The Mancala board and how to set it up
How to set up a Mancala board: six pits each, four seeds in every pit, and a store at each end. Learn which side and store are yours. How Mancala works · lesson 1 of 5.
The lesson in words
Mancala is played on a board with two rows of six pits and a large store at each end. The version here is Kalah, the most popular one.
Each pit starts with 4 seeds, 48 in all. The stores start empty.
The bottom row is yours, and so is the store on your right. Your opponent has the top row and the store on the left.
The goal: get more seeds into your store than your opponent.
That’s the board. Next: how to move, which in Mancala is called sowing.
Questions
Which store is yours?
The one on your right, at the end of your row. Seeds travel towards it.