Saturday, 13 January 2024

Mancala

In this two player competitive game, there are a number of pits filled with an equal amount of stones and a larger pit on each end which serves as each players "store". On your turn you simply pick any pit on your side and take all the stones within in your hand then move counter-clockwise dropping a stone in each pit you move past, putting one in your store and skipping your opponents store should you reach it.

If you happen to end on an empty pit on your side of the board that has stones on the opponents side, you take everything an place it in your store, if you end in your store you get to go again and should you run out of stones on any one side then the side that still has any stones takes everything. In the end, whoever has the most stones wins. It's a pretty simple game to setup, teach and play and is ok it terms of enjoyment.

It certainly is more fair than the Philippine version of Sungka which plays similarly except it has more holes, more stones (or shells) and you basically can just keep going until you end in an empty pit on the opponents side which gives the first player a huge advantage. At least in Mancala the second player has a chance to fight back, but there is still an advantage of going first.

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