MancalaGames/List: Modern Mancala Games

Modern Mancala Games

A Survey of 88 Games:

Game	Year	Inventor	Country	Players	Laps	Goal	Additional Information
Awele Bohnanza	2006	Silvano Sorrentino	Italy	2	single	capturing seeds	Oware variant
Diffusion	2006	Mark Steere	USA	2	single	empty pits	Kalah variant; no draws
Four-rank Diffusion	2006	Mark Steere	USA	2	single	empty pits	Kalah variant; no draws
Kauri	2006	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	single	capturing seeds	-
Wayfinder	2006	Benjamin Corliss	USA	1-4	single	capturing seeds	two-dimensional; real time element
Cow Poke	2005	Clark D. Rodeffer	USA	2-6	single	capturing seeds	card game; luck
Da Vinci's Mancala	2005	Paul Micarelli and V. Springer	USA	2	single	pattern-building; capturing seeds	Kalah variant
Mancala Spellorama	2005	Tracey Wood	Canada	2	multi	capturing seeds and spelling words	spelling game; Sungka variant
Michael's Parteiisches Rondell	2005	Michael Reitz	Germany	2	both	capturing seeds	card game with perfect information; stacking game; no draws
Michael's Rondell	2005	Michael Reitz	Germany	2	both	capturing seeds	card game with perfect information; stacking game; socialist board; no draws
Michael's Rondell mit Reservierung	2005	Michael Reitz	Germany	2	both	capturing seeds	card game with perfect information; stacking game; socialist board; no draws
Parteiisches Rondell	2005	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	both	capturing seeds	card game with perfect information; stacking game; no draws
Rondell	2005	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	both	capturing seeds	card game with perfect information; stacking game; subvariant with socialist board; no draws
Rondell mit Reservierung	2005	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	both	capturing seeds	card game with perfect information; stacking game; socialist board; no draws
Afrika	2004	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	single	capturing seeds	-
El Mirall	2004	(?)	Spain	2	single	repetition of the initial position	game of coordination; solitaire-like; no winners or losers
Geisterfahrer	2004	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	both	no move	Kalah variant; no draws
Pas de Deux	2004	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	single	capturing seeds	Oware variant; double-moves
ProgressiveMancala	2004	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	multi	capturing seeds	progressive moves; socialist board; no draws
Superwari	2004	Bill Taylor	New Zealand	2	single	capturing seeds	Oware variant
Two-handed Bulgarian Solitaire	2004	Tim Bancroft	USA	2	single	repetition of position	Reverse Mancala
Random Bulgarian Solitaire	2003	Serguei Popov	Brazil	1	single	repetition of position	Reverse Mancala
55Stones	2002	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	multi	capturing	simultaneous moves; socialist board; no draws
Canicas	2002	Walter Joris	Belgium	2	single	making territory	paper-and-pencil game
Cross-Endodoi	2002	W. Dan Troyka	USA	2	multi	capturing seeds	-
Martian Mancala	2002	Dave Mattingly	USA	2	multi	capturing seeds	Sungka variant
Tornado	2002	Walter Joris	Belgium	2	single	last move	paper-and-pencil game; Cirk variant
4-Player Mancala	2001 (?)	Gary MacLeod (?)	USA	2-4	single	capturing seeds	Kalah variant
Cross-Kalah	2001	W. Dan Troyka	USA	2	single	capturing seeds	Kalah variant
Cross-Wari	2001	W. Dan Troyka	USA	2	single	capturing seeds	Oware variant
Devil Bunny Hates the Earth	2001	James Ernest	USA	2-5	single	capturing; moving "Devil Bunny" to your machine	dice game; luck; socialist, pentagonal board
Hackaback	2001	Andrew Perkis	UK	2	single	last move	unequal forces
Ioiwari	2001	Gyula Horvath	Hungary	2	single	capturing seeds	solved (first-player win)
MiniMancala	2001	Christian Freeling	Netherlands	2	single	last move	solved (draw)
Tea Party	2001	Clark D. Rodeffer	USA	2 or 4	none	capturing seeds	most irregular game; no draws
Numercy	2000	Sam Nooh K. Al-Jajjoka	UK	2	both	ending moves in certain holes	abacus-like game for learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of numbers
Crossroads Mancala	early 2000s	Sue and Joe Hanson	USA	4	single	capturing seeds	cross-shaped board
Druidenwalzer	1999	Michael Rieneck	Germany	2	single	capturing holes	card game imitating Mancala (Druidenwalzer = Sowing)
Eppstein's Mancala	1999	David Eppstein	USA	2	single	unable to move	Reverse Mancala; no draws
Snake Game	1999	Fred Horn	Netherlands	2	single	capturing seeds	intertwisted rows
Banan-Cala	1998	Vince Kurr	USA	2	single	capturing seeds	Kalah variant
Bao Arabica	1998	Matthias Kumpernaß	Germany	2-4	single	capturing seeds	name = exotism; Oware variant
Calady	1998	Alexander H. Slocum	USA	4	single	capturing seeds	cross-shaped board; Kalah variant (versions 1-2); Oware variant (version 3)
Cirk	1998	Corné van Moorsel	Netherlands	2	single	last move	socialist board; no draws
HyperCalady	1998	Alexander H. Slocum	USA	4	single	capturing seeds	cross-shaped board; Kalah variant
Kid-Cala (Beginner's Version)	1998	Vince Kurr	USA	2	single	empty pits	Kalah variant
Space Walk	1997	Rüdiger Dorn	Germany	2-5	single	retaining seeds and chips	Kalah variant; double-moves
Yann's Mancala Problem	1997	David Yann	France	1	single	connecting positions	solved (yes)
Atomic Wari	1996	Jeff Erickson	USA	2	single	last move	Oware variant; socialist board
Nyakun	1996	Didier Guillion	France	2	single	capturing seeds	Vai lung thlan variant
Partisan Sowing	1996	Jeff Erickson	USA	2	single	last move	Sowing with partisan seeds
Reaping	1996	Jeff Erickson	USA	2	single	last move	reverse Sowing
Two-dimensional Sowing	1996	Jeff Erickson	USA	2	single	last move	variant of Sowing
Widdershins	1996	David Parlett	UK	2	both	capturing seeds	card game
Amboseli Game	1995	Ringo Skibbe	Germany	2	multi	last move	name = exotism
Circular Composition	1995	Rocco Servedio and Yeong-Nan Yeh	Taiwan	1	single	repetition of position	variant of Stones in Cups
Sowing	1994	John Horton Conway	USA	2	single	last move	first one-rank Mancala; socialist board
Stones in Cups	1992	Barry Cipra	USA	1	single	repetition of the initial position after all the seeds wind up in the original pit	mathematical problem
Njaka's Mancala	1991	Dim Njaka	USA	2-4	multi	capturing seeds	Ba-awa variant
Montreal Solitaire	1990	Chris Cannings and John Haigh	UK	1	single	repetition of position	Reverse Mancala
Gretrix	1987	(?)	USA	2-4	single	capturing seeds	two-dimensional
Glass Bead Game	mid-1980s	Christian Freeling	Netherlands	2	single	capturing seeds	Oware variant
Austrian Solitaire	1985	Ethan Akin and Morton David Davis	USA	1	single	repetition of position	Reverse Mancala
Deterministic Bulgarian Solitaire	1983	Martin Gardner	USA	1	single	repetition of position	Reverse Mancala
Balduman's Mancala	1979	Agapito B. Balduman	USA	2-3	multi	capturing seeds	Sungka variant
Pass It On	1978	(?)	USA	2-4	single	empty pits; penalty points	variant of Ruma and Kalah; no draws
Micro-Wari	1977	Assia Popova and André Deledicq	France	2	single	capturing seeds	one of the smallest Mancala
Monokalah	1977	Véronique Gautheron	France	1	single	empty pits	a variant of Tchoukaillon
Multitchouka	1977	Véronique Gautheron	France	1	multi	empty pits	a variant of Tchoukaillon
Nano-Wari	1977	Assia Popova and André Deledicq	France	2	single	repetition of board position	game of contemplation; smallest Mancala; no winners or losers; solved
Tchoukaillon	1977	Véronique Gautheron	France	1	single	empty pits	a variant of Tchuka Ruma
Sahara	1976	(?)	Germany	2	single	capturing seeds	Kalah variant
Mankka	1975	Kent Barker	Canada	2	single	capturing seeds	-
Octagon	1975	Matt Crispis	UK (?)	2-5	single	capturing seeds	card game
Ägyptisches Muschelspiel	1972	(?)	Germany	2	single	last move	name = exotism
Coin Duel	late 1960s	Arthur and Wald Amberstone	USA	2	multi	capturing seeds	Sungka variant
Swahili	1968	(?)	USA	2-4	both	capturing seeds	name = exotism; similar to Kalah and Sungka; no draws
Cups	1965	Arthur and Wald Amberstone	USA	2	single	capturing seeds	Kalah variant
Grand Arabian Oh-Wah-Ree	1962	Alex Randolph	USA	2-4	single	capturing holes	ordinary pits can be turned into stores
Grand Coastal Oh-Wah-Ree	1962	Alex Randolph	USA	2-4	single	capturing holes	Oware variant
Grand Dog-Gone Oh-Wah-Ree	1962	Alex Randolph	USA	2-4	single	capturing holes	Ba-awa variant
Fergen Goobalay	late 1950s	(?)	Somalia	2	multi	capturing seeds	variant of Layli Goobalay; neutral holes
Banking Ball Game	1941	Serge B. Escuadra	USA	2	single	capturing seeds	similar to Kalah
Kalah	1940	William Julius Champion Jr	USA	2	single	capturing seeds	the most popular modern Mancala game; often just called "Mancala"
Robertson's Mancala	1936	Frederick Henry Robertson	Jamaica	2	single	capturing seeds
Ruma	1930s	Mr Punga	Indonesia (?)	2-4	single	empty pits; penalty points	precursor of Pass It On and possibly Kalah; no draws
Chuba	1891	Erwin H. Richards	USA	2	multi	last move	four-rank Mancala heavily based on Tchouba (Mozambique); no draws
Mangola	1864	Walter Whitmore Jones	UK	2	single (?)	(?)	first commercial Mancala game

Notes:

• A socialist board is a board in which all pits are communally owned.
• An Oware variant is any single-lap game in which two or three stones are captured (this is a rather inclusive definition).
• A Ba-awa variant is any multi-lap games in which groups of four are captured, even during moving.
• A Vai lung thlan variant is any single-lap game in which singletons are captured.
• A Kalah variant is any single-lap, multi-player game with functional endholes or stores.
• A Sungka variant is any multi-lap, multi-player game with functional endholes.
• A Tchuka Ruma variant is any solitaire game with functional endholes.