Mancala
Your move.
You have the bottom row and the store on the right. Pick a pit and its stones are sown one by one, to the right.
You0Computer0
Seven rules, all of them short
Mancala the way most people play it, the version also called Kalah.
The bottom row is yours, and so is the long store on the right. The computer has the top row and the store on the left. Every pit starts with four stones.
A move empties one of your pits. You pick up every stone in it and drop them one at a time into the pits that follow: to the right along your row, round the end, and back along the top.
Your own store is on the way round. A stone goes into it as you pass. The computer's store is skipped.
End in your store and you go again. If the last stone you drop lands in your store, the turn is still yours.
End in an empty pit of your own and you capture. The last stone and everything in the pit straight across go to your store. If the pit across is empty, nothing is taken.
The game stops when one row is empty. Whoever still has stones in their row puts them in their own store.
Most stones wins. There are 48 in the game, so 25 is enough and 24 each is a draw.
How games are won
Look for the free move first. A pit whose stones reach exactly to your store gives you another turn. The pit next to the store needs one stone, the one before it two, and so on. Big turns are several of these in a row.
Open with the third pit. Its four stones end in your store, so you move again before the computer has done anything.
An empty pit is a trap. Land your last stone in one and you take whatever sits across from it. Watch the computer's empty pits the same way, and move your stones out of the pits facing them.
Think before you sow a big pile. A pit with many stones goes all the way round and drops some of them on the computer's side. Sometimes that is the price of a capture. Often it is a gift.
Count the ending. The game stops the moment one row is empty, and the stones left in the other row go to their owner. A full row at that point can win the game for you, or for the computer.
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