Mancalah

This Mancalah variant is not typical for a specific region, it just illustrates the essence of many Mancalah games.

Start of the game:

The board consists of 2 rows of 6 cups. Between the two rows there are 2 extra cups, called the kalahs, at the edges of the board, one for each player. At the start of the game each cup except the 2 kalahs receives 4 beans. There is no difference in colour or type of beans, all beans are considered equal and used by both players.

Thus the initial situation should look like:

	4	4	4	4	4	4
0							0
	4	4	4	4	4	4

Lets say the top row belongs to player A, the bottom row to player B. Assume that player B starts. Players should agree on who starts. For fairness, consider playing 2 games, with both being first player in one of the games.

How to play:

• A player takes the entire content of one of the cups in his own row. He never takes his kalah.
• He distributes them by adding one of the beans from his hand to all cups, going round counter clockwise. He does add one bean to his kalah should he continue after his own row, and he continues distributing along his opponents row. Should he still have beans in his hand left, he adds one to his opponents kalah, and continues at his own row.
• If the opposing player has no beans left, and the active player can make a move in such a way that his opponent receives one or more beans, he must do so.

The end:

The game ends when a player has no beans to play when it is his turn.

The score:

Every player counts the beans in his own kalah. The player with the most beans in his kalah wins the game.

Example:

Player B moves his first cup:

	4	4	4	4	4	4
0							0
	0	5	5	5	5	4

Player A  moves his last cup:

	0	4	4	4	4	4
1							0
	1	6	6	5	5	4

Player B moves his first cup again:

	0	4	4	4	4	4
1							0
	0	7	6	5	5	4

Player A moves his fourth cup:

	1	5	5	0	4	4
2							0
	0	7	6	5	5	4

Player B:

	1	5	5	0	5	5
2							1
	0	7	6	0	6	5

and so on.