By Kirsten Richards

What is Mancala? Mancala is a board

game that has been played for thousands of years

One of the oldest games around

You can play the game with any thing that you can find

http://www.boardgamesusa.com/mas_assets/full/104324.jpg

How to Play! To start, place four

stones into each small cup on the board

Decide who goes first

After the first player takes his/her turn, then you alternate taking turns

Keep alternating turns until you run out of stones

Use strategies to help you win the game

The person who has the most stones in their mancala goal wins

Strategies to Help You Win!

Raiding- When a player captures a bin of the opponent’s pebbles by placing the last pebble of a move in an empty bin on ones own side of the board, directly across from the opponent’s bin being raided.

http://www.corngolem.com/john/gp/board1.gif

Strategies Cont. Hoarding- Hoarding

occurs when a player allows pebbles to accumulate in a certain bin, refusing to play that bin

Rushing- to go out of pebbles quickly on ones own side of the board

Stalling- Opposite of rushing, waiting out so that you don’t run out of pebbles directly

Starving- starving ones opponent is refusing to repopulate the opponent’s side with pebbles carried around beyond ones own mancala

Strategies Cont. Stuffing- A defense

strategy against raiding and being rushed out of the game. It is also the opposite of starving.

Looping- When you have so many pebbles that you can make a full trip all the way around the board to earn pieces.

Sacrificing- Hopes in which you sacrifice one or two stones hoping to get a bigger reward in future moves.

Setting Up- Strategy used by more advanced players. You set up your opponent to fall into your traps so that you win more pieces

Mancala Related to Math 115?

I have found that mancala is related to math for liberal arts by the game we talked about in class, Fibonacci Nim.

Just like in Fibonacci Nim, mancala has strategies that are helpful for you to win the game.

In Fibonacci Nim, you have to take as many sticks to get to the next Fibonacci number so that you have a better chance of winning.

Mancala Related to Math 115?

While you can not use the same strategy as Fibonacci Nim, you can create your own or use some of the ones I have listed before.

In mancala, if you strategize well, you can manipulate the game so that you can win.

Mancala is also considered to be a thinking game. You have to plan out your next moves in order for the game to go in your favor.

You Can Play Online! With the link below, you

can play an online version of the game mancala against a computer player!

http://www.aflcio.org/unionshop/games/game_mancala.cfm