This is the side of the board they control and pick up from. Each player has 7 (or 6 in the case of the egg carton board) holes on their side. You move the pieces in an anti-clockwise movement around the board, depending on where you start on your side of the board and how many beads you have, will determine where the beads finish (this may be on the player 2 side of the board).Ĥ. For the purposes of this instruction, I’ll call ‘ beads‘ (pictured as shells below) the pieces you move, each collection spot ‘ home‘ and the houses on the board ‘ holes‘.ģ. Each player owns the home space (indicated as 1 and 2) to their right.Ģ. First I’ll share a few guidelines how I learned to play this game.ġ. The aim of the game is to collect as many beads as possible. Leave the ends empty.Īs I mentioned, there are many ways to play this game. However, you can keep it simpler and place 3 or 4 beads in each hole.

The Sungka game I played had 7 pieces in each hole. I painted our egg carton board, but this is optional. You could also use dried beans or lentils, shells (collected or purchase shells from craft/discount stores), pebbles, stones, beads etc. I used glass beads you can find in many places including Bunnings and Spotlight. The beauty of this game is you can use many items for the ‘beads’. I used glue so I pegged this and allowed to dry. Simply glue/tape/staple this underneath the base of the egg carton as shown, allowing enough space for the collection cup. These can be made my simply cutting the top part of the egg carton in half. The board needs to have a collection part for the beads, I like to call it a home. The board I used in the Philippines had 7 holes, which is typical of this game, however it works perfectly well with the 6 holes provided in an egg carton. However, this game has been known to be played in the dirt by making holes in the ground and even carved in stone. The boards I have seen have been made out of wood. Or even just use dried beans and lentil from the pantry. Marbles are easy to find, and you can find stones/glass beads from Bunnings, Spotlight and other stores with nursery sections. Note: You can buy uniform shells from craft/discount stores.

Marbles, shells, stones, glass beads, seeds, lentils, dried beans.To make your own mancala game at home, below is the materials you’ll need. This game can even be played in the dirt by digging little holes and using stones (pictured here). For the DIY board, I simplified it using an egg carton.

It’s such a worthwhile game to play with kids, because of it’s history and simplicity.īelow is a Sungka board from the Philippines. I’m sharing how we have learned to play it, and there are also many instructions and rules around the web (just google ‘mancala game’ or ‘sungka game’). It’s largely played in Africa and Asia and has hundreds of variations. This game has ancient origins, although the exact history trail isn’t known. I’ve seen other versions of this game in Africa called mancala. Sungka is a game I learned in the Philippines when I did a test drive in the Ford Escape.

Mancala beads