Learn Mancala
Review the goal through a picture story, then work through the chapters you need one at a time.
One of the world's oldest two-player games: sow stones from pit to pit around the board and win by collecting more stones in your store.
The stars of this game
Explore all 3 pieces, cards, tiles, and adopted roles in order. Pause autoplay or choose any item from the list.
Seeds
Skills and characteristicsTake all stones from the chosen pit and distribute them one at a time.
Learning
Rules and Sowing Guide
Learn the 2-by-6 pit layout, the stores, sowing, extra turns, and captures.
Sow the stones from a pit one by one, aiming to collect more in your own store.
- Article Collect More Stones in Your Store
- Pattern Sow stones from the pits
- Move sequence Collect Stones in the Store
- Pattern Chain Turns on Store Landings
- Pattern Capture by Landing in an Empty Pit
Read extra turns, captures, and empty pits, and build your sequence with stone counts.
- Article Use the Final Stone to Earn Extra Turns and Captures
- Article Extra Turn from the Last Stone into the Store
- Article Capture from an Empty Pit on Your Side
- Article Work Backward Through an Empty-Pit Endgame
- Article Learn the variant differences in Mancala
Mancala Basics
Choose a step in the inline tutorial below to review the flow.
Turn flow and captures
Open it only when you need to check something.
Sowing stones and scoring
Standard human-readable notation
C
Your side uses A–F, while the opposite side uses a–f.
Pit
Choose stones Choose a pit on your side and pick up all the stones in it.Sow
One stone in each following pit Distribute one stone at a time in the direction specified by the adopted rules, such as counterclockwise.Store
Scoring pit Stones placed in your store count as points.Extra turn
Last stone in your store When the last stone lands in your store, you move again.Capture
Capture the opposite pit from an empty pit When the conditions are met, capture all the stones in the opposite pit.Sow stones
- Take all the stones from the chosen pit and distribute them one at a time starting with the next pit.
- Exceptions depend on the adopted rules, such as skipping the opponent's store.
Scoring and game end
- Stones placed in your store count as points.
- When every pit on one side is empty, the game ends. Collect the remaining stones and compare scores.
Next step
Choose after the tutorialOnce you are comfortable moving pieces, review anything that was unclear or practice your decisions with a short problem.