Modern sowing games

From Wikimanqala

Modern sowing games have usually a known inventor and are often modifications of traditional mancala games. In contrast to traditional games, their rules are handed down by written records rather than by talking.

Some invented games may, however, be turned into traditional games through a process called 'folklorization' in social sciences. Kalah is already firmly rooted in the popular culture of America and Germany.

The birth of modern sowing games is linked to the rise of capitalism and the game industry (see mangola and chuba). Several games were patented (e.g. banking ball game, Robertson's mancala game, and Balduman's mancala game), although only a few of them were eventually marketed (kalah). Many games were designed by mathematicians as research problems, but may not be very playable for humans (ioiwari, stones in cups, nano-wari). The advent of the internet made it far more easier to communicate new rules and so fostered an unprecedented growth of new games.

These modern games often employ totally new concepts which makes it increasingly difficult to define them as mancala games, so the more general term "sowing games" is used here instead. There are games with reverse sowing (Bulgarian solitaire and its variants), simultaneous sowing (55Stones), cards (octagon, Druidenwalzer, Rondell), and stacking (Rondell, martian mancala, pyramidis). Several games are using a two-dimensional board topology. And yet, many invented games are still defined along the characteristics of traditional ones (sowing, cycles, undifferentiated counters, one-dimensional board topology). Most often they are variants of oware or dakon as these traditional mancala games are best known in Europe and America.

The following lists are therefore quite comprehensive - they even include mancala-like games.

Commercialized games

A survey

Game	Year	Inventor	Country	Players	Laps	Goal	Additional information
Kariba	2006	Frank Stark	Germany	2	single	capturing counters	Cups variant
Wayfinder	2006	Benjamin Corliss	USA	1-4	single	capturing counters	two-dimensional; real time element
Da Vinci's Mancala	2005	Paul Micarelli and V. Springer	USA	2	single	pattern-building; capturing counters	Kalah variant
4-player mancala	2001 (?)	Gary MacLeod (?)	USA	2-4	single	capturing counters	kalah variant
Devil Bunny hates the Earth	2001	James Ernest	USA	2-5	single	capturing; moving "Devil Bunny" to your machine	dice game; luck; shared pits, pentagonal board
Nasty crossroads	early 2000s	Sue and Joe Hanson	USA	4	single	capturing counters	cross-shaped board
Basic crossroads	early 2000s	Sue and Joe Hanson	USA	4	single	capturing counters	cross-shaped board
Volcano	2000	Kristin Looney	USA	1-6	single	capturing counters	two-dimensional
Druidenwalzer	1999	Michael Rieneck	Germany	2	single	capturing holes	card game imitating a mancala game (Druidenwalzer = Sowing)
Banan-cala	1998	Vince Kurr	USA	2	single	capturing counters	kalah variant
Bao Arabica	1998	Matthias Kumpernaß	Germany	2-4	single	capturing counters	name = exotism; oware variant
Calady	1998	Alexander H. Slocum	USA	4	single	capturing counters	cross-shaped board; kalah variant (versions 1-2); oware variant (version 3)
Cirk	1998	Corné van Moorsel	Netherlands	2	single	last move	shared pits; no draws
Kid-cala (beginner's version)	1998	Vince Kurr	USA	2	single	empty pits	Kalah variant
Conga	1998	Martin Franke	Germany	2	single	4-in-a-row	two-dimensional
Space walk	1997	Rüdiger Dorn	Germany	2-5	single	retaining counters and chips	kalah variant; double-moves
Pyramidis	1988	Roland Siegers	Belgium	2 or 4	single	removing five pyramids of your own color	cross-shaped, if played by 4 players; stacking
Gretrix	1987	Gregory David Schotanus	USA	2-4	single	capturing counters	two-dimensional
Pass it on	1978	(?)	USA	2-4	single	empty pits; penalty points	variant of ruma and kalah; no draws
Sahara	1976	(?)	Germany	2	single	capturing counters	Kalah variant
Intermedium (Stepping stones)	1976	Matt Crispis	UK	2	single	capturing a given hole	two-dimensional
Mankka	1975	Kent Barker	Canada	2	single	capturing counters	-
Ägyptisches Muschelspiel	1972	(?)	Germany	2	single	last move	name = exotism; kalah variant
Swahili	1968	(?)	USA	2-4	both	capturing counters	name = exotism; similar to kalah and sungka; no draws
Grand Arabian Oh-Wah-Ree	1962	Alex Randolph	USA	2-4	single	capturing holes	ordinary pits can be turned into stores
Grand Coastal Oh-Wah-Ree	1962	Alex Randolph	USA	2-4	single	capturing holes	oware variant
Grand Dog-Gone Oh-Wah-Ree	1962	Alex Randolph	USA	2-4	single	capturing holes	ba-awa variant
Kalah	1940	William Julius Champion Jr	USA	2	single	capturing counters	the most popular modern mancala game; often just called "mancala"; sungka variant
Chuba	1891	Erwin H. Richards	USA	2	multi	last move	four-rank mancala game heavily based on tchouba (Mozambique); no draws
Mangola	1864	Walter Whitmore Jones	UK	2	single (?)	(?)	first commercial mancala game

Maths related games

A survey

Game	Year	Inventor	Country	Players	Laps	Goal	Additional information
Two-handed Bulgarian solitaire	2004	Tim Bancroft	USA	2	single	repetition of position	reverse sowing
Random Bulgarian solitaire	2003	Serguei Popov	Brazil	1	single	repetition of position	reverse sowing
MiniMancala	2001	Christian Freeling	Netherlands	2	single	last move	solved (draw)
Numercy	2000	Sam Nooh K. Al-Jajjoka	UK	2	both	ending moves in certain holes	abacus-like game for learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of numbers
Eppstein's mancala game	1999	David Eppstein	USA	2	single	unable to move	reverse sowing; no draws
Yann's mancala problem	1997	David Yann	France	1	single	connecting positions	solved (yes)
Atomic wari	1996	Jeff Erickson	USA	2	single	last move	oware variant; shared pits
Partisan sowing	1996	Jeff Erickson	USA	2	single	last move	sowing with partisan counters
Reaping	1996	Jeff Erickson	USA	2	single	last move	reverse sowing
Two-dimensional sowing	1996	Jeff Erickson	USA	2	single	last move	variant of sowing
Circular composition	1995	Rocco Servedio and Yeong-Nan Yeh	Taiwan	1	single	repetition of position	variant of stones in cups
Sowing	1994	John Horton Conway	USA	2	single	last move	first one-rank Mancala; shared pits
Stones in cups	1992	Barry Cipra	USA	1	single	repetition of the initial position after all the counters wind up in the original pit	mathematical problem
Montreal solitaire	1990	Chris Cannings and John Haigh	UK	1	single	repetition of position	reverse sowing
Austrian solitaire	1985	Ethan Akin and Morton David Davis	USA	1	single	repetition of position	reverse sowing
Deterministic Bulgarian solitaire	1983	Martin Gardner	USA	1	single	repetition of position	reverse sowing
Micro-wari	1977	Assia Popova and André Deledicq	France	2	single	capturing counters	one of the smallest mancala games
Monokalah	1977	Véronique Gautheron	France	1	single	empty pits	a variant of tchoukaillon
Multitchouka	1977	Véronique Gautheron	France	1	multi	empty pits	a variant of tchoukaillon
Nano-wari	1977	Assia Popova and André Deledicq	France	2	single	repetition of board position	game of contemplation; smallest mancala game; no winners or losers; solved
Tchoukaillon	1977	Véronique Gautheron	France	1	single	empty pits	a variant of tchuka ruma

Non-commercialized games

A survey

Game	Year	Inventor	Country	Players	Laps	Goal	Additional information
Awele bohnanza	2006	Silvano Sorrentino	Italy	2	single	capturing counters	oware variant
Diffusion	2006	Mark Steere	USA	2	single	empty pits	kalah variant; overlapping cycles; no draws
Four-rank diffusion	2006	Mark Steere	USA	2	single	empty pits	kalah variant; overlapping cycles; no draws
Kauri	2006	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	single	capturing counters	-
long night game	2006	Matthias Lizt	Austria	2	multi	capturing counters	vai lung thlan variant
Misère 55Stones	2006	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	multi	capturing counters	simultaneous moves; shared pits; no draws
Orancala	2006	Sjaak Griffioen	Netherlands	2-4	single	capturing counters	oware variant
Spectral Reapers	2006	Clark D. Rodeffer	USA	2-6	single	capturing counters	experimental
Cow poke	2005	Clark D. Rodeffer	USA	2-6	single	capturing counters	card game; luck
Mancala spellorama	2005	Tracey Wood	Canada	2	multi	capturing counters and spelling words	spelling game; sungka variant
Michael's Parteiisches Rondell	2005	Michael Reitz	Germany	2	both	capturing counters	card game with perfect information; stacking game; no draws
Michael's Rondell	2005	Michael Reitz	Germany	2	both	capturing counters	card game with perfect information; stacking game; shared pits; no draws
Michael's Rondell mit Reservierung	2005	Michael Reitz	Germany	2	both	capturing counters	card game with perfect information; stacking game; shared pits; no draws
Parteiisches Rondell	2005	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	both	capturing counters	card game with perfect information; stacking game; no draws
Rondell	2005	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	both	capturing counters	card game with perfect information; stacking game; subvariant with shared pits; no draws
Rondell mit Reservierung	2005	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	both	capturing counters	card game with perfect information; stacking game; shared pits; no draws
Afrika	2004	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	single	capturing counters	-
El mirall	2004	(?)	Catalonia	2	single	repetition of the initial position	game of coordination; solitaire-like; no winners or losers
Geisterfahrer	2004	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	both	no move	kalah variant; no draws
Pas de Deux	2004	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	single	capturing counters	oware variant; double-moves
Progressive Mancala	2004	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	multi	capturing counters	progressive moves; shared pits; no draws
Superwari	2004	Bill Taylor	New Zealand	2	single	capturing counters	oware variant
55Stones	2002	Ralf Gering	Germany	2	multi	capturing counters	simultaneous moves; shared pits; no draws
Canicas	2002	Walter Joris	Belgium	2	single	making territory	paper-and-pencil game
Cross-endodoi	2002	W. Dan Troyka	USA	2	multi	capturing counters	-
Martian Mancala	2002	Dave Mattingly	USA	2	multi	capturing counters	sungka variant
Tornado	2002	Walter Joris	Belgium	2	single	last move	paper-and-pencil game; Cirk variant
Cross-kalah	2001	W. Dan Troyka	USA	2	single	capturing counters	kalah variant
Cross-wari	2001	W. Dan Troyka	USA	2	single	capturing counters	oware variant
Hackaback	2001	Andrew Perkis	UK	2	single	last move	unequal forces
Ioiwari	2001	Gyula Horvath	Hungary	2	single	capturing counters	solved (first-player win)
Tea party	2001	Clark D. Rodeffer	USA	2 or 4	none	capturing counters	most irregular game; no draws; experimental
UnStack	2001	João Pedro Neto	Portugal	2	single	capturing counters	two-dimensional; stacking
Snake game	1999	Fred Horn	Netherlands	2	single	capturing counters	intertwisted rows
HyperCalady	1998	Joe Foley	USA	4	single	capturing counters	cross-shaped board; Kalah variant
Nyakun	1996	Didier Guillion	France	2	single	capturing counters	vai lung thlan variant
Widdershins	1996	David Parlett	UK	2	both	capturing counters	card game
Amboseli game	1995	Ringo Skibbe	Germany	2	multi	last move	name = exotism
Njaka's mancala game	1991	Dim Njaka	USA	2-4	multi	capturing counters	ba-awa variant
Glass bead game	mid-1980s	Christian Freeling	Netherlands	2	single	capturing counters	oware variant
Balduman's mancala game	1979	Agapito B. Balduman	USA	2-3	multi	capturing counters	sungka variant
Tower of power	1976	Michael Baldwin	UK	2	single	capturing counters	two-dimensional; stacking
Octagon	1975	Matt Crispis	UK (?)	2-5	single	capturing counters	card game
Coin duel	late 1960s	Arthur and Wald Amberstone	USA	2	multi	capturing counters	sungka variant
Cups	1965	Arthur and Wald Amberstone	USA	2	single	capturing counters	Kalah variant
Fergen goobalay	late 1950s	(?)	Somalia	2	multi	capturing counters	variant of layli goobalay; neutral holes
Banking ball game	1941	Serge B. Escuadra	USA	2	single	capturing counters	similar to [[kalah]
Robertson's mancala game	1936	Frederick Henry Robertson	Jamaica	2	single	capturing counters	oware variant
Ruma	1930s	Mr Punga	Belgium (as of place of first publication)	2-4	single	empty pits; penalty points	precursor of pass it on and possibly kalah; no draws

Notes:

• A game with shared pits is one in which all pits are communally owned.
• An oware variant is any single-lap game in which two or three stones are captured (this is a rather inclusive definition).
• A ba-awa variant is any multi-lap games in which groups of four are captured, even during moving.
• A vai lung thlan variant is any single-lap game in which singletons are captured.
• A kalah variant is any single-lap, multi-player game with functional endholes or stores.
• A sungka variant is any multi-lap, multi-player game with functional endholes.
• A tchuka ruma variant is any solitaire game with functional endholes.