A board game for two players

Mancala games are a family of two-player, turn-based strategy board games. They are played with small stones, beans, or seeds placed in rows of holes or pits on a board, the ground, or another playing surface. The objective is typically to capture all or a specific set of the opponent's pieces. (Wikipedia).

The mancala family includes many games, such as Oware, Bao, Omweso, and others.

This is an implementation of several mancala games, including Kalah, Oware, and Congkak.

The game provides a board and a number of seeds or counters. The board features six small pits, called houses, on each side, and a large pit, known as an end zone or store, at each end. The objective is to capture more seeds than your opponent.

Kalah Rules:

1. At the start of the game, four (or five to six) seeds are placed in each house.

2. Each player controls the six houses and their seeds on their own side of the board. A player's score is the number of seeds in the store to their right.

3. Players take turns sowing seeds. On a turn, a player removes all seeds from one of their houses. Moving counter-clockwise, the player drops one seed into each subsequent house, including their own store but not their opponent's.

4. If the last sown seed lands in an empty house owned by the player, and the opponent's opposite house contains seeds, both the last seed and the seeds in the opposite house are captured and placed into the player's store.

5. If the last sown seed lands in the player's own store, the player gets an extra move. There is no limit to the number of consecutive moves a player can make in one turn.

6. When a player has no seeds left in any of their houses, the game ends. The other player moves all remaining seeds into their store, and the player with the most seeds in their store wins.

Oware Rules:

1. At the beginning of the game, four (or five or six) seeds are placed in each house. Each player controls the six houses and seeds on their side. The player's score is the number of seeds in the store to their right.

2. On a turn, the player removes all seeds from one of their houses and sows them by dropping one seed into each subsequent house counter-clockwise. Seeds are not sown into the end scoring houses (stores) or back into the starting house, which is left empty. If a house contains 12 or more seeds, it is skipped during sowing, and the 12th seed goes into the next house.

3. Capturing happens only when a player's final sown seed brings an opponent's house to exactly two or three seeds. This captures all seeds in that house. The capture may extend backwards: if the previous seed sown also brought an opponent's house to two or three seeds, those are captured too, continuing until a house does not contain two or three seeds or does not belong to the opponent. Captured seeds go into the player's scoring store.

4. If all of an opponent's houses are empty, the current player must make a move that provides the opponent with seeds. If no such move is possible, the player captures all seeds on their own side, ending the game.

5. The game ends when one player has captured more than half of the total seeds, or if both players have captured exactly half (resulting in a draw).

What's New in the Latest Version 1.4.1

Last updated on Aug 6, 2024 - Bug fixes