When discussing mancala games it’s easy to get caught up in regional variations dating back decades, if not centuries.
But not all mancala games are ancient.
Kauri is one of those.
Kauri (German for: “cowrie”; pronounced like the English word), was invented on June 26, 2006, by Ralf Gering in the village of Hain (Brohl Valley), Germany.
The game apparently went through some early tweaking according to the online source http://mancala.wikia.com/wiki/Kauri , which is not all that surprising. In our current connected world game ideas can be immediately shared, and feedback from players around the world often leads to rule changes and the fine-tuning of mechanics.
On January 5, 2012, there was a Kauri tournament in Novouralsk (Russia), which was organized by a local board games club. The tournament was won by a 15-year old boy who is said to be also a promising Chess player. A total of 12 persons took part, again according the aforementioned website.
The game is played on a standard mancala board of 2 x 6 holes. This is generally a positive as it is the board most players will have at hand.
Each player owns one row.
Initially there are six counters in each hole: five ‘seeds’ and one ‘cowrie’. For the sake of simplicity and understanding think five seeds of one colour, and a sixth of a different colour.
On a turn a player distributes the contents of one of his holes according to the following rules:
• The hole contains at least one cowrie. So the hole you collect seeds from must have at least one of cowries.
• The player takes the seeds in his right hand and the cowries in his left hand. This is more for flavour than a hard rule I would suggest following.
• He distributes the seeds first, one by one, in the anti-clockwise direction into the succeeding holes.
• After all the seeds are placed he distributes the cowries, also one by one, continuing in the same direction.
It is at this point the interesting aspect if kauri comes out.
The players capture counters according to the following rules:
• Only seeds can be captured.
• Cowries cannot be captured.
• The capture takes place immediately when it is affected, even when the move hasn’t yet ended.
• Several captures, even of both types (see below), can happen in one move.
• Captured seeds are removed from the board and collected until the game ends.
Direct Capture
• Seeds are captured from opponent’s holes that have no cowries.
• The capture is affected when a cowrie is dropped into such a hole.
• The seeds are captured by the moving player.
• The cowries affecting the capture remain on the board.
Indirect Capture
• Seeds are captured when they are dropped into opponent’s holes that contain only cowries.
• The seeds are captured by the opponent.
• The cowries are not removed from the board.
A player must move, if he can. If a player still has seeds, but no cowries, he must pass until he can move again.
The game ends when no seeds are left on the board.
The player who captured the most seeds wins the game. If the number of captured seeds is equal, the game is a draw.
The interest here is how to best manage the cowries, which sets it apart from most mancala games. For that reason it is most certainly worth exploring.
