About Stonehaven Mancala
Stonehaven Mancala is a single-player Mancala strategy game built around turn-based stone sowing against an AI rival. Choose a pit on your side, distribute its stones around the board, and try to collect more stones in your store than the opponent. Special moves such as extra turns and captures can change the outcome of a match.
The primary objective is to finish the Mancala match with more stones in your store than the rival.
Secondary objectives appear on certain levels, including:
- Winning by at least 6 stones.
- Earning an extra turn.
- Performing 2 captures.
Completing level objectives can contribute to earning up to three stars.
Stonehaven Mancala is a turn-based strategy game based on the classic Kalah-style Mancala rules. Each player has six pits and a store, with the player's six pits positioned along the bottom of the board and the rival's six pits across the top. On your turn, select a non-empty pit to pick up its stones and sow them one at a time into subsequent pits in a counter-clockwise direction.
Your store is included during sowing, while the rival's store is skipped. Landing your final stone in your own store grants an extra turn. Landing the final stone in an empty pit on your side can trigger a capture, moving that stone and the stones in the opposite rival pit into your store.
The game includes a strategy games category opportunity for visitors looking for similar tactical gameplay. Players can also use Hint to highlight a suggested move, Undo to reverse a previous move, and Pause or Restart during a match.
Classic progression contains 15 levels with different AI difficulty settings. Winning levels awards stars, coins, and XP, while later levels introduce objectives that add additional strategic requirements.
How to Play
- Select Play from the main menu to begin the current unlocked classic level.
- Your six playable pits are located on the bottom row of the Mancala board.
- Select any of your pits containing stones.
- The selected stones are picked up and distributed one at a time into subsequent pits, moving counter-clockwise.
- Your own store receives stones during sowing; the opponent's store is skipped.
- If your final stone lands in your own store, you receive an extra turn.
- If your final stone lands in an empty pit on your side and the opposite rival pit contains stones, those stones are captured into your store.
- Continue taking turns against the AI until one side's six pits are completely empty.
- When the match ends, remaining stones on the other side are transferred to its store.
- The player with the greater store total wins the match.
An empty pit cannot be selected. If you make a move you want to reverse, Undo can restore the previous game state when available.
Winning & Losing Conditions
Winning Condition
You win when the match ends and your store contains more stones than the rival's store.
Losing Condition
You lose when the match ends and the rival has more stones in its store.
Draw Condition
If both stores contain the same number of stones when the match ends, the result is a draw.
Features
- 15 classic levels
- Easy, medium, and hard AI difficulty
- Turn-based Mancala gameplay
- 12 playable pits and 2 stores
- Stone-by-stone sowing animations
- Extra-turn mechanic
- Capture mechanic
- Automatic end-of-match stone sweep
- Hint system
- Undo system
- Pause and resume
- Restart match option
- Fullscreen control
- Level unlocking
- Three-star level results
- Level-specific objectives
- Coins and XP rewards
- Persistent level progress and best scores
- Sound effects with an on/off setting
- Gameplay tutorial
- Responsive small-screen interface
- Mobile-specific gameplay controls
Tips & Strategies
- Look for extra turns. A move that makes your final stone land in your own store immediately gives you another turn, allowing you to maintain control of the sequence.
- Use captures deliberately. Before selecting a pit, consider where its final stone will land. An empty pit on your side can become a capture opportunity when the opposite rival pit contains stones.
- Protect useful pits. Since empty pits cannot be selected, the distribution of stones across your six pits directly affects which moves remain available.
- Use Hint when evaluating positions. Hint highlights a suggested pit and identifies it with a "Try pit" message, making it useful when several legal moves are available.
- Plan around the rival's store. Your sowing path skips the opponent's store, so calculate the landing position using the actual counter-clockwise sequence rather than treating both stores identically.
- Watch level objectives. Some levels require a 6+ stone winning margin, an extra turn, or two captures, so simply winning is not always enough to maximize the level result.
