Mancala Games

Mancala is sometimes said to be the oldest board game of the world, dating back to 7000 BC. Actually, there is no evidence going back beyond the 6th century AD. It is, however, probably one of the most widespread games. It can be played on anything from pits dug into the earth with bare hands to elaborately carved boards resembling ornate ships; it can be played with anything from dried goat feces over beans to coins or glass beads. The home of the game is Africa, but it spread north to Russia and the Baltic, eastward to Indonesia and Vietnam. Slave trade carried it to the new world, where it is played in the Carribean, Brazil, and Louisiana.

The Rules

Of course, such a wide-spread game has nearly as many rules as names. However, I found that most computer implementations stick to one of two rulesets, which I call Kalah and Oware.

Kalah

The following rules are those under which it is played in northern Africa and Russia. These are best fit for computer conversions and therefore used most often.

• Each player has six piles and a score pile.
• At the beginning of the game there are usually six stones in each pile. (The number can often be chosen in a configuration menu.)
• In his turn, a player picks up one of his piles and distributes them counter-clockwise, one stone a pile. The only pile excluded is the opponent's score pile.
• If the last stone lands in the score pile, the player gets another turn.
• If the last stone lends in one of the player's own piles, which is empty, the content of the opposite pile is put into his score pile.
• The game ends when all the piles of one player are empty. The opponent can then put all the stones in his piles into his score pile.

Oware

These rules are common in wide parts of Africa. They are more interesting, but less fit for computer conversions, for a really good AI will sometimes be able to finish the game without the human player ever getting a turn.

• The board can be the same as under the Kalah rules, but the score piles can be omitted, and there are four stones (seeds) in each pile (here usually called house or pit).
• Seeds are picked up and distributed as in Kalah, but no seed is put into the store pit.
• If the last seed goes into a pit of the opponent, and there are now two or three seeds in it, these seeds are put into the store pit. If the pit before it has two or three seeds in it, then these are taken as well, and so on.

The first computer implementation of Mancala was created by Geoff Wyvill in the early 70s. It was included in David H. Ahl BASIC Computer Games in 1973, which saw a second edition in 1978. Geoff writes about his game:

It was quite a challenge to create a game of any quality in BASIC then. Our PDP11/20 in BRADFORD was running a multi-user BASIC system and each user had only about 1500 bytes for BASIC code and data. Even so, Awari included a primitive learning mechanism so its play improved with experience.

In 1976, Steve Garland SBASIC, a BASIC with structured programming features, calling the result. One of the sample programs he wrote was an implementation of Kalah (1978). Scot Drysdale recreated this code on Pascal and later Java for his own teaching purposes, and it was used in at least one actually released Mancala game.

In 1980, Dale S. Cooper wrote a Kalah for Cursor Magazine #80, for the Commodore PET. This was probably the first Mancala game distributed digitally, for the Cursor Magazine was published on tapes. Mancala games proved very successful on the PET's successor, the Commodore 64. More than 20 can be found on The GameBase64 Collection, though many of them had no AI and were just electronic boards for a two-player game. On none of the other 8-bit platforms was Mancala that popular.

The Games

Awari	BASIC						Kalah	78		Geoff Wyvill
Mankala								82		Elizabeth Chase MacRae
Kalaha (ZX Data)								84		O. Steen Hanssen
Kalah (Talent)										Andrew Colin & Mike Masters
Ayo							Oware	87		Daniel J. Bishop
Awari (Veludo)							Kalah			Adaptation of Geoff Wyvill's code
Mancala (64'er)										Benno Bosen
Mancala (California Dreams)								88
Atari Awari								90		Adaptation of Geoff Wyvill's code

In 1991, two Mancala games were developed independent of each other in Moscow: Kalah for the Mac, which was based on Steve Garland's code, and Kalakh for the PC. It was on these two platforms that Mancala, mainly from 1994 on, found its new home. The popularity of the game increased in the second half of the 90s, and there are more implementations for Windows than for DOS.

Bohnespiel								Kalah	91
Kalah (Leo)											Lev Possajennikov
Kalakh
Wari (DOS)								Oware	92		Eric Roosendaal
The Egg Carton Game											Paul Talbot
Kalah (GAMOS)								Kalah	93
Kalaha (Windows)											Mikael Ekbom
Mancala (Tower)
Kalah (Island Software)									94
Kalaha (EggBird)											Egbert J. van der Haring
Mancala											Todd Glenn Clements
Stones											Nathaniel Tagg
Oware!								Oware	95		Roger P. Kovach
Wari (ImagiSOFT)
WinAwélé											Eric Bertrand
Kalaha 1.0								Kalah			Klaas Bonnema
Wari 2.0								Oware	96
Awale											Didier & Olivier Guillion
Awele											Dominique Béréziat
Custer								Kalah
Vari								Oware			Damage

Custer and Vari were the last Mancala games released for the Commodore 64.

Mancala!						Kalah	97		Clinton Graham
Mancala for Windows 3.x									Artin
Stones II									Nathaniel Tagg
Kalaha (Mac)							98		Joachim Kulla
Wari 2000						Oware			Arthur Crump
Mancala 2000 (Tabberer)						Kalah	99		Seth Tabberer
PoornBoy's Warri!						Oware
wMancala						Kalah			K. Shane Harrelson
Mancala 2000							00
Mancala 3000									Arthur Crump
Bantumi							01		Andy Bell
Mancala									Kyle Dugger
Waurie									David Grogono
Toguz Korgool							02
Mancala for Windows						Kalah	03		Bert Greevenbosch
Wari (Windows)						Oware			Eric Roosendaal
Awélé							04		Claude Massé

Names of Mancala Games

Unsurprisingly, a game thus old and wide-spread goes by hundreds of names:

A-i-ú, Abalala'e, Abanga, Abangah, Abouga, Achara, Adi, Adita ta, Adito, Adji, Adjiboto, Adjika, Adji pre, Adjito, Adzua, Aghi, Agi, Aji, Ajwa, Alé, Alemungula, Andada, Andot, Annana, Anywoli, Awagaga, Awale, Awalé, Aware, Awari, Aweet, Awele, Awélé Ayo, Ayo ayo, Azigo;
Ba-Awa, Banga, Bao, Bao kiswahili, Bao solo, Bare, Baruma, Bau, Bawo, Bechi, Bohnenspiel, Boke, Bosh, Bouberoukou, Bouri;
Casitas, Chanka, Chisolo, Chongkak, Choro, Chouba, Chuba, Chunca, Cisolo, Congkak, Coo, Coro, Coro bawo;
Dabuda, Dakon, Dakoun, Dara, Darra, Deka, Djonghok, Djonglak, Dwong;
El Agrab, El Arnab, Érhérhé, Endodoi, Enkeshui, Enmediar, Eson xorgol, Esson, Éu leu;
Fangaya, Fuva;
Gabata, Gabatta, Galatjang, Gamacha, Gbégélé, Gebta, Gelo, Gepeta, Gesuwa, Gilberta, Giuthi;
Halusa, Hoyito, Hus;
Igisoro, Igosou, Ikiokoto, Imbelece, Imbwe, Impere, Isafu, Ise onzin egbe, Isofu, Isolo;
J'erin, Jodu, J'odu, Jukuru;
Kachig, Ka ia, Kalah, Kalaha, Kalak, Kale, Kalimanta, Kasonko, Katra, Kboo, Kenji guki, Kiarabu, Kisolo, Kiswahilibao, Kiuthi, Kpo, Krour, Kubuguza;
La'b hakim, La'b madjunni, La'b roseya, Lahemay walida, Lami, Lamlameta, Lamosh, Lam waladach, Langa holo, Layo, Leka, Lela, Leyla gobale, Lien, Lizolo, L'ob akila, Longbeu a cha, Lontu Holo, Luuth, Luzolo, Lwele;
Madji, Main chongkak, Mak-hu-hai, Mak khom,Makwinni, Mancala, Mandiaré, Manga, Mangala, Mangola, Mankala, Manqala, Manquala, Marabout, Marany, Maruba, Mate, Mazageb, Mbangbi, Mbau, Mbelete, Mbere, Mbo, Mbothe, Mefuhva, Mefuvha, Meusueb, Mewelad, Mofuba, Moro gbegele, Motiq, Msuwa, Mulabalaba, Mungala, Mutiteba, Mwambalula, Mweiso, Mweso;
Nakabile, Nambayi, Naranj, Ncholokoto, Nchomvwa, Nchuba, Nchuwa, Ndoto, Ngar, Njombwa, Nocholokoto, Nsolo, Nsumbi, Ntchuwa, Numnum;
Obigu, Oko, Olinda, Okwe, O Lang, Olela, Omweeso, Omweso, Otep, Otjitoto, Ot jun, Otra, Ot tjin, Otu, Ouré, Ouri, Ourin, Ourre, Ourri, Oware, Owela;
Palankuli, Pallamkurie, Pallam kuzhi, Pallanguli, Pallankuli, Pandi, Papadakon, Papandata, Peke, Pensur, Pereauni, Pérésouni, Pia, Pinton, Poo, Puhulmuti;
Qaluta, Qasuta, Qelat, Qenchebema, Qéqa;
Raja Pasu, Rath, Rio Kadashi, Ruhesho, Ryakati;
Saddeka, Sadeka, Sadiqa, Sai, Sat-gol, Schach, Seca, Selus, Serata, Shayo, Shèdan, Sherfo, Shimunana, Sig, Solo, Sombi, Songo, Soro, Spreta, Sulus nishtaw, Sunca, Sungka;
Tagega, Tampoduo, Tamtam apachi, Tap, Tapata, Tchanka, Tchokajon, Tchonkkak, Tchoukaitlon, Tchukaruma, Tegre, Til-Guti, Ting Makor Adek, Tjonglak, Toguz xorgol, Toi, Tok Ku Rou, Tokoro, Tonka, Topuz xorgol, Trysse, Tschuba, Tsh ela, Tshuba, Tshi solo, Tsoro, Tsotokele;
Ubao, Udi, Uera, Ugwasi, Um Dyar, Um el bagara, Um el banat, Um el tuweisat, Unee tugaluulax, Urdy, Uré, Uruheisho;
Vai lung thlan;
Walak-Pussa, Walé, Walle, Walu, Walya, Ware, Wari, Warra, Warri, Waurie, Wawee, Wawi, Weg, Wori, Woribo, Woro, Wouri, Wuli, Wuri;
Xorgol, Xoros;
Yada, Yansi, Yit nuri, Yit Yani, Yovodji, Yucebao; Zigulzoqge, Zikili.

In spite of this wealth of names, the creators of computer conversions tend to use very few, often making it difficult to keep the games apart:

• Mancala is by far the most common (12 games), especially in the English speaking world;
• Kalah(a) comes next (9 games), especially in Russia, Scandinavia and the Netherlands;
• Wari is the most common name for games following the Oware rules,
• Awale or Awele is the French version of this.

On the other hand, programmers have occasionally come up with new names, like Arcana, Stones or Pebbles.

Trivia

• Mancala games are often associated with fertility and economic success.
• The 12 pits common to most variants are sometimes interpreted as the twelve months, or the signs of the Zodiac.
• In parts of Africa and in the Carribean it is considered a game for men only, while in southern Asia it is played mainly by women and children.
• On the Ivory Coast, Awele it is played only by day. At night, the board and stones are left outside, so the gods can play.

Mancala Links

• Awale information/links: It's here that I found the exhaustive name list above, though I was able to add a few more.
• Mancala, Bao Online Guide
• Omweso is played in Uganda on a 8×4 board.
• Bao is played in Zanzibar on the same board as Omweso, but with very different rules.
• Congklak is the Indonesian variety of Manacala.
• Patty A. Hardy's Oware site
• Mancala games: Links
• German Wooden Kalaha

Some More Computer Implementations

• KizzyCo (Psion) by Nick Matthews.
• Paul Elliott at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has a Java Kalah available as source code.