List of mancala games

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Games in the mancala family include:

1 Popular games
2 Games with unusual features
3 Other games
4 External links

[edit] Popular games

The most widely played games are probably:

Pallanguzhi is played in Southern India with 2 x 7 stores. Two varieties of this game are popular - Kaashi and Bank
Oware, the national game of Ghana, is also known by Warri, Ayo, Awele, Awari, Ouril, and other names. It has relatively simple rules but considerable strategic depth. The board is 2×6 with stores.
Kalah is the ruleset usually included with commercially available boards; however, the game is heavily biased towards the first player, and it is often considered a children's game. The board is 2×6 with stores.
Omweso (also known as coro) is a strategic game of Uganda, played on an 8×4 board.
Bao is a complex strategy game, also played on an 8×4 board.

[edit] Games with unusual features

Eson xorgol, a game played by the Kazakh minority in western Mongolia, is traditionally played with goat feces. The board is 2×5.
Das Bohnenspiel is a German mancala based on a Persian game not unlike some African mancala variants. The board is 2×6 with stores.
//Hus is a Namibian game which, although a perfect information game, has sometimes been classified as a game of chance. The board is 4×8.
Christian Freeling has invented a complex mancala-style game with different coloured stones, called The Glass Bead Game; apparently after the Hermann Hesse novel ([1])
55Stones is a modern mancala game with simultaneous moves.

[edit] Other games

Abangah (The Azande in Sudan) The board is 2×8 with stores.
Agsinnoninka (Philippines)
Aw-li on-nam ot-tjin (Borneo)
Ba-awa (Ghana) The board is 2×6 with stores.
Bajangkaq (Sumatra)
Bantumi
Bao (mancala game) (Kenya) The board is 4×8.
Baqura (Mesopotamia)
Bau (Wa Chaga)
Beatta (Arabia, Teyma)
Chanka (India, Sri Lanka)
Cherrapunji (Khasis) The board is 2×7 with stores.
Chonka (Borneo)
Choro
Chuba (USA) The board is 4×11 with stores.
Chuncajon (Philippines)^[1]
Chongkak (Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines) The board is 2×7 with stores.
Contu-Holo (Djuka in Dutch Guiana)
Cups (U.S.A. New York)
Dakon (Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines) The board is 2×7
Dara-dara (Celebes)
Daramutu (Sri Lanka)
Ellaewala-kanda (Sri Lanka)
Gabatta (Abyssinia)
Galatjang (Celebes)
Gambatta (Abyssinia)
Halusa (Mesopotamia)
Hollywood Buttons (Austin, TX, U.S.)
Ingilith (Turkana)
Isafu
Isafuba
Kale (Gabun)
Kaloleh (Sumatra)
Kapo (Senegal)
Kanj guti (Orissa)
Khutka boia (India, Punjab)
Kotu-baendum (Sri Lanka)
Kubuguza^[2]
La'b Madjnuni
La'b Hakimi
La'b Akila
La'b Roseya
Li'b al-ghashim
Longbeu-a-cha (Assam)
Madji (Benni in Nigeria)
Mak Khom (Siam)
Mancala (Egypt, Syria)
Mandoli (Island of Hydra)
Mangala (Nubia)
Matoe (Soemba)
Mawkar katiya (Assam)
Mbau (Kenya, Kilimanjaro region)
Mechiwa (Bali)
Mefuvha^[3]
Meuchoh (Achehn in Sumatra)
Meulieh (Achehn in Sumatra)
Meusueb (Achehn in Sumatra)
Meuta' (Achehn in Sumatra)
Naranj
Nsolo Zambian version of mancala
Ô ăn quan/O^ a(n quan (Viet Nam) game is 2 mandarin boxes x5 ponds each, with 25 stones or tamarind seeds each
Ouril (Cape Verde)
Pachgarhwa (India)
Pallanguzhi, also known as Pallankuli (Tamils in India)
Pereauni
Poo (Liberia)
Puhulmuti (Sri Lanka)
Sai (Flores)
Sat-gol (India)
Songo^[4]
Sungka (Philippines)
Til guti
Toee (Bongo in Sudan)
Toguz korgool (Kyrgyzstan) The board is 2×9 with stores
Vai lung thlan (Lushei Kuki clan in Assam)
Vamana guntalu (Andhra Pradesh, India)
Walak-pussa (Sri Lanka)
Warri (Ghana, Nigeria)^[5] The board is 2×6 with stores
Wawee (Leeward Islands)

Information about most of these games can be found in one of the following,

^ Stewart Culin, Philippine Games, American Anthropologist, Vol. 2, No. 4. (Oct-Dec 1900), pp. 643-656.
^ Alan P. Merriam, The Game of Kubuguza Among the Abatutsi of North-East Ruanda. Man, Vol. 53. (November 1953), pp. 169-172.
^ H. A. Stayt, The Bavenda.
^ P. H. G. Powell-Cotton, H. J. Braunholtz, A Mancala Board Called "Songo.", Man. Vol. 31. (July 1931), pp. 123.
^ Henry R. Muller, Warri: A West African Game of Skill, The Journal of American Folklore. Vol. 43, No. 169. pp. 313-316.

HJR Murray, History of Board Games other than Chess (1952)
Laurence Russ, Mancala Games (1984)
H. J. Braunholtz, The Game of Mweso in Uganda., Man. Vol. 31. (July 1931), pp. 121-122.