About Free Printable Mancala (Kalah) Rules
Free printable Mancala (Kalah) rules — board setup, sowing direction, the extra-turn and capture rules, end-of-game sweep, and common house variants.
How to use
- Choose your print style. Full color gives a warm wood-tone board diagram that looks great as a reference poster beside your real Mancala board. Ink-saver (black & white) switches to a clean greyscale board for an economical classroom handout — ideal when printing a class set.
- Choose whether to show board diagrams. Diagrams on (the default) include the starting setup, a counter-clockwise sowing diagram, worked examples of the extra-turn and capture rules, and the end-of-game sweep. Switch to text only for the most compact, fewest-pages version.
- Read the preview to confirm it is what you want — the rules flow from the objective and setup, through how to take a turn, the special rules (extra turn, capture, skip the opponent's store, end-of-game sweep), how the game ends, and three common variants (Empty Capture, Pie Rule, opposite-side sweep).
- Click Print Rules to send it to your printer or save as a PDF. The full illustrated guide prints cleanly across a couple of standard letter or A4 pages; choose Text only for a compact one-page summary.
Frequently asked questions
How do you set up a Mancala board?
Place the board between the two players so each row of 6 pits sits in front of one player. Each player's store (the large pit) is on their right-hand side. Put exactly 4 stones in each of the 12 small pits — 48 stones in total. Both stores start empty. The 6 pits in front of you are your pits and you only start moves from those; the 6 pits across are your opponent's. Decide who goes first by toss, oldest, or random pick.
What is the Extra Turn rule in Mancala?
If the very last stone you sow lands in your own store, you immediately take another turn. You can chain multiple extra turns by always landing the final stone in your store — there is no limit. Setting up a string of extra turns is one of the strongest Mancala strategies, especially when opening the game with the pit closest to your store.
How does the Capture rule work?
If the last stone you sow lands in an empty pit on YOUR side of the board, AND the directly opposite pit on your opponent's side contains stones, you capture: take your last sown stone plus all stones in the opposite pit and place them all in your store. Only the final stone of the move can trigger a capture. If the opposite pit is empty, no capture happens.
Can you skip your opponent's store when sowing?
Yes — you always skip your opponent's store. You never deposit a stone there. The path of a sown stone goes: your 6 pits → your own store → opponent's 6 pits → (skip their store) → back to your pits. If you happen to scoop up enough stones to lap the whole board, you simply skip their store on each pass and continue counter-clockwise.
How does a Mancala game end and who wins?
The game ends as soon as one player has no stones left in any of their 6 pits. The OTHER player then sweeps all the remaining stones from their own side into their own store. Count the stones in each store — the player with the most stones wins. If both stores hold the same number of stones, the game is a draw.
What other printable game rules do you have?
Mancala joins our growing collection of free printable game-rule sheets covering classic public-domain board and card games — chess, checkers, backgammon, poker, hearts, cribbage, crazy eights, go fish, old maid, and yahtzee are all available, with more on the way. See the
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