Mancala
A wooden board. A handful of stones. A little further ahead.
Your game saves in this browser.
Four-stone Kalah. Player 1 opens. Choose any nonempty own pit; stones sow through pits 1–6, your store, then the opposing pits, skipping their store. A store landing earns another sow; an empty own-pit landing captures a nonempty opposite. On phones each side wraps into two rows of three; P1/P2 and pit numbers stay explicit. Arrows explore your available pits, 1–6 chooses by pit number, Enter or Space sows. U/R undo/redo; P pauses. Fresh game. Fresh computer wins: 0.
Your achievements 0 / 8
How to play Mancala
Our Mancala game uses four-stone Kalah: six pits for each player, a store at each end and 48 stones. Player 1 always opens. Play the computer at Easy, Normal, Hard or Expert, or choose Two players to share the board.
Sow a handful
Choose any nonempty pit on your side. Pick up every stone in that pit and drop one into each following location, moving through your numbered pits, your store and the opposing pits. Always skip the opposing store, including on a second lap. Your own store keeps every stone deposited there.
Extra turns and captures
If your last stone lands in your store, choose another pit and sow again. If it lands in one of your own pits and that pit now contains exactly one stone, capture that stone and every stone directly opposite, provided the opposing pit is not empty. The opposite is checked after sowing. An empty opposite does not trigger a capture, and there is no capture for making an opponent’s pit even.
Count all 48 stones
The game ends as soon as either player has no stones left in their six pits. Each player moves any remaining stones on their own side into their own store. The larger store wins; 24–24 is a draw. Ending and collecting the remaining stones take priority over an extra turn.
Easy phone and keyboard controls
Tap a numbered pit to sow. The wide board follows the familiar two-row arrangement. On a narrow screen each player’s six pits wrap into two rows of three beside their store; the P1/P2 labels and pit numbers identify the same positions, and the rules do not change. Every pit has a large count and an accessible label. Arrow keys explore the current player’s nonempty pits; Home and End select the first and last. Press 1–6 to choose that player’s pit number, or Enter or Space to sow from the focused pit. U undoes, R redoes and P pauses.
Undo, practice and saved games
Against the computer, Undo returns to your last choice, including every computer sow that followed it. This may include several extra turns. In Two players, Undo returns one choice. Redo restores the same saved choices. Restart replays the fixed opening as the same attempt; New game starts a fresh attempt. Undo and Restart remain recorded for challenge stars, and an attempt always keeps its first result.
Your current board, active time and eight achievements save in this browser when storage is available. A restored game waits for Resume before the clock or computer continues. Pause hides the board and stops both. Sound starts off, reduced-motion preferences are respected, and Full screen keeps the controls close to the board. If saving is unavailable, the game shows a warning; keep that tab open to retain the current session.
Eight small milestones
Earn stars for a first sow, a store landing that earns another turn, a capture, a completed first-result game, a first-result computer win, a fresh Hard or Expert win, a computer win without Undo or Restart, and three different fresh computer wins. Local games earn the applicable play milestones. Reopening, undoing or restarting an attempt does not create extra wins.
The four computer levels use original searches with fixed thinking limits. They make legal choices, include captures and extra-turn chains, and offer different amounts of look-ahead. Expert is a challenge setting, not a promise of perfect play. The saved legal action journal has a 20,000-action limit; the game asks for a new attempt if that limit is reached.