Awale i jocs Mancala - Oware and Mancala games

Kichwa and Kimbi

Until now you could choose whether to enter the seeds from the left or the right. But there are situations in which you can not choose. You cannot choose if you capture seeds from the two holes on either end of the board. In that case, you must enter the captured seeds on the same side where you captured them. These two holes on the extrem left and right have special names. The outer ones we already know as Kichwa. The second holes from left and right we call kimbi. To make this new rule clearer, see diagram 9: 

diagram 9

If you capture by placing the seed from your stock in the hole with one seed, you capture 4 seeds. These four seeds have to be sown from the left; you are not allowed to sow them from the right. If you capture the 3 seeds opposing your two, you also must sow them beginning in hole one. If you capture the 5 seeds opposing your three, you must start sowing from hole eight (the kichwa from the right). If you capture the 6 seeds opposing you four, you also must enter them starting from the right side.

The result of these capture possibilities in diagrams 10, 11, 12 and 13:

diagram 10 

Diagram 10: after capturing the first hole from the left 

diagram 11 

Diagram 11: after capturing the second hole from the right 

Diagram 12: after capturing the second hole from the left 

diagram 13 

Diagram 13: after capturing the first hole from the right

Capturing with captured seeds

In diagrams 10 through 13, the last seed ends in an empty hole, ending the move. In some situations the last seed to be sown falls in a hole already containing seeds. If this happens you can capture the seeds in the opposing hole. If there are none, then take all the seeds from this last hole and sow them again, sowing in the same direction. If you captured a kichwa or kimbi, the direction of sowing can change according to the kichwa and kimbi rule. Remember that your turn can only end when your last seed falls in an empty hole.

By capturing with captured seeds, multiple captures are possible. To explain this multiple capturing, see diagram 14. Enter a seed in the hole that contains 2 seeds and capture the opposing three.

diagram 14 

Because it is a kimbi hole, you must start sowing from the left kichwa. You capture the 3 opposing seeds. Because it is a left sided kimbi hole, you start sowing on the left side. The last of the three seeds ends in the third hole. This hole already contains one seed, so you capture the 4 seeds of your opponent. Take these then and start sowing from the left. You have start on the left because you were already sowing in that direction. The last of those seeds falls in the fourth hole. Because the fourth was empty, the move ends. Diagram 15 shows the result of capturing the second hole in diagram 14: 

diagram 15

(*) adapted of the booklet: "Bao. The Mancala Game of Kenya" that Renice Jones gave me.

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