While it was mentioned last week that the mancala family of games has numerous variations on the ‘sowing pieces’ theme dating back centuries, the first specific version in this series looks at a much more recent creation.
Kalah, also called Kalaha or sometimes simply mancala which is technically incorrect, is a game imported to the United States by William Julius Champion, Jr. in 1940. According to Wikipedia, “this game is sometimes also called “Kalahari”, possibly by false etymology from the Kalahari desert in Namibia.”
As the most popular and commercially available variant of mancala in the West, Kalah is also sometimes referred to as Warri or Awari, although those names more properly refer to the game Oware, which will be reviewed in a future segment of this series.
The game provides a Kalah board and a number of seeds or counters. The Kalah board has 12 pits, called houses, six on each side; and a large collection pit at each end.
The object of the game is to capture more seeds than one’s opponent, which is generally a common thread of games within the mancala family.
At the beginning of the game, three seeds, at least for beginners, are placed in each house. It should be noted here while beginners may start with three seeds in each pit, the game becomes more challenging by starting with four, five or up to six seeds in each pit. Four seeds per pit has become the most common variant, but at the top level of the game it is recommended game be played with six.
Each player controls the six houses and their seeds on their side of the board. The player’s score is the number of seeds in the store to their right.
On a turn, the player removes all seeds from one of the pits on their side of the board. Moving counter-clockwise, the player drops one seed in each house in turn, including the player’s own store but not their opponent’s.
It is the strategic seeding that leads to capturing pieces. If the last sown seed lands in an empty house owned by the player, and the opposite house contains seeds, both the last seed and the opposite seeds are captured and placed into the player’s store.
Another critical aspect of kalah comes if the last sown seed lands in the player’s store, the player gets an additional move. There is no limit on the number of moves a player can make in their turn.
When a player no longer has any seeds in any of their houses, the game ends. The other player moves all remaining seeds to their store, and the player with the most seeds in their store wins.
The game does have variations players can explore which go beyond adding to the number of seeds the game starts with in each pit.
An alternative rule has players sow in a clockwise direction, requiring more stones to be sowed in a single turn to reach the store.
Another option noted on Wikipedia is the ‘Empty Capture’ variant: If the last sown seed lands in an empty house owned by the player, even if the opposite house is empty, the last seed is captured and placed into the player’s store.
In terms of mancala games Kalah is certainly a great one to begin an exploration of the family of games.
