Two mancala tables from the early 18th century are to be found in Weikersheim Castle in southern Germany. In the Baltic area, it was once very popular (' Bohnenspiel') in Bosnia, where it is called Ban-Ban and still played today Serbia and Greece ('Mandoli', Cyclades). The games existed in especially eastern Europe. Among other early evidence of the game are fragments of a pottery board and several rock cuts found in Aksumite areas in Matara (in Eritrea) and Yeha (in Ethiopia), which are dated by archaeologists to between the 6th and 7th centuries AD the game may have been mentioned by Giyorgis of Segla in his 14th century Geʽez text Mysteries of Heaven and Earth, where he refers to a game called qarqis, a term used in Geʽez to refer to both Gebet'a (mancala) and Sant'araz (modern sent'erazh, Ethiopian chess). Almost 200 modern invented versions have also been described.Ī 10th century ivory board from Muslim SpainĮvidence of the game was uncovered in Israel in the city of Gedera in an excavated Roman bathhouse where pottery boards and rock cuts were unearthed dating back to between the 2nd and 3rd century AD. Īlthough more than 800 names of traditional mancala games are known, some names denote the same game, while some names are used for more than one game. Sometimes more than one version can be played in a single locality. But there are also numerous variations with the number of holes and rules by region. This version has identical rules throughout its range. The most common type has seven holes for each player, in addition to the player store holes. They differ from other mancala types in that the player's store is included in the placing of the seeds. Vwela – played by the nyemba (lucazi) people distributed between Southern Angola, Northern East Namibia and Zambia.Toguz korgool or Toguz kumalak – played in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.The Aklanon people still call the game kunggit. Father José Sanchez who had arrived on the Philippines in 1643 wrote that at the game was played with seashells on a wooden, boat-like board. Sungka – It was first described by the Jesuit priest Father José Sanchez in his dictionary of the Bisaya language (Cebuano) in 1692 manuscript as kunggit.

Oware ( awalé, awélé, awari) – Ashanti, but played world-wide with close variants played throughout West Africa (e.g., ayo by Yorubas and ishe by Igalas) and in the Caribbean.Opón ayò – among the Yorubas of Nigeria.Omanu Guntalu (in Telugu) – played in rural areas of Telangana, India.Kalah – North American variation, the most popular variant in the Western world.Hoyito – played in the Dominican Republic.Gebeta (Tigrigna: ገበጣ) – Ethiopian and Eritrea (especially in Tigrai).Dakon (or dhakon) – played in Indonesian archipelago (especially in Java island).Congklak (a.k.a congkak, congka, tjongklak, jongklak) – played in Malay Archipelago by Malay (i.e.Bao la Kiswahili – played in most of East Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, Comoros, Malawi, as well as some areas of DR Congo and Burundi.Ali Guli Mane or Pallanguzhi – played in Southern India.Alemungula or gebeta (ገበጣ)– played in Sudan and Ethiopia.Ayoayo, played by the Yoruba people in Nigeria similar to Oware.Some of the most popular mancala games (with regard to distribution area, the numbers of players and tournaments, and publications) are: The name is a classification or type of game, rather than any specific game. Game of Ô ăn quan on New Year's Day ( Tết) at Vinhomes Times City, Ha Noi

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