How to play Mancala
- The board has six pits on each side and a big store at each end. Every pit starts with four seeds. Your pits are the row on your side, and your store is the one at the end of your row.
- On your turn, pick one of your pits that has seeds in it. All of its seeds are sown one by one into the pits that follow, going anticlockwise. Seeds go into your own store as they pass it, but never into your rival's store.
- If your last seed lands in your store, you get a free turn and play again.
- If your last seed lands in an empty pit on your side, and the pit across from it has seeds, you capture: that last seed and all the seeds across from it go into your store.
- The game ends as soon as one side has no seeds left in its pits. Any seeds still on the board go to the store of the player on whose side they are.
- The player with more seeds in their store wins. There are 48 seeds, so 24 each is a draw.
Orange goes first in the first round, and the first move switches between the players every round.
Controls
| Device | How to play |
|---|---|
| Phone or tablet | Tap one of your pits. The pits you can choose have a ring in your colour |
| Mouse | Click one of your pits |
| Keyboard | Press 1 to 6 to choose one of your pits, in the order the seeds travel, or use Tab and Enter |
On a phone held upright, the board stands on its end: Orange's pits run up the right-hand side to Orange's store at the top, and Purple's pits run down the left-hand side.
Computer levels
The computer sees only the board, just like you. It gets stronger by looking further ahead at the moves that could follow, never by cheating. A free turn counts as a move.
| Level | How the computer plays |
|---|---|
| Easy | Looks only at its next move, and often picks a pit at random. Good for learning. |
| Medium | Looks three moves ahead. It spots most free turns and captures, but still slips up. |
| Hard | Looks eight moves ahead and rarely misses a capture. |
| Expert | Thinks as far ahead as it can in about a second. Very hard to beat. |
Tips to win
- Count before you sow. Count the seeds in a pit to see exactly where the last one will land.
- Chain your free turns. If the pit nearest your store has one seed, playing it first gives you a free turn and can set up another. Start with the pits closest to your store.
- Guard your big piles. If your rival has an empty pit across from a big pile of yours, they may be able to land their last seed there and capture it. Move the pile, or drop a seed into their empty pit.
- Keep count of the stores. With 48 seeds in all, a player with 25 in their store has won, whatever happens next.
- Think about the ending. When one side runs out, the seeds left on the other side go to that side's owner. If you are well ahead, running out of seeds on your own side can end the game before your rival catches up.
About Mancala
Mancala is not just one game but a whole family of "sowing" games, played for well over a thousand years across Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The name comes from an Arabic word meaning "to move". There are hundreds of versions, with different numbers of pits, seeds and rows. The one played here, often called Kalah, became popular in the United States in the 1940s, and it is the version most people today know simply as Mancala.
Questions
Is Mancala free?
Yes. It's free to play in your browser, with no download and no sign-up. There are never ads during a game.
Can two people play on one phone?
Yes. Choose 2 Players and take turns on the same screen. The pits you can play glow with a ring in your colour, so it's always clear whose turn it is.
Which version of Mancala is this?
It's Kalah, the most common version: six pits a side, four seeds in each pit, a free turn when your last seed lands in your store, and captures from empty pits on your side.
Can Mancala end in a draw?
Yes. There are 48 seeds, so if both stores hold 24 when the game ends, it's a draw.
Updated 6 November 2026