Mancala: Rules and How to Play
Mancala (Kalah) is a board game for 2 to 4 players, about 10 minutes. Collect the most stones in your store and you win. Free. In-browser. No account.
Objective
Mancala is a family of sowing games played with stones and a board of pockets. The version most people in the US and UK mean by "mancala" is Kalah, played here. Each player has a row of six pockets and a store. You sow stones one at a time around the board, trying to land extra turns and capture your opponent's stones. When one side runs out of stones, the player with more stones in their store wins.
Setup
- Two players (up to four here). Each player owns the six pockets along their side and the store (the large pocket, also called the mancala or kalah) at their right-hand end. With two players you can choose seven pockets; with three or four, four pockets.
- Put four stones in every pocket (three by setting). The stores start empty.
- Turns pass anticlockwise. Your own side is always drawn along the bottom of the screen.
How to play
- Choose one of your pockets and pick up every stone in it. Empty pockets cannot be chosen.
- Sow the stones one at a time into the following pockets, moving anticlockwise.
- You drop a stone into your own store as you pass it, but you skip every other player's store. Stones in a store stay there.
- If your last stone lands in your own store, you take another turn.
- If your last stone lands in an empty pocket on your own side, you capture: that stone and all the stones in the matching pocket on the other side go into your store. If the matching pocket is empty, nothing is captured and the stone stays where it landed.
Winning and scoring
- The game ends the moment any player's pockets are all empty.
- Every stone still on the board goes into the store of the player whose side it is on.
- The player with the most stones in their store wins. Equal counts share a place. You may also give up, which puts you last.
Common variants
- Starting stones: three, four and six per pocket are all common; four is the usual choice. More stones make a longer game. Here you can choose three or four.
- Empty captures: some rules still capture your last stone when the matching pocket is empty. Here the stone just stays in the pocket.
- Oware (Awale), the classic West African game, is a different mancala: stores are not sown into, and you capture when your last stone makes two or three stones in a pocket on your opponent's side.
- Japanese Mancala, also on this site, is another relative with no captures: the first player to empty their own side wins.
Defaults on this site
| Item | Default on this site |
|---|---|
| Players | 2–4 players (set automatically by the party size) |
| Turn time limit | None by default (the host can set 30 or 60 seconds) |
| If someone drops mid-game | Reopening on the same device returns you to your seat. If you do not return, the CPU plays in your place. |
| Draws | In ranked play, a draw counts as halfway between a win and a loss for your rating. |
| Source of the rules | Based on the standard reference rules |
Rules supervised by Qdan, Inc. (based on the standard reference rules)
House rules
Defaults follow the standard reference rules. The party can change these.
| Name | Description | Default | Changeable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pockets each | How many pockets each player owns. With 2 players choose six or seven; with 3 or 4 players choose six or four. A number that does not fit the table falls back to six. | Six | Can be changed |
| Stones per pocket | How many stones start in each pocket. Fewer stones means a shorter game. | Four | Can be changed |
| Whose stones you captureWhose stones you captureIf your last stone lands in an empty pocket on your side, you capture the stones in the matching opponent pocket plus that last stone into your store. This setting decides whose matching pocket you take from. With Everyone, you take from every other player's matching pocket, so a single capture can be big and comebacks are more common. | Only applies with 3 or 4 players: whose matching pocket you empty when you land in an empty pocket of your own. With 2 players there is only one opponent, so every choice behaves the same. With 3 players nobody sits opposite, so "the player opposite" means the next player. | The next player | Can be changed |
| Swap who starts | Swap the starting player after each game. | On | Can be changed |
Terms
- One of the hollows that holds stones. You own six of them (seven or four by setting).
- Store
- The large hollow at the end of your side. The stones you gather there decide the game.
- Sow
- To drop the stones you lifted one at a time into the following hollows.
- Extra turn
- The free turn you get when your last stone lands in your own store.
- Capture
- Taking the matching pocket's stones, plus your own last stone, into your store.
- Matching pocket
- Count n pockets back from your store; the matching pocket is the n-th from the opponent's entrance. With two players it sits directly opposite.
FAQ
Do stones go into other players' stores?
No. In Kalah you skip every store but your own.
Is the pocket I emptied skipped?
No. If you have enough stones to go right round, that pocket gets one too.
Where is the matching pocket?
Count n pockets back from your store; the match is the n-th pocket from the opponent's entrance. With two players it is directly opposite. Choosing a pocket marks it on screen.
What if the matching pocket is empty?
You capture nothing, and the stone you just placed stays where it is.
Whose stones do I take with 3 or 4 players?
Whatever the table is set to. The default is the next player; you can also choose the player opposite, or everyone. With 3 players nobody sits opposite, so that choice takes from the next player.
Can a game be drawn?
Yes. Players with the same number of stones in their store share a place.
How is this different from Japanese Mancala (Mancala Basic)?
Mancala (Kalah, this game) is won by collecting the most stones in your store, and landing in an empty pocket of your own captures the stones opposite — the version most English speakers mean by mancala. Japanese Mancala (Mancala Basic) is won by being the first to empty your own side, with no capturing — the version spread in Japan by the Japan Recreation Association.
Play now with these rules
Last updated 2026-09-14 · Run by Qdan, Inc.