| Kid-Cala |
| Inventor: Vince Kurr, 1998 |
| Variant of: Kalah |
| Ranks: Two |
| Sowing: Single laps |
| Region: USA |
Kid-Cala is a spiced-up game system to make mancala games "more palatable" for children. It was designed by Vince Kurr, San Mateo CA (USA) in 1998. The game system employs wooden fruits (apples, oranges, grapes and bananas) as counters. In most games that are described in the rules leaflet, this is just an aesthetic way of reaching out to "kid culture", but in Banan-Cala the fruits have also a functional meaning.
The rules leaflet provides the English rules of a simplified Mancala game which is called "beginner's version", Kalah and Banan-Cala. French rules in some editions give the rules of Awélé instead of Banan-Cala, thus reflecting the popularity of this traditional mancala game in France.
"Beginner's Version" Rules
The rules are the same as those for Waurie except that players sow in both stores.
The game employs a board of 12 holes called "bowls" and two stores at both ends called "mancalas".
At the start there are four fruits in each hole.
Initial Position
On each turn, a player distributes the contents of one of his holes, one by one, in the counter-clockwise direction into the succeeding holes and both mancalas.
If the last fruit is dropped into the player's own mancala, he gets to move again.
The turn is over, if the last fruit falls into a bowl or the opponent's mancala.
The game ends when all bowls of a player are empty.
The player who has no fruits left in his bowls is the winner.
References
- Bishop, A.
- Mathematical Enculturation: A Cultural Perspective on Mathematics Education. Kluwer, Dordrecht (Netherlands) 1988.
- University Games Corporation (Ed.).
- Kid-Cala (Rules Leaflet). San Francisco CA (USA) 2000.
Copyright
© Wikimanqala.
By: Ralf Gering & Víktor Bautista i Roca
Under the CC by-sa 2.5 license.