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By Kirsten Richards. Mancala. What is Mancala?. Mancala is a board game that has been played for thousands of years One of the oldest games around You can play the game with any thing that you can find. http://www.boardgamesusa.com/mas_assets/full/104324.jpg. How to Play!.
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By Kirsten Richards Mancala
What is Mancala? • Mancala is a board game that has been played for thousands of years • One of the oldest games around • You can play the game with any thing that you can find http://www.boardgamesusa.com/mas_assets/full/104324.jpg
How to Play! • To start, place four stones into each small cup on the board • Decide who goes first • After the first player takes his/her turn, then you alternate taking turns • Keep alternating turns until you run out of stones • Use strategies to help you win the game • The person who has the most stones in their mancala goal wins
Strategies to Help You Win! • Raiding- When a player captures a bin of the opponent’s pebbles by placing the last pebble of a move in an empty bin on ones own side of the board, directly across from the opponent’s bin being raided. http://www.corngolem.com/john/gp/board1.gif
Strategies Cont. • Hoarding- Hoarding occurs when a player allows pebbles to accumulate in a certain bin, refusing to play that bin • Rushing- to go out of pebbles quickly on ones own side of the board • Stalling- Opposite of rushing, waiting out so that you don’t run out of pebbles directly • Starving- starving ones opponent is refusing to repopulate the opponent’s side with pebbles carried around beyond ones own mancala
Strategies Cont. • Stuffing- A defense strategy against raiding and being rushed out of the game. It is also the opposite of starving. • Looping- When you have so many pebbles that you can make a full trip all the way around the board to earn pieces. • Sacrificing- Hopes in which you sacrifice one or two stones hoping to get a bigger reward in future moves. • Setting Up- Strategy used by more advanced players. You set up your opponent to fall into your traps so that you win more pieces
Mancala Related to Math 115? • I have found that mancala is related to math for liberal arts by the game we talked about in class, Fibonacci Nim. • Just like in Fibonacci Nim, mancala has strategies that are helpful for you to win the game. • In Fibonacci Nim, you have to take as many sticks to get to the next Fibonacci number so that you have a better chance of winning.
Mancala Related to Math 115? • While you can not use the same strategy as Fibonacci Nim, you can create your own or use some of the ones I have listed before. • In mancala, if you strategize well, you can manipulate the game so that you can win. • Mancala is also considered to be a thinking game. You have to plan out your next moves in order for the game to go in your favor.
You Can Play Online! • With the link below, you can play an online version of the game mancala against a computer player! • http://www.aflcio.org/unionshop/games/game_mancala.cfm