Das Bohnenspiel

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Das Bohnenspiel
Ranks	Two
Sowing	Single lap
Region	Germany

Das Bohnenspiel ("the bean game") is a German mancala game described in the 1937 Deutsche Spielhandbuch.

[edit] Rules

Starting position for Das Bohnenspiel.

The field consists of two rows of six pits each. The game starts with six beans in each pit.

Each player "owns" the six pits closest to himself. The player whose turn it is to play chooses any one of his pits which contains at least one bean. He removes all the beans from this pit and sows them counterclockwise. Sowing is accomplished by selecting a pit, removing all the pieces from that pit, and dropping them one-by-one in each subsequent pit, until all have been used.

If the last bean ends up in a pit which, after sowing, contains exactly two, four, or six beans (but no other number), all beans in this pit are captured. If any capture is made, the preceding pit is checked (and its beans possibly captured) according to the same rule, and so forth.

If the player whose turn it is to move cannot move, the game ends and all beans on the board go to the other player.

The goal is to capture a majority (i.e., at least 37) of the beans.