Mangala
From Wikimanqala
Mangala
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|---|
| Played in: Turkey |
| One cycle |
| Single lap |
| 6 or 7 holes per row |
| Two rows |
- "Mangala" may also refer to um el bagara, a game played among the Kababish Arabs in Sudan.
Mangala is a Turkish mancala game that was first mentioned in 1694 by the English traveller Thomas Hyde in a list of approximately 30 games. The game is still known in some ares like Gaziantep in Southeast Anatolia. Games that are named the same, but have quite different rules, are also known from the Bedouins in Egypt.
According to Metin And, a renowned Turkish ethnologue, the game could be directly related to the "mancala" of The Arabian Nights (fifteenth night), one of the first literary accounts of mancala games.
Rules
The games is played in 14 holes dug into the earth (originally the game was played on a 2x6 board in Turkey). Initially there are five stones in each hole.
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| Initial Position |
At his turn a player distributes the contents of a hole, one by one, in a counter-clockwise direction into succeeding holes.
If the last stone ends in a hole on either side of the board, making a total of two or four stones including the last stone, its contents are captured.
If this hole is preced by other holes which contain two or four stones, their contents are also taken.
The game is finished when all holes are empty.
The player who captures more stones wins the game.
References
- Abu abd-Allah Muhammed el-Gahshigar.
- (8th-9th century) Hezār wa-Yek Shab(Kitāb Alf Layla wa-Layla), Baghdad, Sassanid Persia.
- And, M.
- (1979) 'Cocuk Oyunlarinin Kültürümüzde Yeri Ve Önemi', in Ulusal Kültür: Üc Ayhk Kültür Dergisi; (4).
- And, M.
- (1979) 'Some Notes on Aspects and Functions of Turkish Folk Games', in The Journal of American Folklore; 21 (1) 44-64.
- Hyde, T.
- (1694) De Ludis Orientalibus, Oxford: 226-232.
