2/26/2023 0 Comments The rules of mancalaWe started with the Egyptian rule set and eventually moved up to the Ethiopian variant, as I felt that the basic rule set would bore them.Mancala is one of the games that is considered helpful in building a good relationship with family and improving thinking and strength. The kids enjoyed playing Mancala, playing against me one at a time as I helped to coach them individually. He expressed interest in playing it again soon. We played a total of three games, in which he won two of them. Vinnie Jr enjoyed both the capturing component and thinking about where to go so that he could get an extra turn. Another small gripe I had with board was that the cups were not deep enough, so overflow tended to occur easily in the beginning and middle of the game. The stones did not come with a bag, so one should be careful when unfolding / opening the board for play. Luckily, Mancala is so popular that you can find the rules online almost anywhere. Overall, I am pleased with the components for its price, though the manual could have used a picture or two to illustrate the rules. The manual was a one page piece of paper that summed up everything in three short paragraphs. The smoothed stones are colored white, blue, and green. In terms of quality, the mancala board that I purchased is made of solid wood. It’s important to plug empty holes on your opponent’s side, lest they land their last stone on it and capture everything on the other side. One bad move can leave you open to capture a few moves down the line. It encourages critical thinking and has a lot of depth, despite how simplistic the moves are. Mancala is very easy to learn but requires players to think ahead on each turn, especially if they play the more complex variants. I’m sure there are more variants out there, but those are the variants that I am aware of and have played. They also cannot move a stone that is by itself. Whoever has the most stones in their scoring mancala at that point wins the game.Įgyptian Mancala – The above rules that I have laid out correspond with the Egyptian rule set of Mancala.īasic Mancala – The most simplistic version of Mancala in which players don’t follow the capture rule and do not receive an extra turn when they place their last stone in their own scoring mancala.Įthiopian Mancala – This variant includes all of the rules of the Egyptian rule set but allows players to move either clockwise or counterclockwise on their turn. The player with the stones left on their side gets to place them into their scoring mancala. Players continue taking turns until one of them has no more stones on their side of the board (in their six cups). You’ll often be counting the spaces your stones will be moving into before actually taking your turn. All of those stones, including the stone you captured them with, are placed in your scoring mancala. If your move results in you placing your last stone in an empty space on your side, you can capture ALL of the stones in your opponent’s cup directly across from it. If the last stone you place ends up in your scoring mancala, you get to go again. A player does not place a stone into their opponent’s scoring mancala when passing it. A starting player is chosen, and they take turns picking up all of the stones from one of their six smaller cups and placing one in each subsequent cup going counter-clockwise, including the player’s own mancala and their opponent’s smaller cups. Stones – Stones serve as the playing pieces that players will be moving around the board in an attempt to win the game.įour stones are placed in each of the twelve smaller cups. The players take ownership of the mancala on their right. Along the lengths of the board are six small cups and along the widths of the board lie larger scoring cups, or mancalas. I’ll be covering the rule set that came with the Mancala game that I purchased, though I will later list the variations that I know of, in case you’d like to try them.īoard – The board is shaped like a rectangle and is placed between players so that the long sides are facing them. There are many different versions of Mancala, each with their own rule set and variations. Mancala: 2 Players, Ages 6+, Average Play Time = 5-10 Minutes
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