Introduction to Mancala
Mancala started in ancient Africa and the Middle East. Players face a board that holds twelve small pits and two big pits called stores. Each person claims six small pits and one store on their side and fills every small pit with three to six stones.
A turn begins when a player picks up all the stones from one of their pits. They drop one stone at a time into the next pits going counterclockwise. If the last stone lands in their store they earn another turn. If it lands in an empty pit on their side they grab that stone and any in the opposite pit and add them to their store. The game ends once one side has no stones left and the other player sweeps the rest into their store.
Mancala asks you to plan and it sharpens your focus with every move. You watch seeds fall and shift the score, then nudge your opponent toward tough calls. Over time people swapped pit counts and tweaked rules but the main contest stays the same. Players young and old come back for its clean design and the brainwork it demands.