Mancala Strategy and Tips
Here is how to think about winning at Mancala, split into short lessons. Each one reads on its own, and each one comes with a real position: press Try it on the board and you play the move yourself.
Chain your extra turns
Lesson 1
The extra turn is the strongest thing in Kalah. If the last stone of a sowing lands in your own goal, the turn does not pass and you sow again. Your opponent's goal is skipped, so only your own counts. A pocket fits exactly when the number of stones in it equals the number of spaces to your goal.
Two pockets fit here: the one on the far right, one space from the goal with one stone, and the third from the left, four spaces away with four stones. Use the right-hand one first; sowing the third pocket afterwards drops a fresh stone back into it, so you can use it a second time. Right, third, right again — three sowings, and your goal climbs from six to nine.
The fifth pocket with its six stones looks tempting, but it is only two spaces from the goal, so it runs straight past and hands four stones to your opponent, along with the turn. When two pockets fit, play the one that will fit again.
Capture with an empty pocket
Lesson 2
Captures are where the points come from in Kalah. If your last stone lands in an empty pocket on your own side, that stone and every stone in the pocket facing it go into your goal. If the facing pocket is empty you capture nothing and the stone simply stays put. So the pattern to hunt for is an empty pocket of yours with a well-stocked pocket across from it.
The fifth pocket from the left holds a single stone here. Sow it and it drops neatly into the empty pocket next door, which faces nine enemy stones: ten stones in all go to your goal. Your goal rises from five to fifteen and your opponent's side falls from seventeen to eight.
The eight stones at the far left look like the big move, but they add just one to your goal — and let your opponent capture six in reply. Remember that a pocket holding one stone can be worth ten.
Defend against the capture
Lesson 3
Your opponent can see the capture shape too. If they have an empty pocket and your pile sits across from it, one well-aimed last stone takes the whole pile. There are two ways to defend: move the threatened pile so there is less to take, or drop a stone into their empty pocket so it is no longer empty.
This position is dangerous. Sow the third pocket from the left and your opponent answers by capturing twelve. The second pocket leaves eleven, the fourth leaves twelve as well. Count them and every quiet move is a disaster.
Sowing the nine stones on the right deals with both halves at once. The threatened pile is gone, and the sowing also fills the empty pocket your opponent was aiming at, so their best capture drops to nothing. Your own side falls from twenty to thirteen at the same time. When you see the shape, look first for the move that kills it.
Count the stones at the end
Lesson 4
A game of Kalah ends the moment either side's row is empty. Whatever is still on the board then goes into the goal of the player whose side it sits on. Forty-eight stones are in play, so twenty-five wins. Near the end, add your goal and your own row together and compare.
Here your goal holds fourteen and your opponent's holds nine; your row holds twenty and theirs holds five. Sow the three stones on the far left and the last one lands in an empty pocket of yours, capturing the five opposite for six in total — and that empties your opponent's row. The game stops there, the nineteen stones still on your side are swept into your goal, and you win thirty-nine to nine.
Sowing the eleven on the right captures seven and lifts your goal to twenty-two, but the game goes on. The biggest capture and the move that ends the game are not the same move. At the end, choose by the final total, not by the size of the capture.
Try it on the board
Pick a lesson and the board starts from that position. Start over as often as you like.
Rules in brief
- Set upTwo checkers on your 24 point, five on your 13, three on your 8 and five on your 6. Each player rolls one die; the higher roll starts.
- Take turnsTwo dice are rolled for you at the start of your turn. Move one checker per die, and use as many dice as you legally can. Doubles give you four moves.
- HitYou may not land on a point held by two or more enemy checkers. Land on a lone one and it goes to the bar, and nothing else moves until it comes back in.
- WinOnce all fifteen of your checkers are home (points 1 to 6) you can bear them off. First to bear off all fifteen wins.
- When all fifteen of your checkers are home (points 1 to 6), you may start bearing off: a die takes a checker off the matching point.
- If no checker sits on a higher point than the die, you may bear off from your highest occupied point instead.
- Being hit during the bear-off sends that checker to the bar, and you cannot bear off again until all fifteen are home once more.
- The first player to bear off all fifteen wins. If the loser has borne off none, it is a gammon and counts double; if they also have a checker on the bar or in the winner's home board, it is a backgammon and counts triple.
- With the doubling cube switched on, you may double at the start of your turn. Your opponent either takes — doubling the stake — or drops, ending the game at the current value.
- Set upOnly the dark squares of the 8×8 board are used. Each player fills the three ranks nearest them with twelve pieces. Black moves first.
- Take turnsA piece steps one square diagonally forward onto an empty square. If an enemy piece sits diagonally ahead with an empty square beyond it, you jump over and capture it.
- CaptureIf a capture is available you must take it. If the same piece can jump again from where it landed, it keeps jumping.
- WinTake every enemy piece, or leave your opponent with no legal move, and you win.
- Take every one of your opponent's pieces and you win.
- You also win if your opponent has no legal move at all, and either player may resign.
- If the same position appears three times, the game is a draw.
- If forty moves pass, counting both players, with no capture and no move by an ordinary piece, the game is a draw. It ends endgames where kings only circle each other.
- Set upEach player starts with 16 pieces on an 8×8 board. White moves first.
- Take turnsMove one piece per turn. Landing on an enemy piece takes it off the board.
- CheckWhen your king could be taken next move, you are in check and must get out of it.
- WinNo way out of check is checkmate and you lose. No legal move without being in check is a draw.
- A king that could be taken next move is in check, and you must get out of it. If no move does, it is checkmate and the player in check loses.
- If you are not in check but have no legal move at all, it is stalemate and the game is drawn.
- The game is also drawn when the same position appears three times, when fifty moves pass with no capture and no pawn move, or when neither side has enough material to give mate.
- You may resign at any time; resigning loses the game.
- Set upShuffle and deal the whole deck evenly. Three to six players.
- Take turnsBeat the cards on the table, or pass.
- Empty your handThe order in which players run out sets the ranks, from millionaire down to beggar.
- Swap and repeatBefore the next round the beggar hands over their best cards and the millionaire gives back any two.
- The order in which players empty their hands sets the ranks: millionaire, rich, commoner, poor and beggar (how many steps there are depends on the number of players).
- Finishing on a joker, a 2, an 8 or the three of spades is a foul finish and drops you to last place for that round.
- If last round's millionaire is beaten to first place, they fall from grace and take last place for that round at once.
- After the agreed number of rounds, the player with the most points wins (millionaire +2, rich +1, commoner 0, poor -1, beggar -2).
- Set upBlack plays first on a 9x9 board. Stones sit on the crossings of the lines.
- Take turnsPlace one stone at a time. Fill every empty point beside an enemy group and you take it off the board.
- StopWhen neither side wants to play, both pass. You then agree which stones are dead.
- WinTerritory plus captures decides it. White also gets 6.5 points of komi.
- When both players pass in a row, play stops.
- You then agree which stones on the board are dead: press them to mark them, and press Confirm on both sides. If you cannot agree, press Back to play and settle it on the board.
- Add your territory (empty points surrounded by your stones alone) to your prisoners (stones you captured plus your opponent's dead stones), give white 6.5 points of komi, and the larger total wins.
- You may also resign, and the player who resigns loses.
- Set upBlack goes first on a 15×15 board. Stones sit on the line crossings.
- Take turnsPlace one stone at a time. Stones never move once placed.
- Line up fiveA row of five in any direction — up, across or diagonal — ends the game.
- WinThe player who lines up five wins. A full board with no line is a draw.
- The first player to line up five stones wins.
- If the board fills with no line of five, the game is a draw.
- By default we do not use the opening restrictions on black (double three, double four, overline). A party can turn them on.
- Set upEach player fills the rank nearest them with nine pawns on the 9×9 board. Black moves first, then players alternate.
- Take turnsA piece slides any distance along its row or its column, over empty squares only. Nothing may be jumped over.
- CaptureTrap enemy pieces between two of yours along a row or a column and they are captured. A piece in a corner falls to the two squares beside it.
- WinCapture five enemy pieces and you win. A player with no move left also loses.
- Capture five of your opponent's pieces and you win.
- A player with no legal move at all loses at once, and either player may resign.
- If the same position appears four times, the game is drawn by repetition and is played again.
- House rules can change the goal: win by a lead of three captures, or by capturing every enemy piece.
- Set upDeal out the whole deck, then pass three cards to another player.
- Take turnsThe two of clubs leads. Follow the suit that was led if you can.
- PointsThe highest card of the suit led takes the trick. Hearts are 1 each, the queen of spades is 13.
- Lowest winsThe game ends when somebody reaches 100. The lowest score wins.
- Every heart you take is one point and the queen of spades is thirteen, so each deal hands out 26 points in total.
- Take all 26 yourself and you shoot the moon: you score nothing and everyone else takes 26.
- The game ends with the deal in which somebody reaches 100. The lowest score wins.
- Set upShuffle the 48 cards, lay 8 on the table and deal 8 to each player.
- Take turnsPlay a card to capture a matching month, then flip one from the deck and do the same.
- Make a combinationBrights, animals, ribbons and plains form combinations that score points.
- Stop or Koi-KoiWhen you score, stop the round and bank the points, or call Koi-Koi and keep going.
- Combinations score: Five Brights 10, Four Brights 8, Rainy Four Brights 7, Three Brights 5, Flower Viewing 5, Moon Viewing 5, Boar-Deer-Butterfly 5, Red Poem Ribbons 5, Blue Ribbons 5.
- Five animals score 1, five ribbons score 1 and ten plains score 1 — each extra card adds one more point.
- Only the highest of the Bright combinations counts.
- A round worth seven points or more is doubled.
- After the agreed number of rounds (twelve by default), the higher total wins.
- Set upPlay with 4 players (3 in the settings). Deal 13 tiles to everyone once a dealer is set.
- Take turnsDraw one tile to hold 14, then discard one. Discards can be called for pon, chi or kan.
- Win a handComplete a hand such as four sets and a pair with at least one yaku, and the score is worked out for you.
- FinishAfter the chosen length (half-game by default), the highest total score wins.
- A hand is complete once it forms four sets and a pair (or seven pairs, or the rare thirteen orphans) with at least one yaku. Fu and han are counted automatically, so the score appears without you working it out.
- Winning off your own draw is tsumo; winning off another player's discard is ron, and more than one player can ron the same discard at once.
- Any leftover riichi sticks and honba counters go to the winner sitting closest, counter-clockwise, to the player who dealt into them.
- Once the chosen length is finished (half-game by default: East 1 through South 4), the game ends. Scores are converted to points with a fixed bonus for finishing position, and the highest total wins.
- A 3-player game removes the 2 through 8 of characters (108 tiles total) and has no chi, but on your turn you may instead set aside a north tile — each one you set aside is worth an extra han of dora, and you draw a replacement tile for it.
- A 3-player game starts everyone at 35,000 points, and the target score and finishing bonus are set slightly differently from the 4-player game (see “3-player rules” below).
- SetupEach player has six pockets with four stones in each, and a store at their right-hand end.
- PlayLift every stone from one pocket and sow them anticlockwise. You sow through your own store but skip everyone else's.
- CaptureIf your last stone lands in an empty pocket of your own, take it and the matching pocket's stones into your store.
- WinningThe game ends as soon as any player's side is empty. Most stones in your store wins.
- The game ends the moment any player's side is completely 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 resign, which puts you last.
- SetupEach player has six pockets with four stones in each, and a store at their right-hand end.
- PlayPick one of your pockets, lift every stone, and drop them one at a time into the pockets going anticlockwise. Stores count.
- Extra turnIf your last stone lands in any store, you sow again.
- WinningThe first player whose own side is completely empty wins.
- If your own side is empty the moment you finish sowing, you win.
- With 3 or 4 players the winner's pockets and store are lifted off the board and the rest play on. Finishing order is the ranking, and whoever is left last comes last.
- Turn that setting off and the game stops at the first player to empty their side; the rest are ranked by how few stones they have left.
- You may also resign, which puts you last.
- Set upShuffle the 108 cards — four colours, thirteen kinds — and deal seven each. Two to six players.
- Take turnsPlay a card of the same colour or the same number. Same number? Play as many as you like at once.
- CallDown to one card, call "Page One!". Forget, get called out, and draw five.
- Empty your handThe order in which players run out sets the places, from first down.
- Down to one card, call "Page One!". If somebody calls you out first, you draw five.
- The order in which players empty their hands sets the places: first, second and so on.
- A player out with too many cards takes the lowest place still open at that moment.
- When only one player is left, they take the next place and the game ends.
- Set upFour discs sit in the middle of the 8×8 board, two black and two white, crosswise. Black starts.
- Take turnsPlace one disc so it sandwiches your opponent's. Every disc you sandwich flips to your colour.
- PassingA player with no legal square passes automatically, and the other player goes again.
- WinThe game ends when the board is full or neither player can move. The most discs wins.
- The game ends when the board is full, or when neither player has a legal move.
- Whoever has more discs on the board at that point wins.
- An equal number of discs is a draw.
- Set upDeal out the whole deck and lay the four sevens on the table. Three to six players.
- Take turnsLay one card next to a card already there — same suit, one step up or down.
- PassPass if you cannot or will not play. Run out of passes and you are out.
- Empty your handThe order in which players run out sets the places, from first down.
- The order in which players empty their hands sets the places: first, second and so on.
- A player who is out takes the lowest place still open at that moment.
- When only one player is left, they take the next place and the game ends.
- Set upEach player lines up 20 pieces on their side of the 9×9 board. Black moves first, then players alternate.
- Take turnsEvery piece has its own move. Move onto a square held by your opponent and you capture that piece.
- Promote and dropMoving into or out of the far three ranks lets you flip a piece over to make it stronger. Captured pieces can be dropped back on any empty square as your own.
- WinCheckmate the opposing king — attack it so that no move saves it — and you win. Resigning also ends the game.
- Check the opposing king so that nothing saves it — checkmate — and you win.
- A player with no legal move at all also loses, and either player may resign.
- If the same position appears four times, the game is drawn by repetition and is played again.
- The exception: if one player reached that repetition by checking every time, that player loses.
Now put it to work
Last updated 2026-09-14 · Run by Qdan, Inc.