By Kirsten Richards

What is Mancala?  Mancala is a board game that has been played for thousands of years  One of the oldest games around  You can play the game with any thing that you can find

How to Play!  To start, place four stones into each small cup on the board  Decide who goes first  After the first player takes his/her turn, then you alternate taking turns  Keep alternating turns until you run out of stones  Use strategies to help you win the game  The person who has the most stones in their mancala goal wins

Strategies to Help You Win!  Raiding- When a player captures a bin of the opponent’s pebbles by placing the last pebble of a move in an empty bin on ones own side of the board, directly across from the opponent’s bin being raided.

Strategies Cont.  Hoarding- Hoarding occurs when a player allows pebbles to accumulate in a certain bin, refusing to play that bin  Rushing- to go out of pebbles quickly on ones own side of the board  Stalling- Opposite of rushing, waiting out so that you don’t run out of pebbles directly  Starving- starving ones opponent is refusing to repopulate the opponent’s side with pebbles carried around beyond ones own mancala

Strategies Cont.  Stuffing- A defense strategy against raiding and being rushed out of the game. It is also the opposite of starving.  Looping- When you have so many pebbles that you can make a full trip all the way around the board to earn pieces.  Sacrificing- Hopes in which you sacrifice one or two stones hoping to get a bigger reward in future moves.  Setting Up- Strategy used by more advanced players. You set up your opponent to fall into your traps so that you win more pieces

Mancala Related to Math 115?  I have found that mancala is related to math for liberal arts by the game we talked about in class, Fibonacci Nim.  Just like in Fibonacci Nim, mancala has strategies that are helpful for you to win the game.  In Fibonacci Nim, you have to take as many sticks to get to the next Fibonacci number so that you have a better chance of winning.

Mancala Related to Math 115?  While you can not use the same strategy as Fibonacci Nim, you can create your own or use some of the ones I have listed before.  In mancala, if you strategize well, you can manipulate the game so that you can win.  Mancala is also considered to be a thinking game. You have to plan out your next moves in order for the game to go in your favor.

You Can Play Online!  With the link below, you can play an online version of the game mancala against a computer player!  games/game_m ancala.cfm games/game_m ancala.cfm