Mancala

Classic seed-sowing strategy game

Your turn

0

Computer

0

You

You Win!

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How to Play Mancala

The Board

Each player has 6 small pits and one large store (the scoring area). You play the bottom row. Your store is on the right.

COMPUTER'S STORE YOUR STORE | | +------+--+--+--+--+--+--+-------+ | |12|11|10| 9| 8| 7| | | (AI) +--+--+--+--+--+--+ (YOU) | | | 0| 1| 2| 3| 4| 5| | +------+--+--+--+--+--+--+-------+ Computer's pits (top row) Your pits (bottom row) ---^

On Your Turn

Click one of your pits. All the seeds inside are picked up and dropped one at a time into each following pit going counter-clockwise (to the right, then up and around). You skip the opponent's store but drop into your own.

Extra Turn

If your last seed lands in your store, you get another turn immediately! This is powerful and lets you chain multiple moves together.

Capture

If your last seed lands in an empty pit on your side, and the pit directly across (on the opponent's side) has seeds, you capture both your seed and all the opponent's seeds from the opposite pit. They go straight into your store.

Opposite pits are directly across from each other: Computer: [12] [11] [10] [ 9] [ 8] [ 7] | | | | | | You: [ 0] [ 1] [ 2] [ 3] [ 4] [ 5] Example: Your last seed lands in empty pit 2. Pit 10 (across) has 5 seeds. You capture all 5 + your 1 seed = 6 to your store!

Game Over

The game ends when one side has no seeds left in any of their 6 pits. The other player collects all remaining seeds on their side into their store. Most seeds wins!

Tips for Beginners

Count ahead! If a pit has exactly the right number of seeds to land in your store, that's a free extra turn. Keep pits empty on your side near full opponent pits to set up captures. And watch out for the computer doing the same to you.