Mancala is a large family of pit-and-stone games, and mangala is its Turkish member: six pits per player, a store (kazan) for each side and 48 stones. Below are the mangala rules used on 9qum: how to sow, when you move again, how to capture and how the game ends.
▶ Play mangala 🎓 Play with a coach
Two players. Each has a row of six pits and a store — a large pit that collects the stones you win. At the start every one of the 12 pits holds 4 stones, 48 in total, and both stores are empty.
Your row is the bottom one, pits numbered 1 to 6 from left to right. Your store sits on the right, right after pit 6. Your opponent's row is on top; their pit 1 is in the top right corner, facing your pit 6. Facing pairs are your 1 and their 6, your 2 and their 5, and so on up to your 6 and their 1.
The goal is to get more than half of the stones into your store — that is, 25 or more. Reaching 25 wins the game immediately.
Example: pit 5 holds 5 stones. The first stays in pit 5, then pit 6, your store and your opponent's pits 1 and 2. Whatever lands in your store is yours for the rest of the game.
If your last stone lands exactly in your store, you move again.
Count the starting pit too: from pit 6 you need 2 stones (or one) to reach the store, from pit 5 — 3, from pit 4 — 4, and so on up to 7 from pit 1. On the very first move pit 4 does it: it holds exactly 4 stones. Extra turns can be chained — one after another.
If your last stone lands in an opponent's pit and makes the count there even — 2, 4, 6 and so on — you take every stone in that pit. Only the pit where the last stone lands counts. An odd count captures nothing, and the even rule never applies to your own pits.
If your last stone lands in your own empty pit and the opponent's pit facing it has stones, you take them together with your stone. Example: five stones sit above your empty pit 3 — the capture puts +6 in your store. If the facing pit is empty, there is nothing to take and your stone simply stays.
The practical lesson: near the end it pays to empty your own row first, and grabbing your opponent's last stones is risky — their row empties and they collect everything still on your side.
The same name can mean different rules in different places. The game most often confused with mangala is Kalah: it also has six pits and a store, but sowing, captures and the ending differ.
| Rule | Mangala on 9qum | Kalah (common version) |
|---|---|---|
| Starting stones | 4 per pit, 48 in total | usually 4, versions with 3–6 exist |
| First stone of a move | back into the same pit | into the next pit |
| Last stone in your store | move again | move again |
| Even count in an opponent's pit | you capture it | no such rule |
| Your own empty pit | capture the facing stones plus yours | the same |
| End of the game | the empty row takes the opponent's remaining stones | each player keeps the stones on their own side |
9qum plays mangala by the classic Turkish rules described above. School and family games in Turkey sometimes differ in small details — for example, what happens when the pit facing your empty pit has no stones. The computer and the coach on 9qum count moves exactly as this page says.
The Learn section has a 14-step mangala course: the rules, first techniques (take the bigger capture, extra turn first, chains, defence) and how to win. Each step is a position where you find the move. After that come 37 mangala puzzles.
In Play with a coach every move you make is rated: best move, excellent, good, inaccuracy, mistake or blunder. On a blunder the game pauses, the coach shows the threat and offers a take-back. You get 3 hints per game, and the “Ask” button lets you put 3 questions a day to the coach for free (more with a membership).
The computer has 4 levels — Novice, Amateur, Strong and Master — and those games are kept in your history. Against people you play at online tables, with a Glicko-2 rating and tournaments. Any position can be opened in Game analysis: play moves for both sides, set up your own position and get the AI's advice.
▶ Play vs computer 📚 Learn 🧩 Puzzles
48 stones: 4 in each of the 12 pits. You need 25 or more to win.
If the pit is yours and the opponent's pit facing it has stones, you take them together with your stone. If the facing pit is empty, or the empty pit is on your opponent's side, there is no capture.
No. Stones go only into your own store; the opponent's store is skipped while sowing.
White moves first. When you play the computer on 9qum, you can pick your side or leave it to chance.
Yes. If both stores hold 24 stones at the end, the game is a draw.