What is Kalah with 3 to 6 seeds?
Kalah is usually started with four seeds in each of the twelve small pits. The seed count is the simplest thing to change, and the game is often written Kalah(6, s): six pits a side and s seeds in each. Here you can start with 3, 4, 5 or 6 seeds per pit. Every rule of play stays the same: you sow anticlockwise, drop a seed in your own store but never in your opponent's, move again when your last seed lands in your store, and capture when it lands in an empty pit of your own facing seeds.
The seed count changes the character of the game. With three seeds (36 in all) the board empties quickly, a single capture can decide the game, and the endgame arrives within a few moves. With five or six seeds (60 or 72 in all) pits grow large enough to sow right round the board, long chains of extra turns become possible, and each move has more consequences to work out. The more seeds, the more challenging the game.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Mancala | Kalah with 3 to 6 seeds |
|---|---|---|
| Seeds in each pit | Standard Mancala4 seeds in each of the twelve pits; both stores start empty. | Kalah with 3 to 6 seeds3, 5 or 6 seeds in each pit, chosen in the table setup; both stores start empty. |
| Seeds in play | Standard Mancala48 seeds, so 25 in your store wins the game. | Kalah with 3 to 6 seeds36, 60 or 72 seeds. A player with more than half of them in their store has won. |
| Length and depth | Standard MancalaA medium-length game, with captures and extra turns in balance. | Kalah with 3 to 6 seedsThree seeds plays faster and turns on a few captures; five and six seeds give longer games, bigger pits that sow round the board and longer chains of extra turns. |
| Everything else | Standard MancalaSowing, extra turns, captures and the end-of-game sweep as in Kalah. | Kalah with 3 to 6 seedsThe same. You can also combine any seed count with the empty-capture rule. |
History
Kalah is a modern member of the ancient mancala family. William Julius Champion, Jr. patented and sold the Kalah board in the United States in the 1950s. The starting count is written Kalah(m, n), for m pits a side and n seeds in each, so the standard game is Kalah(6, 4).
Every seed count offered here has been analysed by computer. In 2000 Geoffrey Irving, Jeroen Donkers and Jos Uiterwijk published Solving Kalah in the ICGA Journal, solving boards of up to six pits with up to five seeds per pit; on six pits, the four- and five-seed games are first-player wins. The six-seed game was proven a first-player win in 2011. Those results used the empty-capture rule. Under the standard capture rule played here, analysis by Mark Rawlings in 2015 found that the first player wins Kalah(6, 4) by 8 seeds and Kalah(6, 5) by 10 with perfect play, and Kalah(6, 6) by at least 4. These results come from enormous computer searches; at the table, the seed count mostly decides how long and how tactical the game feels.