Sow seeds, capture pits and fill your store. Mancala is a free 2 player seed-sowing board game for one phone or vs the computer. Sow seeds around the board, capture your rival's pits and fill your store.
How to play
The board stands upright on your phone. Red owns the six pits in the left column and the large store at the bottom. Blue owns the six pits in the right column and the store at the top. Every pit starts with four seeds and Red moves first. When two people play, Blue’s labels are turned around so you can sit face to face with the phone flat between you.
- Tap one of your pits that has seeds in it. All its seeds are picked up and sown one at a time into the following pits, going down your column, into your store, up your rival’s column and round again.
- Seeds always skip your rival’s store, but they do go into your own.
- The number beside each pit tells you how many seeds it holds. On a computer you can also press keys 1 to 6, or use the up and down arrows and Space.
Special moves
- Extra turn: if your last seed drops into your own store, you go again.
- Capture: if your last seed lands in an empty pit on your side and the pit directly across holds seeds, you take that seed and everything opposite into your store. In this version, if the pit across is empty nothing is captured and your seed stays put.
Scoring
The game ends as soon as either player’s six pits are all empty. Each player then sweeps the seeds left on their own side into their own store. Whoever has more seeds in their store wins, and an equal count is a draw. There are 48 seeds in total, so 25 is enough to be sure of victory.
Playing the computer
Tap the second seat on the setup screen to make Blue a CPU and pick a level. Easy looks two moves ahead and sometimes picks a pit at random, Normal looks five moves ahead, and Hard looks eight moves ahead, counting extra turns along the way.
Tips
- Count to your store. A pit whose seed count matches its distance from your store gives a free extra turn, and chaining several in a row is very strong.
- Guard your full pits. Look for empty pits on your rival’s side that face your biggest pile.
- Hoard near the end. Seeds on your side when the game finishes are yours, so a well-stocked last pit can be worth a lot.
Mancala is one of the oldest board games in the world, and it is still a calm, clever way to spend a few minutes with a friend.