Oware vs Computer

How to Play Oware (Mancala) — Rules, Captures and Strategy

Oware is the great West-African member of the mancala family, a pure-strategy sowing game for two players. The board has two rows of six houses and starts with four seeds in every house — 48 in all. Players sow counter-clockwise, one seed per house, and capture by making enemy houses count exactly two or three seeds, chaining captures backwards through the enemy row. First to bank 25 seeds wins. This free online version plays the classic Abapa-style rules — including the grand-slam and feeding rules — with a friend on one screen or against the computer at three levels, right in your browser.

A West-African classic

Oware comes from the Akan peoples of Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, and its name is often traced to a story of a couple who played so endlessly they had to marry ("oware" — he/she marries). It is played across West Africa and far beyond under many names: awalé in Côte d’Ivoire, ayò among the Yoruba of Nigeria, warri in the Caribbean, where it crossed the Atlantic and became a treasured tradition — it is the national game of Antigua and Barbuda. Oware belongs to the ancient mancala family, among the oldest board games on Earth: sowing boards well over a thousand years old have been found cut into stone across Africa. It is played casually on carved wooden boards or holes scooped in the ground, and competitively in international tournaments.

The goal

Capture more seeds than your opponent. With 48 seeds in play, 25 captured seeds wins the game on the spot. If the game ends with the board stalled, each player keeps the seeds on their own side, and 24–24 is a draw. Unlike congkak-style games there are no free turns — every capture comes from making enemy houses count exactly 2 or 3.

The board

Two rows of six houses face each other, with a score bowl at each end. You own the row nearest you and the bowl on your right; your opponent owns the other row and the other bowl. Every house starts with four seeds and both bowls start empty. The bowls only ever hold captured seeds — they are never sown into. On this screen Player 1 sows the bottom row (scoring right), Player 2 the top row (scoring left), and Player 1 moves first.

How to sow

• On your turn, pick up ALL the seeds from one of your six houses and sow them counter-clockwise, dropping exactly one seed into each following house.
• The score bowls are skipped completely — seeds only ever land in the twelve houses. Captured seeds are what fill your bowl, not sown ones.
• Sowing is a single lap: your turn ends where the last seed falls. There is no relay pickup and no free turn in oware.
• Big handfuls (12 or more seeds) go all the way around the board. On the second lap the house you emptied is skipped, so the origin house always ends the move empty.
• Feeding rule: if your opponent has no seeds at all, you MUST choose a move that puts at least one seed on their side, whenever such a move exists. Starving the opponent is not allowed.

Capturing

If your LAST seed lands in an enemy house and brings that house to exactly two or three seeds, you capture its contents into your bowl. Then look at the house just before it (in sowing order): if it is also an enemy house holding two or three, capture that too — and keep walking backwards through consecutive enemy houses of two or three until the chain breaks. A single well-aimed sowing can sweep four or five houses. Grand-slam rule: a move that would capture ALL of your opponent’s remaining seeds is legal to play, but captures nothing — the seeds stay on the board, so the game can continue.

How the game ends

The moment a player has banked 25 or more seeds the game is over — they hold the majority of the 48. Otherwise the game ends when the player to move has no legal move: either they have no seeds and cannot be fed, or they cannot reach a starving opponent. The remaining seeds then go to the player on whose side they lie, and the fuller bowl wins; 24 seeds each is a draw. Serious players also agree to stop endless shuffles this way — once nothing can change, everyone keeps their side.

Playing the computer (ranked)

In "Oware vs Computer" you choose who sows first and a difficulty — Easy, Normal or Expert. The computer weighs its captures and defences entirely on your device, so it works offline. Beat it to earn ranking points: Easy +10, Normal +30, Expert +100. Sign in and your best results appear on the leaderboard.

Strategy tips

• Watch enemy houses holding one or two seeds — landing your last seed there makes a 2 or 3 and captures it. Count exactly which of your houses reaches them.
• Keep your own houses out of the danger zone: a house of one or two on your side is a target. Either empty it, or build it past three before your opponent can strike.
• Build a kroo — a big house of 12+ seeds. Released at the right moment it laps the whole board, loading the enemy row for a long backwards capture chain.
• Use the grand-slam rule as a shield: sometimes leaving your opponent with a single vulnerable row is safe, because any total capture is cancelled.

Frequently asked questions