of the game
As soon as the six pits on one side are empty, the game stops. The other player puts the remaining stones in their own store. Whoever has the most stones wins.