Mancala's really easy. Read the non-red text for the quick summary.There are fancy names for things, but I'll describe the things as what they look like, rather than their actual name.
How to win: score the majority of 48 points.
How to play: you have six buckets on your side with stones in them. The number tells you how many stones are in the pocket.
When you click one, you take the stones out of that pocket and drop one stone at a time into each adjacent pocket, moving anti clockwise.
You leave the hole you grabbed from empty.
Your goal space counts as a pocket. Your opponent's goal space does not. Really high numbers can loop back to your side if they keep going.
Play continues until one side has no stones in any of their six pockets, at which point the other guy scores all stones on his side and points get tallied to decide the winner.
TWO SPECIAL MOVES WILL BE THE REAL DECIDER OF VICTORY
The extra turn - if the last stone you drop from a group lands in your goal square, you get to go again. This can be used to style on your opponent with the next special move:
The stone steal - if the last stone you drop from a group lands in an empty pocket on your side, you steal all the stones in the adjacent pocket on your opponent's side (and score the one stone you used to steal)
Confused? Don't be: this is an example of a potential steal moment for the top player if it's his turn:
0 0 0 1 0 0
0 0 9 0 0 0
The player chooses the one, which moves it one space anticlockwise into an empty pocket on his side. That means he gets to steal all nine stones across the board, ending the game!
To win mancala, steal mercilessly.
That's all you need. Some tips to make that happen that work for me:
High numbers near your goal, low ones far away. Small numbers in back are easy to open spots for to steal with, large numbers in front can loop all the way around the board to empty spots in your back to steal.
Try to combo. When you make a move to get an extra turn, you leave the hole you grabbed from empty. That's prime stealing territory.
If your opponent can steal from you, you need to do one of three things: fill his empty hole by sending him pieces, increase the number he can steal with by sending his side pieces, or moving the stealable pieces away.
Don't generally worry about giving your oppponent's pockets pieces: you score a point every time you do, you can disrupt his side by changing his numbers, and games are won with stealing anyways, almost never with full boards
