Objects – teachanyclass.org

Introduction

Two rows of six small holes, scooped into a wooden board. A larger hole at each end. Forty-eight seeds, four in each of the twelve small holes at the start of a game. Two players, sitting on opposite sides. That is all the equipment you need. The rules are simple. On your turn, you pick up all the seeds from one hole on your side. You drop them, one by one, into the next holes around the board. If your last seed lands in the right place, you capture seeds from your opponent. The player with the most seeds at the end wins. Anyone can learn to play in five minutes. But playing well takes a lifetime. The game has thousands of possible openings, millions of possible positions, endless strategic depth. Computers have been programmed to play it; the strongest computer programs can beat the best humans, but only after decades of work. The game is called many names — oware in Ghana, awalé in Ivory Coast, wari in Mali, ayo in Nigeria, warri in the Caribbean, omweso in Uganda, bao in East Africa, congkak in Malaysia and Indonesia, sungka in the Philippines. Together, this family of games is called mancala, from an Arabic word meaning 'to move'. The mancala family is one of the oldest games in the world still being played. The earliest definite boards are from 4th-century Egypt and 7th-century Ethiopia. The game has spread from Africa across the Middle East, the Caribbean, and South and Southeast Asia. Today it is played in over 50 countries. This lesson asks how a game can last so long, what it teaches its players, and what its survival shows about the things humans share across cultures.

The object

Origin: The mancala family of games is found across Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia. The oldest known boards are from Africa and the Middle East. The game is widely thought to have African origins, though precise origins are debated.
Period: At least 1,300 years old, possibly much older. The earliest definite mancala boards are from Roman-period Egypt (4th century CE) and Aksumite Ethiopia (6th-7th century CE). Some scholars argue for boards from much earlier, but evidence is disputed.
Made of: Wood is the most common material. Other materials include stone, clay, ivory, plastic, cardboard, and the bare earth — players sometimes scoop pits in the ground or sand. Pieces are usually seeds, beans, pebbles, cowrie shells, or marbles.
Size: A typical board is 40 to 80 cm long, 15 to 25 cm wide. Many boards are designed to fold in half for easy carrying. Some traditional boards are huge, carved from a single piece of wood, kept in a specific village or family for generations.
Number of objects: Many millions of mancala boards exist today, from cheap tourist sets to museum-quality carved boards to dirt scoops in school playgrounds. The game is played in over 50 countries.
Where it is now: Played in homes, schools, parks, beaches, and community spaces across Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Asia. Also played by diaspora communities worldwide. Major museum collections include the British Museum, the Smithsonian, and the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam.

Before you teach this — reflect

Questions for you

Mancala is a game with deep mathematical structure. How will you teach it as more than just a children's pastime, while keeping it accessible?
The game has spread across cultures over many centuries. How will you teach this without flattening real differences between regional versions?
The game has roots in Africa and Asia. How will you give credit honestly without making the lesson into a single-cause origin story?

Common student difficulties — tick any you have noticed

My students may not know that mancala is one of the oldest games in the world, with archaeological evidence going back over 1,300 years.
My students may not know that the game is widely played across Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia, under many different names.
My students may not know that the game has deep mathematical structure — modern computer scientists have studied it as a 'solved' or partially solved problem in game theory.
My students may not know that the game is sometimes used in African schools to teach arithmetic, and that strong oware players are often skilled mental calculators.
My students may not know that the same basic game is called oware in Ghana, awalé in Ivory Coast, ayo in Nigeria, omweso in Uganda, bao in East Africa, congkak in Malaysia, and sungka in the Philippines — among dozens of other names.
My students may not know that mancala is the national game of Ghana, with annual tournaments and a Ghanaian world champion in some years.

Discovery sequence

1

Imagine a wooden board, a few centimetres thick, scooped into two rows of six round holes. At each end, a larger hole — the storehouse. The board is sometimes plain, sometimes elaborately carved with symbols of importance to the maker. Some boards are made for kings: in the Asante kingdom of Ghana, royal mancala boards were carved from precious woods and inlaid with gold. Some boards are made for everyone: a child in a village can scoop two rows of pits in the dirt and play with pebbles or shells. Forty-eight seeds. Place four in each of the twelve small holes. The two storehouses start empty. You play with whatever you have — actual seeds, dried beans, pebbles, cowrie shells, marbles, glass beads. In the Caribbean, players often use nickernuts — smooth shiny grey seeds. The rules are simple. On your turn, you pick up all the seeds from one hole on your side. You drop them, one by one, into each next hole, going around the board. If your last seed lands in an opponent's hole and brings the count there to two or three, you capture those seeds. The captures move to your storehouse. The game ends when one player has no seeds left to play. The player with more seeds in their storehouse wins. That is the game. Why might such a simple structure last for over 1,300 years?

Points to consider (for the teacher)

Several reasons. The equipment is cheap and portable. You can play with anything. You can scoop pits in the dirt. The rules are simple to learn — a child can pick them up in minutes. But the depth of play is enormous. There are billions of possible game positions. The same opening can lead to thousands of different middle games. A skilled player has to think many moves ahead, calculate the consequences of moves, anticipate the opponent's plans. The game has the right balance of accessibility and depth — easy to learn, hard to master. This is the same balance that makes chess, go, and bridge last. Mancala is one of the oldest games in this category. Compare with games that depend on specific equipment (like cards, which need printing) or specific rules that change with culture (like ball games). Mancala can be played anywhere, by anyone, with whatever materials are available. Its survival is not surprising — it is the kind of game that wants to last. Students should see that 'simple' and 'profound' can be the same thing. The mancala board is one of the world's clearest examples.

2

The game has many regional variants. The basic structure — rows of pits, seeds, sowing — is shared. But the rules vary widely. In Ghana, the game is called oware and uses a 6x2 board with two storehouses, 48 seeds, capture on twos and threes. This is what most Western tourists encounter. In Uganda, the game is called omweso and uses a 4x2 board (four rows of eight pits) with 64 seeds — a much more complex variant. In Malaysia and Indonesia, the game is called congkak and uses 7x2 pits with 98 seeds, with rules where the storehouse counts as a 'sowable' position. In the Philippines, sungka is similar but with its own rule details. In Ethiopia, gebeta is similar to oware but with some local rules. In Senegal, woure is yet another variant. In the Caribbean, warri descends from Ghanaian oware brought by enslaved Africans during the slave trade. At least 300 named variants are documented. New variants are still being invented. The same family of games has produced enormous diversity. Why might one game spread across cultures and develop into so many variants?

Points to consider (for the teacher)

Trade, migration, and human creativity. Mancala probably spread along trade routes that linked Africa, the Middle East, and Asia for many centuries. The game crossed the Atlantic with the slave trade, taken by enslaved Africans to the Caribbean, where it became warri. It crossed the Indian Ocean with traders, becoming congkak in Malaysia and sungka in the Philippines. Each region adapted the game to local tastes and materials. Some variants became simpler, some more complex. Some were played for fun, some for serious competition, some for children, some for adults. The game is flexible — you can change the number of pits, the number of seeds, the capture rules, and you still have a game that works. This flexibility is part of why it has spread so widely. Compare with games that have stricter rules (like chess, which has the same rules everywhere) — mancala is more like a family of related games than one fixed game. Students should see that 'cultural diffusion' is not a vague idea. It is what happens when a good game (or song, or recipe, or technology) travels with people and gets reshaped to fit each new place. The mancala family is one of the world's clearest examples of long-distance cultural diffusion. The same game played in a Ghanaian village in 800 CE and a Filipino village in 2026 share a deep family resemblance.

3

The mathematics of mancala is rich. The game involves counting, distributing, planning ahead, evaluating positions. Many traditional African schools have used the game to teach arithmetic to children. A skilled player has to count seeds quickly and silently — sometimes the rules require knowing exactly how many seeds are in your opponent's holes, sometimes guessing under uncertainty. Players develop strong mental arithmetic. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, computer scientists have studied mancala as a problem in game theory. The game has 'perfect information' — both players see the full board at all times. This makes it suitable for computer analysis. In 2002, two researchers at the University of Alberta — Henri Bal and John Romein — proved that oware is a 'draw' if both players play perfectly. This means there is no winning strategy for the first or second player — perfect play leads to a draw. They calculated this by analysing 889 billion possible positions. But the game remains hard for humans. Even very strong players make mistakes. The game has more possible positions than the number of stars in our galaxy. No human can play perfectly. The skill is in playing well enough, often enough, to outwit a similarly imperfect opponent. What does this teach us about games and minds?

Points to consider (for the teacher)

Several things. First, that mathematics is everywhere. The game looks like a simple folk pastime, but it contains the same mathematical structures that computer scientists study. Strategic games are mathematical objects. Second, that humans have always been mathematicians. The Ghanaian children who learn oware to develop their counting are doing the same activity that the African Americans who play warri in Caribbean villages are doing, that ancient Aksumites were doing 1,400 years ago, that university computer scientists are now doing. They are exploring strategic mathematics. Third, that 'solved' does not mean 'finished'. Even though the perfect-play outcome is known (a draw), humans continue to play and enjoy the game. The pleasure is not in finding the perfect strategy — it is in the imperfect play between two minds. Fourth, that the game has been a teaching tool for centuries. Ghanaian elders and African mothers have long used oware to teach children counting, planning, and patience. The skill transfers to other parts of life. Students should see that 'old game' does not mean 'simple'. The mancala board is one of the most mathematically interesting objects in any culture. End the discovery by saying that students who play it carefully are learning skills that have served minds for over a thousand years.

4

In Ghana, oware is the national game. It is played in homes, schools, parks, and waiting rooms. There are formal tournaments. Ghanaian players have won international competitions. The game appears on Ghanaian banknotes and in tourist art. In Antigua and Barbuda, warri is the national game, with annual tournaments and even a Warri Hall of Fame. In Malaysia, the 10-sen coin shows a congkak board on its reverse. In many countries, the game is part of national identity. The game is also part of social life. In many cultures, it is played by old men in village squares, by mothers and children at home, by friends at celebrations. It is sometimes considered a wisdom game — a way for elders to share knowledge with children. In some traditions, the game has spiritual associations: in parts of West Africa, it is played at funerals to entertain the spirits of the dead; in some communities, it is played only in daylight, never at night, when spirits might cheat. The game has also moved into the modern world. Mobile phone apps offer versions of oware, congkak, and other variants. International tournaments draw players from many countries. The Bantumi mancala app on Nokia phones in the early 2000s introduced millions of new players. The game continues to evolve. What is mancala today?

Points to consider (for the teacher)

A living global game. Played by tens of millions of people. Available as a wooden board, a plastic set, a phone app. Taught in schools, played in tournaments, used in research. Antigua and Ghana hold formal world championships in different variants. The game has crossed the digital divide — Maasai herders in Kenya and Wall Street traders in New York both play versions. Yet the basic structure remains: rows of holes, sowing seeds, capturing in twos and threes. The same game your great-great-great-great grandmother might have played 400 years ago, you can play today. Few games have this kind of continuity. Students should see that mancala is a remarkable case of human cultural durability. A simple wooden board has outlived empires, countries, languages, religions. People keep playing it because people keep being people — and humans seem to like games that involve counting, planning, and outwitting each other. End the discovery here. The next game is being set up. Eight or four seeds in each hole. Storehouses empty. Two minds about to face each other. The tradition continues.

What this object teaches

Mancala is a family of board games played across Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and South and Southeast Asia. It is one of the oldest games in the world still played today, with archaeological evidence going back over 1,300 years. The basic structure: two rows of pits scooped into a board, with two larger storehouses at the ends; players move seeds around the board, sowing them one at a time, and capture seeds from the opponent under specific rules. The game has hundreds of regional variants — oware in Ghana, awalé in Ivory Coast, ayo in Nigeria, omweso in Uganda, bao in East Africa, warri in the Caribbean, congkak in Malaysia, sungka in the Philippines, and many more. The game is simple to learn but has enormous strategic depth — over 800 billion possible positions in oware alone. Computer scientists have studied mancala as a problem in game theory. In Ghana, oware is the national game. In Antigua and Barbuda, warri is the national game. The game is taught to children to develop counting, planning, and patience. It travelled the Atlantic with enslaved Africans during the slave trade, becoming Caribbean warri. It travelled the Indian Ocean with traders, becoming Asian congkak and sungka. Today it is played by tens of millions of people, in homes, schools, tournaments, and on phones.

Region	Local name	Notable feature
Ghana, Akan-speaking areas	Oware	National game of Ghana, formally the most studied variant in computer science
Ivory Coast	Awalé	Major French-language tournament tradition; popular across West Africa
Nigeria, Yoruba-speaking areas	Ayo or Ayoayo	Played widely in southwestern Nigeria; many family heirloom boards
Uganda	Omweso	4x8 board with 64 seeds — much more complex than oware
East Africa	Bao	4-row board, considered the most complex mancala variant
Caribbean (Antigua, Jamaica, others)	Warri	Brought by enslaved Africans during the slave trade; national game of Antigua and Barbuda
Malaysia, Indonesia	Congkak / congklak	7x2 board with 98 seeds; rules include storehouse sowing
Philippines	Sungka	Similar to congkak but with distinctive Filipino rules

Key words

Mancala

A family of two-player count-and-capture board games. The name comes from an Arabic word meaning 'to move'. Hundreds of regional variants exist across Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Asia.

Example: All mancala games involve sowing seeds around rows of pits. The exact rules vary, but the basic motion of moving and counting is shared across all variants.

Oware

The Ghanaian variant of mancala, played on a 6x2 board with two storehouses and 48 seeds. The national game of Ghana, also widely played in Ivory Coast (as awalé), Nigeria (as ayo), and the Caribbean (as warri).

Example: Oware has been studied extensively by computer scientists. In 2002, researchers proved that perfect play leads to a draw, after analysing 889 billion possible positions.

Sowing

The basic motion of mancala: picking up all the seeds from one hole and dropping them, one at a time, into the next holes around the board. The name comes from the resemblance to scattering seeds in a field.

Example: In oware, a player who picks up four seeds drops one each into the next four holes, in counterclockwise order. The motion is called sowing because it mirrors planting seeds.

Storehouse

The larger hole at each end of a mancala board, where each player keeps the seeds they have captured. Sometimes called the 'mancala', the 'home', or by various local names ('rumah' in Malaysia, meaning 'house'; 'ulo' in the Philippines, meaning 'head').

Example: At the end of a game, the player with more seeds in their storehouse wins. Some variants have rules where the storehouse counts as a 'sowable' position; others do not.

Capture

The mancala mechanism for winning seeds from your opponent. In most variants, if your last sown seed lands in an opponent's hole that contains a specific number of seeds (often two or three), you take all the seeds from that hole. Rules vary by region.

Example: In oware, a capture happens when your last sown seed brings an opponent's hole to exactly two or three seeds. You take those seeds. If the previous hole also has two or three, you capture those too.

Bao

The most complex variant of mancala, played in East Africa (Tanzania, Kenya, the Comoros, Burundi, eastern DRC). Played on a 4x8 board with 64 seeds. Considered one of the most strategic board games in the world.

Example: Bao tournaments are held in Zanzibar and other parts of East Africa. Strong bao players are deeply respected; mastering the game can take decades.

Use this in other subjects

Mathematics: Mancala involves counting, distribution, and strategic planning. Each student plays a simplified game with two rows of three holes, three seeds in each hole, and counts as they sow. Discuss: the game uses arithmetic that any child can do, but builds up to strategy that has occupied computer scientists. Mathematics is a continuum from counting to game theory.
History: Build a class timeline: oldest known board (Roman Egypt, 4th century CE), Aksumite Ethiopia (6th-7th century CE), spread along trade routes (medieval period), Atlantic crossing with the slave trade (1500s-1800s), modern computer analysis (2002). The game has spread for at least 1,500 years.
Geography: On a map of the world, mark the major regions where mancala is played: West Africa (oware, awalé, ayo), East Africa (bao, omweso), the Caribbean (warri), South Asia, Southeast Asia (congkak, sungka). Discuss the trade routes — Trans-Saharan, Indian Ocean, Atlantic — that may have spread the game.
Citizenship: Oware is the national game of Ghana. Warri is the national game of Antigua and Barbuda. Congkak appears on Malaysian coins. Discuss how a game can become a national symbol. What games or activities are part of national identity in your country? What does it mean for a game to belong to a country?
Ethics: Mancala spread to the Caribbean with enslaved Africans during the slave trade. The Africans brought their game with them as one of the few things they could keep. Discuss how cultural traditions survive among displaced people. The game became part of Caribbean identity. What other examples exist of culture surviving displacement?
Art: Traditional mancala boards are often beautifully carved. Asante royal boards are inlaid with gold. East African bao boards are carved with symbolic patterns. Each student designs a pattern for their own mancala board. The pattern can mean something — family, place, hope. Discuss: a useful object can also be art.

Common misconceptions

Wrong

Mancala is a children's game.

Right

Mancala is played by all ages. In many traditions, it is mostly an adult game, with serious tournaments, deep strategy, and lifelong students. Strong players are respected and admired. Children play it too, often to learn arithmetic, but the game is taken seriously as adult play.

Why

Calling something a 'children's game' often makes it sound shallow or unimportant. Mancala is one of the world's most strategically deep games.

Wrong

Mancala is one game.

Right

Mancala is a family of hundreds of related games, played across many cultures, with different rules. Oware in Ghana, omweso in Uganda, congkak in Malaysia, warri in Antigua, sungka in the Philippines are all related but different games. Each has its own rules, its own community, its own traditions.

Why

Treating all variants as one game erases real differences and the cultures that developed them.

Wrong

Mancala is just a folk game without serious mathematics.

Right

Mancala has deep mathematical structure. Computer scientists have studied it as a problem in game theory. Oware was 'solved' in 2002, with researchers analysing 889 billion possible positions. The game is mathematically rich, with strategic depth comparable to chess in its complexity for humans.

Why

'Just a folk game' undersells what mancala actually is. It is a major piece of mathematical heritage.

Wrong

Mancala originated in one place at one time.

Right

The exact origins of mancala are disputed. The oldest definite boards are from 4th-century Egypt and 7th-century Ethiopia. The game probably has multiple origins or spread very early. It has been played in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia for at least 1,300 years.

Why

Single-cause origin stories often oversimplify history. Mancala is one of those traditions where many cultures have legitimate claims and the truth is more complicated.

Teaching this with care

Treat mancala as a major living world tradition with deep roots. Use 'mancala' (lowercase) for the family of games; 'oware', 'awalé', 'omweso', 'bao', 'congkak', 'warri', and similar names for specific variants. Pronounce 'mancala' as 'man-KAH-la'; 'oware' as roughly 'oh-WAH-ray'; 'awalé' as 'ah-wah-LAY'; 'omweso' as 'om-WEH-so'; 'bao' as 'BAH-oh'; 'congkak' as 'CHONG-kahk'; 'sungka' as 'SOONG-kah'; 'warri' as 'WAH-ree'. Be honest about origins. The oldest definite boards are from Africa and the Middle East. Many scholars argue mancala has African origins, partly because of the deep prevalence of mancala in African cultures. But Asian variants (congkak, sungka) are also well-developed and ancient, and the precise origin story is not fully settled. Avoid claims of single origin. Be careful with the slave trade content. Mancala spread to the Caribbean because enslaved Africans brought it with them during the Atlantic slave trade. This is a real historical context. Mention it honestly without making the lesson only about slavery. The Africans brought their game with them as one of the few things they could keep, and the game became part of Caribbean culture as a result. Be respectful of regional differences. Do not flatten oware, congkak, bao, and others into one thing. Each has its own rules, its own community, its own traditions. If your students have heritage from a region where mancala is played, give them space to share their family's version, but do not put them on the spot. Avoid calling the game 'primitive' or 'simple' in any way that suggests it is less sophisticated than European games like chess. It is not. The depth of play is comparable. The rules are different but no less complex. Finally, end the lesson with play. The best way to understand mancala is to play it. If you can set up a simple game with stones in egg cartons or pits in dirt, do so. The lesson lands when students experience the strategy themselves.

Check what students have understood

Answer each question in one or two sentences. Use what you have learned about the mancala board.

What is mancala, and what is its basic structure?

Mancala is a family of two-player board games. The basic structure is two rows of small pits with two larger storehouses at the ends. Players move seeds around the board, sowing them one at a time, and capture seeds from the opponent under specific rules.

Marking note: Award full marks for any answer that mentions the family of games and the basic structure.
How old is the mancala family of games?

At least 1,300 years old. The earliest definite boards are from 4th-century Roman Egypt and 6th-7th century Aksumite Ethiopia. Some scholars argue for older origins, but evidence is disputed. It is one of the oldest games in the world still played today.

Marking note: Strong answers will give a specific period (1,300+ years, or referencing the 4th-7th century evidence) and identify the game as one of the oldest still played.
Why does mancala have so many different names across the world?

Because the game has spread across many cultures over many centuries, and each culture has given it its own name and developed its own rules. Oware in Ghana, awalé in Ivory Coast, omweso in Uganda, bao in East Africa, warri in the Caribbean, congkak in Malaysia, sungka in the Philippines are all variants of the same family.

Marking note: Award full marks for any answer that names at least three variants and explains the spread across cultures.
How did mancala reach the Caribbean?

It was brought by enslaved Africans during the Atlantic slave trade between the 1500s and 1800s. The Africans took their game with them as one of the cultural traditions they could keep. The Caribbean variant became known as warri, the national game of Antigua and Barbuda.

Marking note: Strong answers will mention both the slave trade context and the Caribbean variant.
What is the relationship between mancala and mathematics?

Mancala is mathematically rich. It involves counting, distribution, and strategic planning. African schools have used it to teach arithmetic for centuries. In 2002, computer scientists 'solved' oware by analysing 889 billion possible positions, proving that perfect play leads to a draw. The game has been studied as a serious problem in game theory.

Marking note: Award full marks for any answer that mentions both the educational use and the formal mathematical study.

Discuss together

These questions have no single right answer. Talk in pairs or small groups, then share your ideas with the class.

Mancala is over 1,300 years old. Why have some games lasted so long while many others have disappeared?

Push students to think about what makes a game durable. Suggest factors: (1) simple equipment that can be made anywhere, (2) easy-to-learn rules, (3) deep strategic depth that rewards skill, (4) cultural value as a teaching tool, (5) flexibility — the game can be played in many ways with many local rules. Compare with games that disappeared — Roman board games like ludus latrunculorum, ancient Egyptian senet, medieval European games. Many were tied to specific cultures that died, or required specific equipment that was lost. Mancala survives because it can be played anywhere, with anything. Strong answers will see that durability is not random — it depends on adaptability.
In some communities, mancala is played to teach children counting and planning. What can a game teach that a textbook cannot?

This is a question about how learning happens. Students may suggest: through play, through doing, through immediate feedback, through losing and trying again, through enjoyment that motivates effort. The deeper point is that play is one of the most ancient and effective ways humans learn. Children who play mancala daily for years build mental arithmetic, planning skills, and patience. They are learning mathematics, but not as a school subject — as a thing they enjoy doing. End by asking what other games students have learned from. Football teaches teamwork. Chess teaches concentration. Each game teaches something.
The mancala family is played across many countries. Are there other examples of one tradition being shared across many cultures?

This is a creative question. Students may suggest: tea-drinking (China, Japan, India, Britain, Morocco — all different traditions, same plant), bread-making (every culture has bread, made differently), counting systems (almost all cultures developed similar number systems), storytelling formats (folk tales travel and adapt). The deeper point is that humans are deeply connected. The same simple ideas — a game, a food, a story — get reshaped by each culture they touch, but the underlying activity is shared. Mancala is one example. End by saying that 'cultural difference' and 'cultural connection' are both real, all the time.

Teaching sequence

THE HOOK (5 min)

Without saying anything about the lesson, ask: 'How long do you think the oldest game still being played is?' Take guesses. Then say: 'Mancala has been played for at least 1,300 years. That is older than most countries. Older than most religions in their current form. Older than the languages most of us speak. We are going to find out about it.'
INTRODUCE THE OBJECT (10 min)

Describe the mancala board: two rows of small pits, two larger storehouses, 48 seeds. Played across Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Asia under many names — oware in Ghana, awalé in Ivory Coast, omweso in Uganda, congkak in Malaysia, warri in the Caribbean. Pause and ask: 'How can a simple game last for 1,300 years?' Listen to answers.
PLAY THE GAME (15 min)

If you can set up even a simple version — pits scratched in dirt, six holes per side, three seeds per hole — let pairs of students play. Walk them through the basic moves: pick up all seeds from one hole, drop one each into the next holes, capture if your last seed makes the count two or three on the opponent's side. Even a few minutes of play teaches what no description can. Then discuss: how does the game feel?
THE MANY NAMES (10 min)

On the board, write the names: oware (Ghana), awalé (Ivory Coast), ayo (Nigeria), omweso (Uganda), bao (East Africa), warri (Caribbean), congkak (Malaysia), sungka (Philippines), gebeta (Ethiopia). Discuss: same family of games, different names, different rules. The game has travelled the world. Tell the slave trade story — warri came to the Caribbean with enslaved Africans who brought their game with them.
CLOSING (5 min)

Ask: 'What does mancala teach us about play, mathematics, and what humans share across cultures?' Take a few honest answers. End by saying: 'Right now, somewhere in Ghana, two old men are playing oware. Somewhere in Manila, two children are playing sungka. Somewhere in Antigua, a tournament is being held in warri. The game has been played for over 1,300 years and it is still being played today. The simplicity is the secret. The depth is the surprise. Now you know.'

Classroom materials

Make a Board

Instructions: Students make their own mancala boards. Use whatever materials are available: an egg carton (cut to leave six cups per side, with a larger 'storehouse' at each end on a separate piece of cardboard); a piece of paper with circles drawn; pits scooped in dirt outside; a row of cups on a table. Use seeds, pebbles, beans, beads, or buttons as pieces. Pairs of students play simplified games.

Example: In Mr Mensah's class, students made boards from egg cartons. The teacher said: 'You have just made what an Asante craftsperson would carve from precious wood and inlay with gold. The structure is the same. The game is the same. The pleasure is the same. Sometimes the cheapest board and the most expensive royal board play exactly the same game.'

Trace the Routes

Instructions: On a class map of the world, mark with arrows the spread of mancala: from origins in Africa (and possibly the Middle East) outwards. To the Caribbean (with the Atlantic slave trade), to Southeast Asia (with Indian Ocean trade), to Europe (with travellers and traders). Discuss: a single game has crossed all the major oceans of the world.

Example: In Mrs Adeyemi's class, students drew arrows across the map and were surprised at how widely the game has travelled. The teacher said: 'You are looking at a map of human movement. The arrows of mancala follow the arrows of trade, of migration, of slavery, of curiosity. Every place the game went, people sat down and played it. Every game ever played is a small connection between minds. The game is one of humanity's longest conversations.'

Math From Play

Instructions: In small groups, students discuss: 'What did you learn from playing the game that you didn't expect?' They may notice: counting carefully matters, planning ahead matters, you can guess your opponent's plans, mistakes are costly, the same opening can lead to different games. Discuss: this is mathematics happening through play. Children in Ghana have learned arithmetic this way for centuries.

Example: In one class, students realised they were doing real arithmetic — counting backwards, predicting positions, calculating captures. The teacher said: 'You have just done in 30 minutes what Ghanaian children do over years. The game is one of humanity's oldest tools for teaching mathematics. The skills you used playing — counting, predicting, planning — are skills that work everywhere. The game is mathematics in disguise.'

Where to go next

Try a lesson on the cowrie shell for another object connecting Africa and the wider world through trade and history.
Try a lesson on the quipu for another non-European mathematical tool.
Try a lesson on the Bakhshali manuscript for another piece of mathematical heritage from outside Europe.
Connect this lesson to history class with a longer project on the Atlantic slave trade and the cultural traditions that survived. Mancala is one of many.
Connect this lesson to mathematics class with a longer project on game theory. Mancala can be a way into formal study of strategic games.
Connect this lesson to citizenship class with a longer discussion of national symbols. Why is a game the national symbol of some countries? What does this tell us about identity?

Key takeaways

The mancala board is used for a family of two-player count-and-capture board games, with two rows of small pits and two larger storehouses, played with seeds.
Mancala is one of the oldest games in the world still played today, with archaeological evidence going back over 1,300 years. The earliest definite boards are from 4th-century Roman Egypt and 6th-7th century Aksumite Ethiopia.
The game has hundreds of regional variants — oware in Ghana, awalé in Ivory Coast, ayo in Nigeria, omweso in Uganda, bao in East Africa, warri in the Caribbean, congkak in Malaysia, sungka in the Philippines, and many more.
Mancala has deep mathematical structure. Computer scientists have studied it as a problem in game theory. Oware was 'solved' in 2002, with researchers analysing 889 billion possible positions to prove that perfect play leads to a draw.
Mancala spread across the world along trade routes — and crossed the Atlantic with enslaved Africans during the slave trade, becoming Caribbean warri. It is now played in over 50 countries.
In Ghana, oware is the national game. In Antigua and Barbuda, warri is the national game. The game appears on coins, banknotes, and tourist art across many countries. The simplicity of the game has been part of its endurance.

Sources

Mancala Board Games — Alexander de Voogt (1997) [academic]
Solving the Game of Awari — Henri Bal and John Romein (2002) [academic]
Africa Counts: Number and Pattern in African Cultures — Claudia Zaslavsky (1999) [academic]
Oware: The National Game of Ghana — Ghana Tourism Authority (2024) [institution]
The Lost Boards: A History of Mancala in the Atlantic World — Smithsonian Folklife Magazine (2020) [news]

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The Mancala Board: A Game That Has Been Played for Thousands of Years

Questions for you

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