Mancala

Your six pits are the row nearest you, and your store is the large well on your right. Choose any of your pits that still has stones in it, and those stones are sown one at a time into each pit that follows, going anticlockwise — along your row, into your store, then round through your opponent’s row. Your opponent’s store is stepped over: only you ever put stones in yours.

Two things can happen when the last stone lands. If it lands in your store, you take another turn immediately, and there is no limit to how many you can chain together. If it lands in an empty pit on your own side and the pit directly facing it is not empty, you take that pit’s stones along with your own and bank the lot.

The game ends as soon as either row is empty. Whoever still has stones on their side collects them into their own store, and the larger store wins. That last part matters more than it sounds: running your own side dry hands the ending to your opponent.

Zerdly plays Kalah: six pits a side, a store at each end, and the stones sown anticlockwise while stepping over your opponent’s store. The Standard board starts with four stones in every pit and the Fast board with three, which is a genuinely different game rather than a speed setting — shorter chains, less room to build an extra turn, and its own record.

The house rules this page uses, stated rather than left to be discovered: a capture takes nothing at all when the facing pit is empty, not even the landing stone; there is no obligation to feed a player who has run out; and when one side empties, the other sweeps their own remaining stones into their store.

Undo takes back your last sow — against the computer it also takes back its reply, and because either side can take several turns in a row it steps back until it is genuinely your turn again rather than counting a fixed number of moves. Show move hints marks the pits that would earn another turn or take stones, and Show pit names labels them; both are remembered between visits. Sound can be turned off at any time; nothing in the game is conveyed by sound alone. A game in progress is saved as you play and is waiting when you come back — including a game you are losing.

Versus the computer gives you six strengths. The weaker ones do not merely look less far ahead — they sometimes choose a move they can see is not the best, which is what makes them feel like an opponent rather than a machine with poor eyesight. The strongest never does.

Two players, one device takes the computer out of it entirely. These games are counted but not scored: both players are here, so there is nobody for Zerdly to call the winner.

Count before you sow. The pit that reaches your store exactly is the one worth finding first, because another turn is worth far more than a single stone — and on the Standard board it is not the same pit as on the Fast one, because it depends on how many stones are in it.

Watch the pit facing an empty one of yours. If your opponent can land a last stone in an empty pit on their side, everything sitting opposite goes with it. A pit that is filling up across the board from an empty one is a pit worth emptying.

Do not run yourself dry. Emptying your own row ends the game and hands your opponent every stone still on theirs, which is the quickest way to lose a game you were winning on the stores.

The whole game runs in your browser. The opponent thinks on your own device, in a background thread so the page stays responsive while it works. No account is needed and nothing about your game is uploaded.

Your record, your saved game and your sound, motion and assist settings are stored in this browser only. Nothing here asks for a name or an email, and the button on this page removes all of it — and only this game’s share of it.

Is it really free, and do I need an account?

Yes, and no. There is no sign-up, no trial and nothing to buy. The game runs in your browser and never sends your moves anywhere.

Why did I get another go?

Because your last stone landed in your own store. That is one of the two things that make Mancala Mancala, and chaining several in a row is ordinary play rather than a fault. The status line says so every time it happens.

Why did nothing happen when my stone landed in an empty pit?

A capture needs three things at once: the last stone lands on your own side, in a pit that was empty, and the pit facing it is not empty. If the facing pit is empty, Zerdly takes nothing at all — not even the stone you just placed. That is the preset this page plays; other traditions differ.

Which Mancala is this?

Kalah, with six pits a side and a store at each end. Four stones per pit on the Standard board and three on the Fast one. There is no obligation to feed a starved opponent: when either side runs out, the game ends and the other player collects whatever is still on their own side.

Can I play against another person online?

No. Two-player here means two people at the same device, taking turns. There is no matchmaking and no online play, and nothing on this page pretends otherwise.

How strong is the computer?

The weakest level looks one move ahead and often plays something it can see is not best. The strongest looks eleven moves ahead — which in Mancala can be fewer turns than it sounds, because a run of extra turns spends several moves without the other player replying. The levels were set by timing the search rather than by guessing at it.

Where is my progress kept?

In this browser, and nowhere else. The two boards keep separate records, because forty-eight stones and thirty-six are not comparable scores. Clearing your browser data, or using the button on this page, removes all of it permanently.

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