Capturing holes between games
From Wikimanqala
There are many mancala games that don't end after a single game, but are played in rounds, and in which, between each game, the board changes. Usually, after a game, each player puts his captures back on the board, on his side. If enough seeds have been captured, they will fill all the holes (and sometimes there will be even a surplus). If a player hasn't captured enough seeds, not all the holes will be full (usually in each hole must be the same amount of seeds as in the first game). Then the empty holes are "closed" (literally with earth or just marked by a leaf, a pebble or another sign) and not used in the next game. Then play continues until one player, at the end of a game, has not enough seeds to full a certain number of holes, the exact number may vary according to the game (sometimes one, sometimes a couple).
Seeds that remained from the previous game are counted as if they were captured in this game.
In some games the holes are not closed, but their ownership changes. For instance, if at the beginning of the first game each player had six holes, in the next round one player could have eight holes and his opponent just four.
Closed holes can be reopened (or reconquered), if in a game the losing player captures enough seeds to fill them again.
All these games are multiple lap and single cycle games played on two-row boards.
These games are traditionally played in Africa (ba-awa, um dyar, bosh), America (hoyito) and Asia (ali guli mane, sungka).
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| Hoyito initial position after a game ended at 16-32 for South |
