Mancala
Sow seeds, capture, chain extra turns โ one of Earth's oldest games.
About this game
Pick one of your six pits; its seeds sow counter-clockwise, one per pit, skipping the enemy store. Land the last seed in your store for another turn; land it in your own empty pit to capture everything opposite. Highlighted pits are your legal moves.
Ancient board, sharp arithmetic
Mancala games are among humanity's oldest โ boards are carved into temple stones across Africa and the Middle East, some over 1,300 years old, and the family spans hundreds of variants (this is Kalah, the standard Western ruleset). Under the folk exterior is pure calculation: every move's outcome is fully countable, and the strong player simply counts further. The opening worth knowing: your third pit's four seeds land exactly in your store โ free extra turn, the standard first move. The deeper habits: hoard seeds in your rightmost pits (they feed the store), watch for empty-pit capture setups on both sides, and starve the opponent's side late โ when their pits empty, your remaining seeds bank themselves. Kalah is solved (first player wins with perfect play), so the greedy AI losing to you is the natural order restored. Reversi and dots and boxes share the shelf.
Frequently asked questions
How do captures work?
Land your LAST sown seed in an empty pit on YOUR side: you capture that seed plus everything in the opposite pit. Setting these up โ and spotting yours exposed โ is the mid-game.
What's the best opening move?
Your third pit โ its four seeds end exactly in your store, earning an immediate extra turn. Most strong openings chain two or three extra turns before touching the board's balance.
Why did the game end with seeds still on the board?
When one side's pits are all empty, the other player banks all their remaining seeds โ so starving your opponent late is a real strategy, not a bug.
How old is mancala?
The family is plausibly 1,300+ years old by archaeology (carved boards in Ethiopia and beyond), with claims older still. Kalah, this ruleset, is the 20th-century Western standard.