How to Plan Strategy in Mancala

Mancala is a simple game to learn but one that requires planning and strategy to master. This guide contains some basic strategy you can use when playing the 2-player, 36-pebble version of Mancala.

Instructions

1. Look ahead. The biggest key to winning at Mancala is planning ahead. It is kind of like chess--the key is knowing what you will do a few moves in advance depending on your opponent's move. It sounds complex, but once you get the game started, you can make a good guess of what your opponent will do.

2. Start out strong. If you get the first move, you can get 5 pebbles in your store, or mancala, before your opponent moves. Start with fourth hole from the left on your side. Pick up the 3 pebbles and move them so that the last one ends up in your store, which means you get another turn. Next pick up the pebbles in the farthest left hole and move them so that the last one lands in the now vacant hole from your first move. This allows you to capture the pebbles from your opponent's adjacent hole, as well as the pebble you used to move to the empty hole, and place them in your store.

3. Try the hoarding strategy. Hoarding is placing several pebbles in one hole and having it act as a little store. This serves two possible purposes: it keeps more pebbles on your side so that when the game ends, you get to capture all those pebbles, and it also limits the number of pebbles your opponent has to work with. There is the risk, though, of your opponent capturing the large amount of pebbles, so be on the lookout for this possibility and break up the pebbles to avoid your opponent capturing them.

4. Be on the lookout for pebbles you can capture from your opponent. If you see that your opponent is starting to hoard pebbles, begin planning ahead to capture those pebbles. Also look for ways you can loop around the board to capture pebbles. If you have a hole with a lot of pebbles, you may be able to make it all the way around the board and capture some pebbles. This may mean repopulating the opponent's side of the board, though.

5. Shut out your opponent when you have a lead. Once you have a significant lead over your opponent in captured pebbles, you can start playing a little more conservatively. Try to get some more pebbles into your store, but work hard to keep from repopulating your opponent's side. They will be playing more aggressively in order to catch up, so you may get a few pebbles captured. This is acceptable as long as it is not a large amount of pebbles. Try to make them run out of pebbles so that the game ends and you win.