Your pits are the bottom row and your store is the big pit on the right. Tap a pit to sow its seeds, or press 1 to 6 on a keyboard. The computer's row is on top, and its store is on the left. Undo takes you back to your last move. The three levels are the ones from my app: Easy plays loosely, Medium looks one reply ahead, and Hard searches many moves deep.
The board and the setup
A Kalah board has two rows of six pits and a store at each end. Each player owns the row that's nearest to them and the store on their right. At the start every pit holds four seeds, 48 in all.
The rules, one at a time
In the pictures below, the pit that was played has a dashed ring, the pits that got a seed have a green ring, and the pit where the last seed landed has an orange one. A red ring marks a pit that was captured.
1. Sowing
On your turn, you pick up all the seeds from one of your pits and drop them one by one into the next pits, counterclockwise: to the right along your row, into your store, then along the other row. You can't start from an empty pit, and you don't ever sow from the other side.
2. Last seed in your store: play again
If your last seed lands in your own store, you take another turn right away. There's no limit, so a good position can give you three or four turns in a row.
Before
After
3. Skip the other store
A big pit can carry seeds all the way round the board. When that happens, you'll skip your opponent's store and keep going. Seeds only ever go into your own store.
Before
After
4. Capture
If your last seed lands in an empty pit on your own side, and the pit straight across holds seeds, you take them all, plus your last seed, and put them in your store. If the pit across is empty, nothing happens and your seed stays where it landed. A capture never happens on the other player's side.
Before
After
5. The end of the game
The game ends the moment either row is completely empty. Each player then moves whatever's still in their own row into their own store, and the bigger store wins. There are 48 seeds, so 25 is a sure win, and 24 to 24 is a draw.
Before
After
Strategy that actually helps
Nobody wins every game, so be wary of anyone who promises that. These ideas will win you a lot more of them, though, and the practice boards below come straight from games against my computer players.
Open with pit 3
At the start, there's only one pit that ends exactly in your store: pit 3, with its 4 seeds and 4 steps to go. That free turn costs you nothing, so it's the natural first move if you go first.
Take free turns from the right
When two pits both end in your store, play the one nearer the store first. Sowing from the left pit drops a seed into the right one, and that spoils it. Playing them right to left gets you both turns.
Look for empty pits
An empty pit on your side, across from a full one, is a capture waiting to happen. Count backwards from it: which of your pits has exactly enough seeds to land there? A pit with 13 seeds is a special case. It goes all the way round and its last seed drops back into the pit it started from, which is now empty.
Watch their empty pits too
Before each move, it's worth a look at their row. If one of their pits is empty and your pit across from it is full, check whether any of their pits ends exactly there. If one does, move the seeds out of danger or fill their empty pit as you sow past it.
Count the ending
Near the end, every seed still in your row will be yours, and every seed in their row will be theirs. So emptying your own row early only helps you if your store is already ahead. If they hold far more seeds than you, don't run out. Keep your row going and let them empty theirs first.
Capture practice
Each board is a real position from a game between my app's computer players. You're the bottom row, and each question has exactly one right pit. Tap your answer, or open the explanation.
1. Which pit makes a capture?
27711052Answer to 1
Pit 1. Its 1 seed end in your empty pit 2, across from 7, so you take 8.
2. Which pit makes a capture?
31781012Answer to 2
Pit 1. Its 1 seed end in your empty pit 2, across from 7, so you take 8.
3. Which pit makes a capture?
101233306Answer to 3
Pit 5. Its 13 seeds go all the way round and the last one drops back into pit 5, which you just emptied. Across from it are 4 seeds after the lap, so you take 5.
4. Two of your pits end in your store. Which one do you play first to get both free turns?
2101370307Answer to 4
Pit 6 first. Its last seed goes into your store, and pit 5 still ends there afterwards. Play pit 5 first and its seeds fill pit 6, so that one overshoots.
5. Two of your pits end in your store. Which one do you play first to get both free turns?
800015127Answer to 5
Pit 6 first. Its last seed goes into your store, and pit 5 still ends there afterwards. Play pit 5 first and its seeds fill pit 6, so that one overshoots.
6. They're threatening to capture 7 seeds. Which move stops every capture?
682201018Answer to 6
Pit 6. Right now one of their pits ends in an empty pit on their side and would take 7 seeds, the 6 in your pit 6 plus their own last seed. Pit 6 is the only move that leaves them no capture at all.
7. They're threatening to capture 9 seeds. Which move stops every capture?
511202704Answer to 7
Pit 5. Right now one of their pits ends in an empty pit on their side and would take 9 seeds, the 8 in your pit 3 plus their own last seed. Pit 5 is the only move that leaves them no capture at all.
Kalah, capture, avalanche and Oware
Mancala's a family name, and the rules change from game to game. Here's how the common ones differ from what you just played.
- Kalah, the version on this page and in my app: stores at the ends, free turns, and captures from the pit across.
- Capture mode, as some phone games call it, is the same idea as Kalah.
- Avalanche mode keeps going: when your last seed lands in a pit that already has seeds, you pick them all up and sow again, until you land in an empty pit or your store.
- Oware has no stores along the path. You capture from the other side when your last seed brings a pit there to two or three seeds.
Kalah is also played with three, five or six seeds a pit. Everything above works the same, but the counting changes, so pit 3 is no longer the free opening move.
Questions
Which way do you go in mancala?
Counterclockwise in Kalah. From your side that's to the right along your row, into your store, then right to left along the other row.
Do you put seeds in the other player's store?
No. You skip it and keep sowing. Only your own store gets seeds from you.
What happens when you land in an empty pit?
If it's on your side and the pit across has seeds, you capture them and your last seed. If it's on their side, or the pit across is empty, the seed just stays there.
When does the game end?
As soon as one row is empty. Both players then collect what's left in their own row, and the bigger store wins.
Is going first an advantage?
It gives you the free opening move with pit 3, which is a small head start. After that, the game is about counting.
Can I play on my phone?
Yes. My Mancala app for Android plays the same Kalah rules against the computer on three levels or a friend on one phone, with move tips while you learn. It works offline.
Next game, before every move, look for one thing: a pit whose last seed lands in your store or in an empty pit of yours. I tested that habit on its own, a free turn first, else the biggest capture, else any pit, in 1,000 games against Easy. It won 870 of them.
Mancala
Kalah against the computer on three levels or a friend on one phone, with move tips while you learn.