Mancala World
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Dracala → German, Portuguese.


Dracala
Inventor: Ralf Gering,
2010
Variant of Kalah
Ranks: Two
Sowing: Single laps
Region: Germany

Dracala, a play on words for Dracula, was invented by Ralf Gering in Hain (Germany) on November 6, 2010. Its name was inspired by Christian Freeling who suggested "Draucala", because the game is a Kalah variant (also known as "Mancala" in the USA), which features elements of Give-away Draughts. It was first playtested with Miceu Tavares at the igGameCenter.

According to the author, Dracala is a short and rather shallow game, which was just meant to be a simple filler.

Rules

Dracala is played according to the same rules as Kalah except for the following changes:

  • Capturing is mandatory. Non-capturing moves are only permitted, if nothing can be captured. Capturing can be by sowing into the player's own store or by opposition. At the end of the game the player who moved last captures the seeds of his adversary.
  • If there is more than one capturing move, a player must chose the move, which captures most. This rule must be separately applied to every move (called "step" in Dracala) played during a turn.
  • If there are several steps, which capture the same number, the player must chose a hole, which results in a bonus move ("bonus step") except in the very first move of the game.
  • If there are several steps, which would result in a bonus step, the player must sow the rightmost hole first.
  • The game is best with six seeds per hole. The player who captures a majority of seeds loses. So, if the game is played with 72 seeds, a player loses, when he has captured 37 seeds.

Example Game

Miceu Tavares (Portugal) - Ralf Gering (Germany)

The first Dracala game ever played. Miceu Tavares began.

  1. 1-6 (-2)....5 (-1)
  2. 5 (-1).......2 (-1)
  3. 6-2 (-2)....5-3 (-2)
  4. 5-3 (-2).....6 (-7)
  5. 5-6 (-2)....1 (-1)
  6. 4 (-7).......4-2 (-3)
  7. 3-6 (-2)....5 (-1)
  8. 6-1 (-6)....6 (-1)
  9. 4 (-1).......3 (-2)
  10. 6-3 (-3)....4-6-5-6-2 (-4)
  11. 5 (-3).......1
  12. 4 (-3).......3
  13. 6-2 (-2)....5-6-4 (-3)
  14. 1 (-2)

Tavares lost by 38 : 26 points.

See also

Copyright

© Ralf Gering
Under the CC by-sa 2.5 license.

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