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Games in the mancala family include:
Popular games
The most widely played games are probably:
- Oware, the national game of Ghana, is also known by Warri, Ayo, Awele, Awari, Ouril, and other names. It has relatively simple rules but considerable strategic depth. The board is 2×6 with stores.
- 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.
- Omweso (also known as coro) is a strategic game of Uganda, played on an 8×4 board.
- Bao is a complex strategy game, also played on an 8×4 board.
Games with unusual features
- Eson xorgol, a game played by the Kazakh minority in western Mongolia, is traditionally played with goat feces. The board is 2×5.
- Das Bohnenspiel is a German mancala based on a Persian game not unlike some African mancala variants. The board is 2×6 with stores.
- //Hus is a Namibian game which, although a perfect information game, has sometimes been classified as a game of chance. The board is 4×8.
- Christian Freeling has invented a complex mancala-style game with different coloured stones, called The Glass Bead Game; apparently after the Hermann Hesse novel (*)
- 55Stones is a modern mancala game with simultaneous moves.
Other games
- Chongkak (Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines) The board is 2×7 with stores.
- Sungka (Philippines)
- Mak Khom (Siam)
- Mancal
- Mancala (Syria)
- La'b Madjnuni
- La'b Hakimi
- La'b Akila
- La'b Roseya
- Mancala (Egypt)
- Mangala (Nubia)
- Gambatta (Abyssinia)
- Abangah (Niam-Niam in Sudan) The board is 2×8 with stores.
- Toee (Bongo in Sudan)
- Kale (Gabun)
- Madji (Benni in Nigeria)
- Poo (Liberia)
- Kapo (Senegal)
- Choro
- Cups (U.S.A. New York)
- Pereauni
- Bao (mancala game) (Kenya) The board is 4×8.
- Mbau (Kenya)
- Mbau (Kilimanjaro region)
- Isafu
- Chanka (India, Sri Lanka)
- Naranj
- Chuncajon (Philippines)
- Stewart Culin, Philippine Games, American Anthropologist, Vol. 2, No. 4. (Oct-Dec 1900), pp. 643-656.
- Wawee (Leeward Islands)
- Chuba (USA) The board is 4×11 with stores.
- Ba-awa (Ghana) The board is 2×6 with stores.
- Contu-Holo (Djuka in Dutch Guiana)
- //Hus The board is 4×8
- Chungeajon (Philippines)
- Gabatta (Abyssinia)
- Bau (Wa Chaga)
- Isafuba
- Halusa (Mesopotamia)
- Mandoli (Island of Hydra)
- Baqura (Mesopotamia)
- Li'b al-ghashim
- Beatta (Arabia, Teyma)
- Khutka boia (India, Punjab)
- Pachgarhwa (India)
- Mawkar katiya (Assam)
- Cherrapunji (Khasis) The board is 2×7 with stores.
- Vai lung thlan (Lushei Kuki clan in Assam)
- Longbeu-a-cha (Assam)
- Kubuguza
- Alan P. Merriam, The Game of Kubuguza Among the Abatutsi of North-East Ruanda. Man, Vol. 53. (November 1953), pp. 169-172.
- Kanj guti (Orissa)
- Til guti
- Pallankuli (Tamils in India)
- Sat-gol (India)
- Puhulmuti (Sri Lanka)
- Walak-pussa (Sri Lanka)
- Kotu-baendum (Sri Lanka)
- Daramutu (Sri Lanka)
- Ellaewala-kanda (Sri Lanka)
- Meusueb (Achehn in Sumatra)
- Meuta' (Achehn in Sumatra)
- Meuchoh (Achehn in Sumatra)
- Meulieh (Achehn in Sumatra)
- Bajangkaq (Sumatra)
- Kaloleh (Sumatra)
- Dakon (Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines) The board is 2×7
- Mechiwa (Bali)
- Matoe (Soemba)
- Sai (Flores)
- Chonka (Borne)
- Aw-li on-nam ot-tjin (Borneo)
- Galatjang (Celebes)
- Dara-dara (Celebes)
- Agsinnoninka (Philippines)
- Ingilith (Turkana)
- Warri (Ghana, Nigeria) The board is 2×6 with stores
- Toguz korgool (Kyrgyzstan) The board is 2×9 with stores
- Songo
- P. H. G. Powell-Cotton, H. J. Braunholtz, A Mancala Board Called "Songo.", Man. Vol. 31. (July 1931), pp. 123.
- Mefuvha
- H. A. Stayt, The Bavenda.
- Ouril (Cape Verde)
Information about most of these games can be found in one of the following,
- HJR 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.
- Henry R. Muller, Warri: A West African Game of Skill, The Journal of American Folklore. Vol. 43, No. 169. pp. 313-316.
External links
"List of mancala games"