Ways of sowing
From Wikimanqala
Moves in mancala games consist of one or several laps (also known as sowings). Games which have just single laps are called single lap mancala games, while games which have several laps (also called relay sowing) are known as multiple lap mancala games.
A lap consists of taking all the seeds from a pit and sowing them, one by one, into the following pits:
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| Taking the seeds from the only occupied hole |
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| Sowing them |
Usually mancala games have a predetermined sense of sowing. In all the examples here a counter-clockwise sense is used.
Contents |
Single lap
There are two ways of single lap sowing. In most games the first seed is placed in the hole next to the emptied one:
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| Taking the seeds from the last hole on the bottom row |
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| Sowing them |
In some games (i.e. oware) the initial hole is skipped if there are enough seeds to make a full round:
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| Taking the seeds from the most loaded hole |
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| Sowing them, skipping the initial hole |
However, in almost all games with single lap sowing the initial hole is not skipped (i.e. um dyar, adji-boto and vai lung thlan.
Single lap sowing starting in the initial hole
In some games (i.e. toğız qumalaq) the first seed is left in the initial hole from which the sowing was begun:
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| South plays from the 7th hole |
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| And this is the result |
Traditional single lap games are most common in West Africa, Arabic countries, Central Asia, the Caribbean and South America. Most modern Mancala games have also single lap movement.
Multiple lap
In multiple lap sowing the move doesn't end after the first sowing, but continues. Usually the contents of the last hole sown into, until a sowing ends in some way.
In the most common multiple lap games the move is started from a hole in your side, then the seeds are sown starting in the next hole. The next lap is done with the contents of the last sown hole until the last seed of a sowing ends in an empty hole:
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| We start sowing from the white pit |
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| After the first lap |
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| After the second lap |
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| After the third lap |
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| After the fourth and last lap, as we have finished in a empty pit (now with one seed, the black one) |
In some two cycles games, when a capture is made, the move continues with the captured seeds (e.g. omweso, ||hus, bao), whilst in others the move ends (e.g. mefuvha, hawalis).
In many one cycle games the move also ends after a capture (e.g. ba-awa, ot-tjin..) although there is at least one game in which a capture gives another move, but not enchained with the previous one (hoyito). In many others the capture is made after ending the move sungka, congklak).
Some people call this kind of multiple lap sowing African style laps, but this term is not very common.
Pussa-kanawa
There is a second kind of multiple lap sowing, the pussa-kanawa style. Here the move is continued with the contents of the hole following the hole which was filled last. The move ends when the last stone falls into a hole which is followed by an empty hole:
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| Sowing starts from the white pit |
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| After the first lap |
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| After the second lap |
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| After the third and last lap, as the next hole (the black one) is empty |
This kind of sowing is also called by some Indian style sowing, although it is known as pussa-kanawa among mancala experts. Most games of this kind are from India, Sri Lanka, Yunnan (China), Myanmar and Vietnam. A few isolated pussa-kanawa games have also been reported from Africa (e.g. kisolo from Congo, and bosh, Somalia).
Multiple lap games are prevalent in central, eastern and southern regions of Africa, in India and south-eastern Asia. In West Africa, the Caribbean and South America they occur together with single lap games.
Mancala games with one or two rows can be single or multi-lap games, while mancala games which employ three or more rows are all multi-lap games.
Differences between single lap and multiple lap games
- Multiple lap moves effect more holes so that the resulting board position is more difficult to predict.
- Multiple lap moves can lead to never-ending moves cycling around the board.
- In cultures where there are both single and multiple lap games (Western Africa and the Caribbean) usually the single lap ones are reserved to adult men and the multiple lap ones are played by children and women.
- All single lap games and all but one pussa-kanawa game, the exception being kisolo, are single cycle games. Multiple lap games can be single and two cycles games.
 | This article is in need of improvement: References needed |
