List of mancala games

Games in the mancala family include:

Popular games

A modern, European Bao/Omweso board with jade gemstones

The most widely played games are probably:

• Bao is a complex strategy game of Kenya and Zanzibar, played on a 4×8 board.
• 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.
• Oware, the national game of Ghana, is also known by Warri,^[1] Ayo (Yoruba Name. Nigeria), Awele, Awari, Ouril, and other names. It has relatively simple rules but considerable strategic depth. The board is 2×6 with stores.
• Omweso (also known as coro) is a strategic game of Uganda, played on a 4×8 board.
• Pallanguzhi is played in Tamil nadu, Southern India with 2 x 7 stores. Two varieties of this game are popular, Kaashi and Bank.

Games with unusual features

• Bohnenspiel is a German mancala based on a Persian game not unlike some African mancala variants. The board is 2×6 with stones.
• Eson xorgol, a game played by the Kazakh minority in western Mongolia, is traditionally played with goat feces. The board is 2×5.
• //Hus is a Namibian game. The board is 4×8.

Non-traditional games

• Conga (Martin Franke; Germany)
• Cups (Arthur Amberstone and Wald Amberstone; United States: New York)
• The Glass Bead Game (Christian Freeling) is a complex mancala-style game with different colored stones.
• Oh-Wah-Ree is a commercial variant of oware with provision for more than two players.
• 55Stones is a modern mancala game with simultaneous moves.
• Kauri is a modern mancala game with two kinds of seeds.
• Space Walk is a modern boardgame with mancala mechanic.
• Trajan is a modern boardgame variant with mancala mechanic.
• Five Tribes is a modern boardgame variant with mancala mechanic.

Traditional games

Omweso (or Igisoro) players in Kigali, Rwanda

• Abangah (the Azande of Sudan) The board is 2×8 with stores.
• Agsinnoninka (Philippines)
• Ali Guli Mane (India—Karnataka)
• Anywoli (Ethiopia, Sudan)
• Aw-li On-nam Ot-tjin (Borneo)
• Aweet (Sudan, Namibia)
• Ba-awa (Ghana) The board is 2×6 with stores.
• Bajangkaq (Sumatra)
• Baqura (Mesopotamia)
• Bay Khom (Cambodia)
• Bau (the Wa Chaga)
• Beatta (Tayma)
• Bohnenspiel (Germany)
• Chanka (India, Sri Lanka)
• Chenna Maaney (In Tulu language, South India)
• Chisolo (Zambia)
• Chonka (Borneo)
• Chongka, or Tchonka (Marianas)
• Choro
• Chuncajon (Philippines)^[2]
• Congkak (Indonesia, Malaysia) The board is 2×7 with stores.
• Coro (Ugando)
• Dakon (Java island of Indonesia)
• Dara-dara (Indonesia—Sulawesi)
• Daramutu (Sri Lanka)
• Ellaewala-kanda (Sri Lanka)
• En Gehé (Maasai of Tanzania)
• Gabata (Ethiopia)
• Galatjang (Sulawesi)
• Halusa (Mesopotamia)
• Hawalis (Oman)
• Igisoro (Rwanda - Burundi)
• Ingilith (the Turkana of Kenya)
• Isafu
• Isafuba
• J'erin (Nigeria)

Vietnamese children playing ô ăn quan

• Kale (Gabon)
• Kaloleh (Sumatra)
• Kapo (Senegal)
• Kanji guti (India—Odisha)
• Kiela (Angola)
• Khutka boia (India—Punjab)
• Kotu-baendum (Sri Lanka)
• Kombe (Kenya)
• Kubuguza^[3]
• La'b Madjnuni (Syria)
• La'b Hakimi, or La'b Akila (Syria)
• La'b Roseya (Syria)
• Layli Goobalay (Somalia)
• Li'b al-ghashim
• Longbeu-a-cha (India—Assam)
• Lontu-Holo (the Maroon of Suriname)
• Madji (the Benni of Nigeria)
• Main chakot (Thailand)
  

  Thai Mancala board (possibly Mai Chakot or Mak Khom), as displayed in the Institute of Southern Thai Studies near Songkhla.
• Mak Khom (Thailand)
  

  Photograph of two Thai girls playing with a mancala board, possibly the game Main Chakot or Mak Khom.
• Mancala'h (Egypt, Syria)
• Mandoli (Greece— Hydra)
• Mangala (Egypt, Turkey - different rules)
• Matoe (Indonesia—Sumba)
• Mawkar katiya (India—Assam)
• Mbau (Kenya— Kilimanjaro region of the Rift Valley)
• Mechiwa (Bali)
• Mefuvha^[4]
• Melegayası (Turkey) The board is 2×9 with stores.
• Mereköçdü (Azerbaycan) The board is a circle of six holes. Each player has 21 stones.
• Meuchoh (Sumatra—Aceh)
• Meulieh (Sumatra—Aceh)
• Meusueb (Sumatra—Aceh)
• Meuta' (Sumatra—Aceh)
• Minkale (Bin Kale) (Turkey)
• Mongale (Kenya)
• Mongola (Congo, Rwanda)
• Naranj (Maldives)
• Nsolo (Zambia)
• Ô ăn quan (Viet Nam) game is 2 mandarin boxes x5 ponds each, with 25 stones or tamarind seeds each
• Obridjie (Nigeria)
• Ouril (Cape Verde)
• Pachgarhwa (India)
• Vaamana Guntalu (Telugu name, India - Andhra Pradesh)
• Pallanguzhi (Tamil of India), also known as Pallankuli.
• Pereauni (Uganda)
• Poo (Liberia)
• Puhulmuti (Sri Lanka)
• Sai (Flores)
• Sat-gol (India)
• Songo^[5]
• Sungka (Philippines)
• Til-guti (India)
• Toee (Sudan)
• Toguz korgool (Kyrgyzstan) The board is 2×9 with stores.
• Toguz Kumalak (Kazakhstan); same as Toguz korgool
• Vai Lung Thlan (the Mizo in Mizoram, India)
• Walak-pussa (Sri Lanka)
• Warra (United States)
• Wa-wee (Santa Lucia)
• 散窯 (Sàn yáo) (China—Henan)
• 老牛棋 (Lǎo niú qí) (China—Anhui)
• 分六煲棋 (Fēn liù bāo qí) (China—Guangdong)

References

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

• H. J. R. 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.

External links

• The Game of Igisoro, or Omweso, in East Africa
• Oware/Awale and other Mancala games - an informative page