[Nfb-krafters-korner] {Disarmed} Re: What is Mancala?

Thu Dec 23 20:18:01 UTC 2010

Mancala

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Mancala is a family of board games played around the world,  sometimes 
called "_sowing_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sowing) " games, or 
"count-and-capture" games, which  describes the game-play. Mancala games play a role in 
many African and  some Asian societies comparable to that of _chess_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess)   in the West, or the game of _Go_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game))   in Eastern Asia. The list of mancala games 
best known in the Western  world includes _Kalah_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalah)  and _Oware_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oware) . Other games are 
_Congkak_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congkak) , _Omweso_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omweso) , _Ünee tugaluulakh_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ünee_tugaluulakh) , _Bao_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bao_(mancala_game)) , 
_Sungka_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sungka)  and _Igisoro_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igisoro) . 
The word mancala comes from the _Arabic_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language)  word naqala meaning literally "to move."  There is no one game 
with the name mancala; instead mancala is a type, or  designation, of game. 
This word is used in Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt, but is not  consistently 
applied to any one game. 
In the USA, however, "mancala" is often used as a synonym for the game  
_Kalah_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalah) .     

Contents
[_hide_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#) ]
    *   _1 General  gameplay_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#General_gameplay)   
    *   _1.1 Equipment_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#Equipment)   
    *   _1.2 Object_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#Object)   
    *   _1.3 Capturing_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#Capturing)  
    *   _2 History_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#History)   
    *   _3 Psychology_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#Psychology)   
    *   _4 See  also_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#See_also)   
    *   _5 Bibliography_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#Bibliography)   
    *   _6 References_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#References)   
    *   _7 External links_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#External_links)  
[_edit_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=1) ] General gameplay
Mancala games share a common general game play. Players begin by placing a  
certain number of seeds, prescribed by the variation in use, in each of the 
pits  on the game board. A player may count their stones to plot the game. 
A turn  consists of removing all seeds from a pit, sowing the seeds (placing 
one  in each of the following pits in sequence), and capturing based on the 
state of  board. This leads to the English phrase "Count and Capture" 
sometimes used to  describe the gameplay. Although the details differ greatly, 
this general  sequence applies to all games. 
[_edit_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=2) ] Equipment

 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Igoware.JPG)  
Wooden Mancala Board from West Africa

Equipment is typically a board, constructed of various materials, with a  
series of holes arranged in rows, usually two or four. Some games are more 
often  played with holes dug in the earth, or carved in stone. The holes may 
be  referred to as "depressions", "pits", or "houses". Sometimes, large holes 
on the  ends of the board, called stores, are used for holding the pieces.  
Playing pieces are seeds, beans, stones, cowry shells, or other small  
undifferentiated counters that are placed in and transferred about the holes  
during play. _Nickernuts_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickernut)  are one 
common example of pieces used. Board  configurations vary among different 
games but also within variations of a given  game; for example _Endodoi_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endodoi)  is played on boards from 2 × 6 to 2 × 10. 
With a two-rank board, players usually are considered to control their  
respective sides of the board, although moves often are made into the 
opponent's  side. With a four-rank board, players control an inner row and an outer 
row, and  a player's seeds will remain in these closest two rows unless the 
opponent  captured them. 
[_edit_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=3) ] Object
The object of mancala games is usually to capture more stones than the  
opponent; sometimes, one seeks to leave the opponent with no legal move or to  
have your side empty first in order to win. 
At the beginning of a player's turn, they select a hole with seeds that 
will  be sown around the board. This selection is often limited to holes on the 
 current player's side of the board, as well as holes with a certain 
minimum  number of seeds. 
In a process known as sowing, all the seeds from a hole are dropped  
one-by-one into subsequent holes in a motion wrapping around the board. Sowing  is 
an apt name for this activity, since not only are many games traditionally  
played with seeds, but placing seeds one at a time in different holes 
reflects  the physical act of _sowing_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sowing) . If 
the sowing action stops after dropping the  last seed, the game is 
considered a single lap game. 
Multiple laps or relay sowing is a frequent feature of mancala  games, 
although not universal. When relay sowing, if the last seed during sowing  lands 
in an occupied hole, all the contents of that hole, including the last  
sown seed, are immediately resown from the hole. The process usually will  
continue until sowing ends in an empty hole. Another common way to receive  
"multiple laps" is when the final seed sown lands in your designated hole. 
Many games from the _Indian_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India)   
subcontinent use pussa-kanawa laps. These are like standard multilaps,  but instead 
of continuing the movement with the contents of the last hole  filled, a 
player continues with the next hole. A pussakanawa lap move will then  end 
when a lap ends just prior to an empty hole. If a player ends his stone with  a 
point move he gets a "free turn" 
[_edit_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=4) ] Capturing
Depending on the last hole sown in a lap, a player may capture stones  from 
the board. The exact requirements for capture, as well as what is done with 
 captured stones, vary considerably among games. Typically, a capture 
requires  sowing to end in a hole with a certain number of stones, ending across 
the board  from stones in specific configurations, or landing in an empty 
hole adjacent to  an opponents hole that contains one or more pieces. 
Another common way of capturing is to capture the stones that reach a 
certain  number of seeds at any moment. 
Also, several games include the notion of capturing holes, and thus all 
seeds  sown on a captured hole belong at the end of the game to the player who 
captured  it. 
[_edit_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=5) ] History

 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AksumGebeta.jpg)  

 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AksumGebeta.jpg) 
Ancient Gebeta (i.e. mancala) holes in the base of an _Aksumite_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Aksum)  _stele_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stele) ,  _Axum_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axum) , _Ethiopia_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia) .

One of the earlist evidence of the game are fragments of a pottery board 
and  several rock cuts found in _Aksumite_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Aksum)  _Ethiopia_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopia)  in 
_Matara_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matara,_Eritrea)  (now in _Eritrea_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrea) ) and _Yeha_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeha)  (in  Ethiopia), which are dated by archaeologists to between the 6th 
and 7th century  AD; the game may have been mentioned by _Giyorgis of Segla_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Giyorgis_of_Segla&action=edit&redli
nk=1)  in his 14th century _Ge'ez_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge'ez_language)  text "Mysteries of Heaven and Earth", where he  refers to a game 
called _qarqis_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Qarqis&action=edit&redlink=1) , a term used in _Ge'ez_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge'ez_language)  to refer to both Gebet'a (Mancala) and  Sant'araz (modern sent'erazh, 
Ethiopian _Chess_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess) )._[1]_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#cite_note-0)  The similarity of  some aspects of the 
game to _agricultural_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture)  activity 
and the absence of a need for  specialized equipment present the intriguing 
possibility that it could date to  the beginnings of _civilization_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization)  itself; however, there is little  
verifiable evidence that the game is older than about 1300 years. Some purported 
 evidence comes from the _Kurna  temple_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurna_temple)  _graffiti_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graffiti)  in Egypt, as 
reported by Parker in 1909 and  Murray in his "Board games other than 
chess". However, accurate dating of this  graffiti seems to be unavailable, and 
what designs have been found by modern  scholars generally resemble games 
common to the Roman world, rather than  anything like Mancala. 
Although the games existed in pockets in _Europe_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe)   -- it is recorded as being played as early as the 17th 
century by merchants in  _England_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England) 
[_citation needed_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed) ] -- it 
has never gained much  popularity in most regions, except in the Baltic 
area, where once it was a very  popular game ("_Bohnenspiel_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Bohnenspiel) ") and Bosnia, where it is called Ban-Ban  and 
still played today. Mancala has also been found in Serbia[_citation needed_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed) ], 
Bulgaria[_citation needed_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed) ], Greece 
("Mandoli",  Cyclades) and in a remote castle in southern Germany (_Schloss 
Weikersheim_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weikersheim_Castle) ). 
The _USA_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States)  has a larger 
mancala playing population. A  traditional mancala game called Warra was still 
played in Louisiana in the early  20th century. In Cape Verde, Mancala is known 
as "ouril". It is played in the  Islands and was brought to America by Cape 
Verdean immigrants. It is played to  this day in Cape Verdean communities 
in New England. 
[_edit_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=6) ] Psychology
Like other _board games_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Board_game#Psychology) , Mancala games have led to psychological  studies. Retschitzki has 
studied the cognitive processes used by awale  players._[2]_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#cite_note-1)  Some of  Restchitzki's results on memory and 
problem solving have recently been simulated  by Gobet with the _CHREST_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHREST)   computer model._[3]_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#cite_note-2)  _De  Voogt_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_de_Voogt)  has studied the psychology of Bao playing._[4]_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#cite_note-3)  
[_edit_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=7) ] See  also
    *   _List of mancala games_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mancala_games)  
[_edit_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=8) ] Bibliography
    *   Jeff Erickson, Sowing Games, in Games of No Chance, Cambridge  
University Press, 1998 _[1]_ 
(http://compgeom.cs.uiuc.edu/~jeffe/pubs/sowing.html) .  
    *   Larry Russ, The Complete Mancala Games Book, Marlowe and company,  
NY, 2000.  
    *   Philip Townshend, African Mankala in Anthropological Perspective,  
Current Anthropology, Vol. 20, No. 4. (December 1979), pp. 794–796. 
    *   Deledicq, A. & A. Popova (1977). Wari et solo. Le jeu de calcul  
Africain. Paris: Cedic.  
    *   Murray, H.J.R. (1952). A history of board games other than chess. 
Oxford  at the Clarendon Press.  
    *   Townshend, P. (1982). Bao (mankala): the Swahili ethic in African 
idiom.  Paideuma 28:175-191.  
    *   Voogt, A.J. de (1997). Mancala Board Games. British Museum Press: 
London.  
[_edit_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=9) ] References

    1.  _^_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#cite_ref-0)  Richard 
Pankhurst, "Gäbäṭa," in Siegbert von  Uhlig, ed., Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha 
(Wiesbaden:Harrassowitz  Verlag, 2005), pp.598.  
    2.  _^_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#cite_ref-1)  Retschitzki, 
J. (1990). Stratégies des Joueurs  d'Awélé. Édition L'Harmattan, Paris 
(France)  
    3.  _^_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#cite_ref-2)  Gobet, F. 
(2009). Using a cognitive  architecture for addressing the question of 
cognitive universals in  cross-cultural psychology: The example of awalé. Journal 
of Cross-Cultural  Psychology, 40, 627-648.  
    4.  _^_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala#cite_ref-3)  Voogt, A. J. 
de (1995) Limits of the Mind:  Towards a Characterisation of Bao 
Mastership, Leiden: CNWS Publications 

[_edit_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mancala&action=edit&section=10) ] External links
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to: _Mancala_ 
(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mancala)  
    *   _Mancala World - the largest wiki on mancala  games_ 
(http://mancala.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page)   
    *   _A great introduction from MSO._ 
(http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/classic/mancala.html)   
    *   _General information on "Count and Capture  Games"_ 
(http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/VirtualExhibits/countcap/pages/index.html)   
    *   _Mancala, Oware and Bao history and descriptions_ 
(http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Mancala.htm)   
    *   _Play Mancala Online Free - popular mancala varient  "kalah"_ 
(http://mancalatime.com/)   
    *   _In pictures: Sudan's calculating game_ 
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8635258.stm)  BBC 
Retrieved from "_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala_ 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancala) "

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