Mancala Solitaire (1)

Mancala Solitaire

Inventor: Evan Lewis, 1979

Ranks: One

Sowing: Multiple laps

Region: New Zealand

Mancala Solitaire was invented by Evan Lewis, New Zealand, and first published in the British magazine Games & Puzzles in 1979.

Rules

Mancala Solitaire can be played on any mancala board, but was described for a standard board of two rows, each with six holes. Any number of seeds can be used. The holes are filled at random with seeds.

The player sows the contents of any one hole either clockwise or counterclockwise.

If the last seed falls into an occupied hole, its contents are distributed in another lap, either continuing in the same direction or changing it.

If the player has just one seed in hand at either end of the rows, he is allowed to place it aside instead of moving it to the other row.

A player loses, if the last seed of a lap falls into an empty hole.

A player wins, if he succeeds in removing all the seeds from the board. According to Evan Lewis he shall be able "with practice, (...) to win this solitaire most of the time".

Reference

Lewis, E.

Mancala Solitaire. In: Games & Puzzles 1979; 8 (74): 33.

Copyright

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