Do you recall when The Da Vinci Code was released in 2003 by author Dan Brown, and it was a bestseller?
That success led to a big box office hit in 2006 by the same name from producer Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks.
Stuck sort of in the middle of the two releases came Da Vinci’s Mancala from game designers Paul Micarelli and Vivienne Springer. The game was released in 2005 from Briarpatch.
As the name implies it draws extensively from mancala games, and while I doubt anyone associated with the book or novel drew royalties from this, it is pretty clear it was designed and launched to take advantage of the publicity surrounding both.
The objective of Da Vinci’s Mancala is rather straight forward.
“On your turn, move a pile of pieces along the board. Be the first player to clear the circles on your side of the board. Score points by forming patterns on your Pattern Mancalas with your pieces of your own colour, and also by capturing as many of your opponent’s pieces as possible,” details the two-page rule set.
It should be noted this mancala game does not use simple beans or stones as pieces, but instead specially shaped pieces of two distinct colours, one essentially belonging to each player.
The player with black pieces goes first. They “pick up all the pieces from a circle (pit) of your choice on your side of the board. If you chose a circle containing four pieces, pick them up and put one piece in each of the next four circles. Place the first piece in the circle directly to the right of the circle that contained the pieces. Continue placing pieces in a counter-clockwise direction. Your turn is over,” describes the rule set. You will not the standard start mimics most mancala games.
But there is more to this game and that is why I rather think it is among the best of the genre.
If you are distributing your pieces across your row and you reach your own Pattern Mancalas with pieces still in your hand, you may use one of the pieces in your hand for one of the following moves:
* If you choose to keep a piece of your own colour, place it on a matching space within one of your two Pattern Mancalas. In this way, you can begin to form patterns inside your mancalas. You may only place pieces of your own colour into your Pattern Mancalas. Each time you place a piece in one of your Pattern Mancalas, immediately record any patterns formed on that move (there is a handy guide to help there).
* If you reach your mancalas and instead choose to keep one of your opponent’s pieces, you may remove it from the game board. It will be counted toward your final score. (This option can limit what is available to an opponent to use).
If you reach your Pattern Mancalas with two or more pieces left in your hand, you must first use one piece of your choice, in either move described above, and then continue to place the rest of the pieces, one at a time, onto circles on your opponent’s side of the board. Distribute pieces in the same counter-clockwise direction along your opponent’s row of circles.
During your turn, if you can distribute enough pieces to reach all the way to your opponent’s mancalas, you may place one piece of your colour in a matching space inside either one of your opponent’s mancalas to block any patterns he may be trying to create. If you do not have one of your own pieces in hand, but you are holding one of your opponent’s pieces, you must place it inside your opponent’s mancala. (Herein lies some difficult choices).
When distributing the pieces in your hand around the board, if the last piece you place falls in an empty circle on your side of the board, you can capture all the pieces (if there are any) in the circle that is directly opposite on your opponent’s side, (another rather standard mancala rule). Once you capture a group of pieces in this way, place all the pieces that are your colour into your Pattern Mancalas to form patterns, and record any patterns completed in that turn. Remove your opponent’s pieces from the game board.
The game is over when all the spaces on either player’s side are completely emptied. To find your final score, add up all the points for the patterns scored in your mancalas.
There are a lot of choices to be made in this game, and most moves are going to have an impact on a score. Definitely a game for anyone who already likes mancala.
