| Mangala |
| Inventor: (?), 2009 |
| Variant of Dakon |
| Ranks: Two |
| Sowing: Single laps |
| Region: Turkey |
Mangala is also the name of a modern mancala variant, which tries to give Turkey a national mancala game. It was designed in 2009 and is marketed by the nationalist Üç Renk Organizasyon. It is planned to held a Mangala tournament in Pardubice, Czech Republic, at the "Czech Open 2010" in July. The game was inspired by the Kazakh Toguz Kumalak and the American Kalah (itself a variant of Dakon).
Rules
Mangala is played on a board of two rows, each consisting of six holes that have a large store at either end. A player owns the six holes closest to him and the store to his right. The game starts with four stones in each hole.
Initial Position
Players take turns moving the seeds.
Play is counterclockwise. The stones are distributed one by one in the pits and the players own store (but not the opponent's store). The first stone of the lap is put back into the hole from which it was taken.
Although not explicitly stated, it is assumed that a singleton is sown into the ensuing hole, because otherwise the given condition for ending the game wouldn't make sense.
The game is played with single laps.
If the last stone falls into the player's store, he must move again.
If the last seed makes the content of an opponent's hole even, these seeds are captured and placed into the player's store.
If the last seed falls into an empty hole in the player's own row, he captures all contents of the opposite hole together with the capturing piece and puts them in his store. If the opposite pit is empty, nothing is captured.
A capture ends the move.
The game ends when a player has no legal move. The remaining pieces are captured by the player with the empty row. The player who has captured most pieces is declared the winner.
Variant
"Castle Rule" ("Kale kuralı"): A player who makes a three in an opponent's hole (except the last of his row), captures this hole, which is then called a "castle". The The sixth hole cannot become a "castle". Every stone, which is sown into a "castle", is captured by the player who owns it.
A player is permitted to make only one "castle" throughout the game.
In the Castle variant, no stones are sown into the store. The game is a simplified Toguz Kumalak variant.