Mankala is an African stone game of strategy requiring pure skill and foresight. It was played in Egypt at least 3000 years ago.

OBJECT

Two players compete against each other trying to accumulate as many stones as possible before one of the players clears his side of all stones.

SETUP

The players sit facing each other with the board between them.  Each player is given the row of holes closest to him and the large scoring bin, or mankala, to his right. Place 4 stones in each of the 12 smaller holes.  Decide the starting player by flipping a coin.

PLAY

The first player picks up all stones in any of his 6 small holes, then starts to sow them by placing one stone in each hole to the right (counterclockwise) around the board including his own mankala – but not his opponent’s mankala.  If a player places his last stone in his own mankala he then gets another turn.  If the last stone is placed in an empty hole on his side of the board he captures all the stones on his opponent’s hole directly across from that hole.  All captured stones plus the capturing stone get placed in his mankala.  Once a player touches the stones he must play them.  Players cannot tough the stones to count them.

WINNING

The game ends when one of the players runs out of stones in his small holes.  When this happens, the other player gets to place any stones remaining in his holes into his mankala. It is not always wise to be the first player to go out because the winning player is the one ending up with the most stones.