Board Games
How to play Mancala
Sow stones around two rows of pits, earn extra turns and captures, and finish with more stones in your store.
What you need
A six-pit-per-side Kalah board and 48 stones
Set up the game
- Place four stones in each of twelve small pits and leave both stores empty. Each player controls the six pits on their own side.
- This is Kalah, a modern member of the wider mancala family. Other mancala games use different pits, seeds and capture rules.
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Playing Mancala
- Choose one nonempty pit on your side, take all its stones and sow them one at a time counterclockwise, including your store but skipping your opponent’s store.
- If your last stone lands in your store, take another turn. If it lands in a previously empty pit on your side and the opposite pit contains stones, capture that last stone and the opposite stones into your store.
- When all six pits on one side are empty, the game ends. Move the remaining stones on the other side into that player’s store.
- Count stores; the higher total wins, and equal totals tie.
Landing in your store
If a pit has exactly as many stones as spaces to your store along the sowing direction, its last stone enters your store. You then choose another nonempty pit on your side and move again.
Count the last stone before lifting a pit
The end of sowing can give an immediate extra turn, a capture, or neither. Because sowing skips the opposing store, count that path correctly. A stone that passes through your own store can continue around the board if more remain.
Beginner decisions
- Count forward to see whether a move ends in your store or a potential capture pit.
Common rule mix-ups
- Dropping a stone into the opponent’s store.
- Applying a Kalah capture when the opposite pit has no stones under the referenced rules.
Questions about this game
Does every last stone in my store grant a turn?
Yes, under this Kalah rule set.
Does the empty side receive the other side’s stones?
No. The player with stones remaining sweeps them to their own store.
Mancala strategy for beginners →
Sources and edition notes
Kalah six-pit, four-stones-per-pit version; not a universal set of mancala rules.
Sources and stated format checked October 13, 2026. This records a document check, not a claim of hands-on testing.
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