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Vying Games : Kalah

Kalah is a board game from the mancala family. In some parts of the world it's actually known as Mancala.

How to Play

This game is played by two players on a mancala board with 2 rows of 6 cups. When the game begins, each cup is filled with between 3 and 6 seeds, depending on the options you choose. The default is 6 seeds per cup. Each player works from the cups on their side of the board. At Vying Games, you'll always play the bottom cups. On the left and right sides of the board are two scoring cups, where captured seeds are stored. Your scoring cup will be on the right side, next to your name.

Sowing

The players take turns sowing seeds around the board. Seeds are sown by removing all the seeds from one of your cups and placing them, one seed at a time, in each of the cups in a counter-clockwise direction. In Kalah, you sow seeds into your own scoring cup, but skip the other player's scoring cup.

Extra Turn

When sowing, if your last seed lands in your scoring cup, you'll receive an extra turn. If the last seed lands anywhere else, your turn is over.

Capturing

If your last seed lands in one of your own empty cups (excluding your scoring cup), it is captured, along with any seeds in opposite cup (on your opponents side).

Winning

The game ends when one of the players is out of seeds, and, thus, cannot move on his or her turn. The other player captures any seeds remaining on their side of the board.

The player who scores the most seeds wins.

First Player Bias

In Kalah, the first player has a strong strategic advantage. This is countered by having a larger number of default seeds per cup (6).

Additionally, Kalah uses the pie rule. After the first player makes the first move of the game, the second player may elect to swap sides or play a move as the second player. The idea is that the first player must make a balanced first move -- if it's too good the second player will swap sides, if it's not good enough the second player will take advantage. If the first move is fair, it won't matter what the second player does.