Mancala is an interesting game with Arabic origins. Easily playable in field or house, Mancala lends itself to strategy, much like chess or mahjong, and is an extremely popular game to engage in.

Known by many names such as Wari and Wouri, Mancala is a game of strategy, played the world-round in primarily Middle Eastern and African households. The name Mancala is a derivative of the Arabic word for “to move”, or naqala. The earliest evidence of this game is estimated to be between 500 and 700 CE, discovered and dated by archaeologists in the Ethiopian region. From there, the game migrated out to the Baltic region of northern Europe and the Americas through slave trade. Forcibly enslaved individuals brought their culture with them, including the Mancala game.

While Mancala is a relatively simple game with quick gameplay perfectly suited for children eight and up, there is still a level of strategy involved. In order to win, players must capture more seeds than their opponent, and each turn is a strategic placement of tokens in order to assure their own victory.

Mancala and its many variants have relatively simple gameplay. On a Mancala board, there are two player pits for captured pieces and then 12 unowned pits to move through, six apiece on each side of the board. The game takes about 15 minutes to play, with the players collecting “seeds” or token representatives, from one unowned pit and distributing them among the other pits. The opposite player does the same with the intention to capture more seeds than their opponent.

As Mancala gained traction throughout Africa and traveled through the slave trade, variants arose in places like North America. In Louisiana the most popular version of the game is called Warra. Warra was then turned into the board game Kalah, commercialized and sold with relative success. Ouril, the Cape Verde version, immigrated to New England, becoming quite popular.

With over 80 variants of the game, Mancala has been popularized, commercialized, and sold as a public domain game. With such a simple design, it’s even easily played outside, digging up small holes and using rocks or seeds as the tokens. As a count-and-capture game of strategy, Mancala will remain a popular staple for those of Arabic or African heritage.