How to Play Mancala
The word mancala means "to move" in Arabic. The game of mancala consists of moving your stones around the game board and capturing your opponent's stones. The player that ends up with the most stones at the end of the game wins the game. Follow these instructions to play the game of mancala.
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Instructions
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1
Set up the mancala game board. Have the 2 players sit across from each other and place the mancala board lengthwise between them. Place 4 stones in each of the 12 smaller cups on the mancala game board.
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2
Understand which part of the mancala game board belongs to each player. The 6 smaller cups directly in front of each player are their 6 playing cups. The larger cup, or mancala, located to each player's right belongs to that player.
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3
Take turns moving the mancala stones around the game board. To do this, a player will pick up the stones in any of their 6 smaller cups. They will then move those stones forward in a counterclockwise motion (to their right) dropping 1 stone in each cup that they pass along the way, as well as in their own larger bin (their mancala).
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4
Move the stones forward until you run out of stones. Note that if you have enough stones, you will drop a stone in your opponent's smaller cups in addition to your own. However, don't drop a stone in your opponent's mancala. Simply skip this larger bin if you come to it.
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5
Learn about special scenarios you can encounter when playing mancala. If you drop your last stone in an empty smaller cup on your side of the board, you then take that stone and any stones located in the smaller cup directly opposite (your opponent's cup) and place them all in your mancala. If you drop your last stone in your mancala, then you get to take another turn.
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6
Repeat Steps 3 and 4, alternating turns until the game is over. When there are no stones left on any one player's side of the board (in their 6 small cups), the game is over. The player that does have stones left in the cups on their side of the board takes those stones and places them in their mancala. Players then count the stones in their mancalas, and the player with the most stones wins the game.
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Tips & Warnings
Some refer to the mancala stones as seeds and the movement of the seeds around the game board as "sowing the seeds."
