What you need
A mancala board with two rows of six small pits, called houses or pockets, and a large pit at each end called a store (or mancala). You also need 48 small counters: glass stones, beans, buttons or pebbles all work. Our printable mancala board prints on one landscape page; lay it on a tray so the seeds do not roll away.
“Mancala” is the name of a whole family of sowing games played for centuries across Africa and Asia. The version sold in most Western shops is Kalah, patented and marketed in the United States by William Julius Champion Jr. in the 1950s. These are the Kalah rules.
Setup
Place the board lengthwise between the two players. Each player owns the six houses on their side and the store on their right. Put four seeds in each of the twelve houses; the stores start empty. Decide who goes first.
How to play
Sowing
On your turn, pick up all the seeds from one of your houses. Moving counter-clockwise, drop one seed into each following house, including your own store, and continue onto your opponent’s side if you have seeds left. Skip your opponent’s store. If you have many seeds, you may go all the way round and drop seeds back into houses you have already passed.
Extra turns
If the last seed you drop lands in your own store, you take another turn straight away. There is no limit; a well-planned move can chain several turns together.
Captures
If the last seed lands in an empty house on your side and the house directly opposite contains seeds, you capture: take that last seed and all the seeds from the opposite house, and put them in your store. Your turn then ends.
Scoring and winning
The game ends when all six houses on one side are empty. The other player then moves every seed still on their side into their own store. Each player counts the seeds in their store, and the player with more wins. With 48 seeds, a 24–24 tie is possible.
Common variants
- Number of seeds: three, five or six seeds per house instead of four. More seeds make longer, more tactical games.
- Empty capture: you capture with a last seed in an empty house of yours even when the opposite house is empty (you take the one seed). Many commercial instructions describe the capture this way.
- Leftover seeds: some rules give the remaining seeds to the player who emptied their side, or do not count them at all.
- Clockwise sowing: a few rules sow the other way, so more seeds are needed to reach the store.
- Pie rule: because Kalah is a proven win for the first player with perfect play, strong players let the second player choose, after the first move, whether to swap sides.
Tips for first games
- Count before you move. The house that is exactly as many pits from your store as it holds seeds will give you an extra turn.
- Play your extra-turn moves first, starting with the house nearest your store, so you do not spoil the count of the others.
- Keep an eye on your empty houses: they are capture chances for you, and the houses opposite your opponent’s empty houses are at risk.
- Hoarding many seeds in the house closest to your opponent can be strong late in the game, but they all go to your opponent’s side when you finally sow.
- When the game is nearly over, think about which side will empty first: the seeds left on the other side go to their owner.
Frequently asked questions
Do you put a seed in your opponent’s store? No. You skip it and keep sowing into their houses.
What if my last seed lands in an empty house on my opponent’s side? Nothing happens; your turn ends.
Can I choose any pit to sow from? Any non-empty house on your own side, never your opponent’s houses or a store.
What happens to the seeds left on the board at the end? In standard Kalah, the player whose side still has seeds puts them in their own store.
Who moves first? Agree or toss a coin. The first player has an advantage, so alternate between games.
