Mancala is an incredibly old game, so old, that there are some scientists claim one of the earliest examples of the game is as old as around circa 5800BCE… THAT IS OLD!!! But proves if nothing else, humans love to game.
Mancala is great game too. Easy to learn, difficult to be a master, if you have never tried it, you should give it a go. It is a simple game of picking up stones and depositing them one by one in successive pots until you run out. If you are lucky or skilful enough, you will collect some in your personal player pot, and who ever has the most by the end of the game, wins.
If you have played Mancala, you will be pleased to know there are some great games out there that either directly use or have some similarities to the mechanism used, so could be great games for you to check out. Alternatively, for those big on Mancala, but new to hobby games, these could be games that can open that pandora’s box so many of us have done before, leading you down a rabbit hole of goodies.
Five Tribes
This is a Bruno Cathala classic and a personal favourite.
Five tribes utilises the Mancala styled movement mechanic, coupled with a worker placement like system at the end of movement.
In Five tribes you will set up a grid of tiles, and deposit 3 little coloured meeples on each one. On a turn, players will bid coins for play order each round, the most expensive spots go first, or you can pay nothing and just expect to go last.
In order of play, players then select a tile pick up all the meeples, and individually drop them one by one, on orthogonally positioned tiles to the last one, until you reach the last meeple and tile. Once placed on the last tile, the meeple will trigger a power based on its colour, followed by a reward of action you can take dependant on the tile itself.
Clear a tile completely and you place a payer marker indicating you own that tile, earning you valuable end game points.
This game comes with an Arabian nights like theme, and one action you can take is purchasing Djinns. These Djinns earn you additional powers and valuable end game points.
This is a big game, but as you would expect from Bruno Cathala, it is really well designed and endlessly replayable.
Madcala
Fan of Alice in Wonderland? Then this is one for you. This Alice in Wonderland themed game comes from designers and artists, Manny Trembley and Aaron Hein. In fact, if those names sound familiar, it is probably because you have played, or are (like us) a big fan of Dice Throne, and if you have played Dice Throne, you almost know what you are getting here.
The easiest way to describe this game (ignoring the theme), is what if Dice Throne used the Mancala mechanism instead of the Yahtzee dice throwing mechanism?
You each select a character from the stories, each of which come with their own unique abilities, represented on cards. Each of the cards for the characters try to capture an essence of how you would imagine that character to play.
You also have a shared deck of cards, which contain lots of familiar story items and characters, all of which trigger abilities as you play them.
The play area is a shared mat that has a place for players to put their cards and a central circle of ‘pots’, where you place your gems and one big gem. On a turn you pick up some gems and move them around depositing as you go… sound familiar? But when you finish, the final pot will trigger something like attack, heal, draw a card, that kind of thing.
It is essential a duel to the bitter end, player who reaches 0 health first loses.
If you like Mancala and like Dice Throne, you need to check this one out!
Kindred Spirits
This is an interesting one, the link with Mancala is a little ‘looser’ than the others, but was a game that jumped straight to mind when considering games that Mancala fans might like.
From designers Ludus Vulpes, this is their latest game and comes complete with the most stunning art (we have an original print on our wall… that stunning!)
If you have played any games by Ludus Vulpes, you know what to expect here. Simple, cosy gameplay, with a real care around the quality and production of the game, games that feel at home in crafts markets, games made by people who love games and passionate about what they do. If you have not played any Ludus Vulpes games… You need to check them out*.
In this game, you set up by building a grid of cards. On a turn, you place a card from your hand, which will either be of your suit or another players suit. Once placed on an empty space in the grid, you will then place one of your totems on any orthogonally connected cards that are in a sequence. You suit? Place a big totem… not your suit? Place a small totem.
So a kind of Mancala-esc (I know it is loose) as you deposit on successive cards. Once deposited, if a totem is already on the card, that totem gets released back to the relevant player and scored – by them.
This game creates a great tension between long term planning to score big, at the risk of helping other players score as well.
Although not explicitly the Mancala mechanic, because the process of depositing totems on successive cards form part of the game, its hard not to recommend this one to Mancala fans maybe looking for something new and different.
Depositing those final stones
Mancala is a favourite classic game, with a simple to understand mechanic of gameplay. Its not wonder games are experimenting with keeping it alive for a modern hobby board game fan.
These are 3 games that are great recommendations for Mancala fans, all offering something a little different, but also familiar.
If you like Dice Throne, or other combat duelling games like Unmatched, King of Tokyo, Tag Team, then this is definitely one worth checking out. The theme is fab and looks gorgeous on the table. The components and artwork are brilliant and capture the theme, but it also feels quite different to any other duelling game I have played.
If you like strategy or worker placement, bigger euro style games or just fancy diving into the hobby headfirst. Five Tribes is a great way to go. With a real table presence. With lots of things to think about and strategies to play with, this is by far the biggest game on this list, but still easily accessible and familiar to Mancala fans.
If you like something a little more unique and that good feeling of supporting independent designers and artists, and a game that is beautiful to look at and play, Kindred Spirits is well worth checking out. The Mancala mechanism is not as blatant in this one but its hard not feel there is some latent inspiration whether intentional or not.
Whatever you fancy, or perhaps your fancy checking all 3 games out. These games are absolutely recommended to anyone looking to find their next game, especially for those Mancala fans out there like us.
About the Author
We are Peaches and Meeples, busy professionals who love to chill out to fun table top games. We love board games, card games, miniatures games, competitive or co-operative. Put some dice in our hands and we are in our happy place.
We are also proud guinea pig parents to two lovely fluffballs of joy.
