Players begin by placing a certain number of seeds, prescribed for the particular game, in each of the pits on the game board. Most mancala games share a common general gameplay. This word is used in Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt but is not consistently applied to any one game it was applied to backgammon in the ancient Near East. No one game exists with the name mancala the name is a classification or type of game. The word mancala ( Arabic: مِنْقَلَة, romanized: minqalah) is a tool noun derived from an Arabic root naqala ( ن-ق-ل) meaning "to move". This distribution has been linked to migration routes, which may go back several hundred years. Recent studies of mancala rules have given insight into the distribution of mancala. It is played to this day in Cape Verdean communities in New England. It is played in the Islands and was brought to the United States by Cape Verdean immigrants. In Cape Verde, mancala is known as "ouril". A traditional mancala game called Warra was still played in Louisiana in the early 20th century, and a commercial version called Kalah became popular in the 1940s. The United States has a larger mancala-playing population. In western Europe, it never caught on, but was documented by Oxford University orientalist Thomas Hyde. Two mancala tables from the early 18th century are to be found in Weikersheim Castle in southern Germany. In the Baltic area, it was once very popular (" Bohnenspiel") in Bosnia, where it is called Ban-Ban and still played today Serbia and Greece ("Mandoli", Cyclades). The games existed in especially eastern Europe. Among other early evidence of the game are fragments of a pottery board and several rock cuts found in Aksumite areas in Matara (in Eritrea) and Yeha (in Ethiopia), which are dated by archaeologists to between the 6th and 7th centuries AD the game may have been mentioned by Giyorgis of Segla in his 14th century Ge'ez text Mysteries of Heaven and Earth, where he refers to a game called qarqis, a term used in Ge'ez to refer to both Gebet'a (mancala) and Sant'araz (modern sent'erazh, Ethiopian chess). Almost 200 modern invented versions have also been described.Ī 10th century ivory board from Muslim SpainĮvidence of the game was uncovered in Israel in the city of Gedera in an excavated Roman bathhouse where pottery boards and rock cuts were unearthed dating back to between the 2nd and 3rd century AD. Īlthough more than 800 names of traditional mancala games are known, some names denote the same game, while some names are used for more than one game. Sometimes more than one version can be played in a single locality. But there are also numerous variations with the number of holes and rules by region. This version has identical rules throughout its range. The most common type has seven holes for each player, in addition to the player store holes. They differ from other mancala types in that the player's store is included in the placing of the seeds. Vwela – played by the nyemba (lucazi) people distributed between Southern Angola, Northern East Namibia and Zambia.
Toguz korgool or Toguz kumalak – played in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
The Aklanon people still call the game kunggit. Father José Sanchez who had arrived on the Philippines in 1643 wrote that at the game was played with seashells on a wooden, boat-like board.
Some of the most popular mancala games (with regard to distribution area, the numbers of players and tournaments, and publications) are: The name is a classification or type of game, rather than any specific game. Game of Ô ăn quan on New Year's Day ( Tết) at Vinhomes Times City, Ha Noi