Mancala, mankalah, oware or kalaha game is an ancient African game in which players "sow" and "capture" seeds. One can consider it as a sowing and harvesting game that perhaps originated with the dawn of civilization.
How to Play
The good news is that learning how to play mancala for kids is relatively easy, even though the game itself can be seriously tricky!
To set up the mancala board, each child puts four seeds into each of their six small houses. At the start of the game, no seeds should be placed in the storage houses. The players sit directly opposite one another, and the storage house to the right of them is their own. Each player has six houses total, in the row directly in front of them.
To begin the game, the first player will pick up all four of the seeds in the house of their choice. They'll then "sow" those seeds by moving counter-clockwise (to the right) across the board.
They place one single seed in each of the houses that they pass by. This means that, yes, the child will likely end up putting some of their seeds in their opponent's houses.
If they pass by their own storage house on the way, they put one of their seeds inside of it. They do not put any seeds in their opponent's storage house.
Then it's the other player's turn.
Children may only use one hand to both pick up and drop the seeds, and they can't change their minds about which house they're playing with once they pick up the seeds.
The game ends when one player's small houses have no more seeds in them. Then, any seeds that the opponent has left over go into their own storage. Whoever has the highest number of seeds in their storage house is the winner.
Kalaha Mancala
Age
6+
Number Of Players
2
Skills
Flexible thinking, Concentration, Logic, Strategic planning, counting and maths and social skills
Description
The objective of the game: to capture more seeds than one's opponent. Strategies and tactics are required on how to sow more seeds in your own store and get more goes in one turn.
What's in the box
Solid sturdy carbonized bamboo hinged folding board, 48 natural stone pebbles as seeds with 2 extras.
Safe and environmentally friendly: it is made of sustainable wood with environmentally friendly and non-toxic paints.
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