Mancala rules: how to play Kalah and Turkish Mangala

Rules in short: pick one of your six pits and sow its seeds counter-clockwise one per pit, dropping one in your own store and skipping the opponent's. End in your store to move again; capture by the rules of the variant. The fuller store wins.

This page explains the two-row mancala game most people in the United States know as Kalah, its Turkish cousin Mangala, a strong first move, the words players use, beginner strategy and common questions. It works well as a classroom handout too: mancala practices counting and planning ahead.

First move Glossary Strategy FAQ

Board

Each player has six pits and a store on their right. Every pit starts with four seeds, forty-eight in all. Seeds are sown counter-clockwise, one per pit, into your own store but never into the opponent's.

Kalah

All seeds in the chosen pit are sown. If the last seed lands in your store you move again. If it lands in an empty pit on your side and the opposite pit holds seeds, both are captured. When one side is empty the other player keeps the seeds left on their side.

Turkish Mangala

One seed stays behind in the chosen pit and the rest are sown; a single seed moves to the next pit. Last seed in your store: move again. Last seed in an opponent pit that makes its count even: capture that pit. Last seed in your own empty pit with seeds opposite: capture both. A player whose pits are empty takes the seeds left in the opponent's pits.

How they differ

Kalah sows every seed and never captures in the opponent's pits; Turkish Mangala keeps one seed back and captures opponent pits by making them even. Turkish Mangala is the game in the Turkish championships; Kalah is the game most Americans grew up with.

No luck

There are no dice and no deal, so there is nothing to shuffle: the game is pure calculation. The coach uses the same search as the hard computer.

A strong first move

Number your pits 1 to 6 from left to right, with your store on the right. At the start every pit holds four seeds.

• Kalah: sow pit 3. Its four seeds go into pits 4, 5, 6 and your store, so the last seed lands in the store and you move again.
• Turkish Mangala: sow pit 4. One seed stays behind and the other three go into pits 5, 6 and your store, so you move again.

Then look for a second move that also ends in your store before you play anything else.

Mancala glossary

Pit (house)

One of the twelve small cups, six on each side.

Store (mancala, kalah, hazine)

The large cup at each end where you collect your seeds.

Seeds (stones)

The playing pieces: 48 in all, four in every pit at the start.

Sowing

Taking all seeds from a pit and dropping them one by one into the following pits.

Extra turn

When your last seed lands in your own store, you move again.

Capture

Taking seeds from the board into your store, by the rules of the variant.

Mancala strategy for beginners

• Chain extra turns. Count the seeds in each pit: a pit holding exactly as many seeds as its distance to your store gives an extra turn. Play the ones closest to the store first so the others still fit.
• Guard against captures. Before moving, check which of your pits sit opposite an empty pit the opponent can reach with their last seed.
• Keep seeds on your side late in the game. When one side runs out, the seeds left on the board go to a player, so a full side near the end is valuable.
• Hoard in your rightmost pits with care. Big piles near your store are good for extra turns but are a tempting capture target.
• In Mangala, think in even numbers. Ending in an opponent pit that becomes even captures it, so leave your opponent pits with odd counts where you can.

A short history

Mancala is not one game but a family of sowing games played for centuries across Africa, the Middle East and Asia, with names such as oware, bao and congkak. Kalah, the version on this page, became the best-known form in the United States in the 20th century. Mangala is the traditional Turkish form and has its own national tournaments.