mancala

Mancala is a family of two-player strategy games played worldwide, in which players sow seeds in pits on a board and aim to capture or accumulate them. The term mancala comes from languages of the region and is used to describe the family; its precise origin is uncertain.

A typical board has two rows of pits with a store at each end. The most common variant uses six pits per row and one store per player, but boards with different pit counts exist. Players own the pits on their side and distribute seeds counterclockwise or clockwise, depending on the variant.

On a turn, a player selects a nonempty pit on their side and sows its seeds, placing one seed in each successive pit. In many variants, the last seed landing in the player's store grants an extra turn. If the last seed lands in an empty pit on the player's side and the opposite pit contains seeds, those seeds are captured and moved to the player's store. Variants differ in whether seeds are placed into the opponent's store, how captures are performed, and other rule details.

Different regional variants have their own names and boards: Oware/Awale (West Africa), Bao (East Africa), Kalaha/Kalah (variant popular in the Americas and Europe), Congkak (Malaysia/Indonesia), among others. The games are among the oldest known board games, with evidence spanning ancient Africa and the Middle East; today they remain popular as traditional games, in schools, and as subjects of mathematical and artificial intelligence study.