After you click on "Start Game", wait for the graphics to load, then click on the board to gain focus. Please be patient. The game will load.

Rules The rules are very simple, but the game requires a fair amount of strategy. Each player has 6 pits and one mancala. Player 1's pits are on the lower side of the Applet and his mancala is on the right. Player 2's pits are on the upper side and his mancala is on the left. (If you play against the computer, you're Player 1 and the Computer is Player 2.) Each of the pits is numbered 1 through 6 for each side. Each of the pits contains 4 stones at the beginning of the game. You may select a pit on your turn by pressing the corresponding number. Here's a diagram showing the number you press to select each pit:

All of the following are taken care of by the program automatically; you only have to select a pit on your turn.

1. On your turn, you simply choose from one of your six pits, take out the stones, and drop them, one at a time, in successive pits, moving counter-clockwise around the board. You drop a stone in your own mancala when you come to it, but not in your opponents.

2. If you drop the last stone of your turn into your mancala, then you take another turn.

3. If you drop the last stone of your turn into an empty pit on your own side, then you take that stone and all the stones that are accross from it in your opponents pit, and place them in your mancala.

4. When all 6 pits on one side are empty, the game is over. The player who has remaining stones in his pits places them in his mancala.