Mancala Game

Ava (Student)

A lot of Mancala games have a common general gameplay.  Players begin by placing a certain number of seeds or stones in each of the pits on the game board.  A player may count their stones to “plot” the game.  A turn means of removing all seeds from a pit, “sowing” the seeds (placing one in each of the following pits in order), and “capturing based on the state of the board.” The game’s purpose is to plant the most seeds in the bank.  This led to the English phrase “count and capture” which is used to describe the gameplay.  Although the details differ greatly, this general order applies to all games.

If playing in capture mode, once a player ends their turn in an empty pit on their own side, they can capture the opponent’s pieces directly across.  Once captured, the player gets to put the seeds in their own bank.  After capturing, the opponent forfeits a turn.