Mancala Gold
Mancala is a very old game that was played in Africa in countries like Syria, Lebanon or Egypt. This game was mentioned first in 6th and 7th century AD and all that players needed was some seeds and a wooden Mancala board.Although it is an ancient game it required intelligence, attention and vision.
This board game is also known in different countries or regions with other names like: Woro, Awele (Awale), Oware (Owari), Kboo, Kbo, Ayo, Ayoayo, Kale, Aghi, Bantumi.
In America you could find it under the name of Mandink and in Kenya or other countries from Africa as Endoidoi.
But by far the most common other names are Kalah and Oware (Owari). And also maybe Awele (Awale) or Ayo and even Wari. All this are names from Africa so the origin of this game must be Africa.
It was brought in USA under the name of Kalah and a commercial version became popular in the 1940s. in the West Africa and the Caribbean you could find the name Oware (Owari).
Both Kalah and Oware (Owari) represent this board game but maybe with some changes. It is said that Kalah or Oware (Owari) are not a Mancala game but are part of the Mancala familiy board games.
Your objective is simple: get more gems ( gold ) than your opponent. So if you collect more gems ( gold ) in your mancala at the end of the game you are the winner.But sometimes is not that simple. There are some rules and strategy that can help you or destroy you.
Each player have 6 cups (or different number of cups). Initially each of the cups has the same number of pieces of gold (there is the option where you can have a variable number of pieces of gold) and the opponents will take turns.On each turn you must select one of your cups that contain gems in it and redistribute it's gems clockwise to the next cups. If the last gem that you redistribute lands on your mancala you receive another turn. If the last gem that you redistribute lands on an empty cup from your side you "steal" all the gems from your opponent side. The game ends when you or your opponent have/has no pieces of gold in the cups from your or his side.
You can play this board game agains a friend or against the computer. You can change the number of gems in each cup (2,3,4 or 5 or variable), the number of places for gems available in the cups and 4 type of difficulty for the computer. Some graphical changes are also posible like the colors of the gems. You also can play in a time limited per round and also change the first one to start (you or the computer).
Don't forget to play the quest of this board game. 4 seasons available with 32 levels each. The computer will became stronger as you manage to move forward. He will play more aggressive or more defensive. The number of pieces of gold will change and other interesting things that will make this quest very nice. The second season is time limited so for each turn you will have a limit amount of time to do your move. If you don't make the move you will lose your turn. It gets really complicated at the end when you will only have 3 seconds for your turn. The third season is with a variable number of gems in each cup so the clasic strategy and moves could not be used here. The fourth season is where everything is changed. The numbers of cups, the number of cups holders or gems. This is the most difficult season.Please send feedbacks for improvements and bug fixing to improve this board game.
This game is playable on all resolutions and we recommende it on any devices.
Have fun!
Category : Board
Reviews (30)
The game broke right after the tutorial. I was stuck in a screen with a back button that didn't work, listening to the background music.
I love the game it's easy to play easy to learn (if you don't know how watch the tutorial and after a few rounds you get it).
uninstalled bc it's boring (no avalanche version or other options). kept beating ai after 4th round. too many ads were not kid friendly so my kids can't play
After every game is an ad. So annoying. Just once, it would be nice to play two or three games in a row without ads.
the game works well however there were inappropriate adds for a game aimed at age 6 plus.
Fun game! I like that the game chooses who goes 1st when playing against the computer.
Very enjoyable, but only 32 levels, I want more levels please....
Cups Level 31 took a while but it is solvable.
Its fun makes stop and think but your o a timer
It was fun and trickish playing with the computer
Really good game love the variety.
My daughter introduced me to this game so far this is 1st version I've taken a liking to.
Lots of options love it!
Having a hell of a time with cups 19. Any tips?
great family game
It is a good game
Beautiful. Multiple variants around core Mancala. Too bad the AI is so bad, making many obvious errors. Early victory detection would also be a major plus.
The only bad thing is the music. It gets annoying after a while.
I love this game has lots of diversity but hate I paid to remove ads and they are still there
Good game, but paid to remove ads, didn't work, and now is prompting me to pay again.
The game does what it's supposed to do. It plays well and that's all i needed
Interesting board game. Even it looks simple it s not.
Love this game
Really fun
Challenging, reliable, and fun
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2016), running Android 7.0 and Smart Launcher Pro. Since the last update, the program crashes at the start. I like the game; but if it won't run it's just taking up space.
Great rendition of the game...love the various modes
Adverts too long
Great game wish solutions were available, finished all quest except been stuck on level 26 of the cup challenge for weeks. Seems impossible lol
Good to have more options in Settings than most of these games (and I like the choice of themes), and the graphics are good, but it's largely guesswork what's going on. Especially the settings about number of pieces per cup - what on earth do those arrow symbols mean? It wouldn't take long to write simple instructions and it would make all the difference.