Sungka - The Seven-Pit Mancala Game, Online with Friends or Bots

Play Sungka Online

Sungka is the Filipino mancala game played on a long wooden board with 7 small pits on each side and a big store at each end. Every pit starts with 7 stones, 98 in all. You can play it online here against a friend you invite with a link, or against the computer at five levels. The player who ends with more stones in their store wins.

Sungka moves are long. When your last stone lands on other stones, you pick that whole pile up and keep going, so one turn can travel around the board several times before it stops. Each stone on the board moves one at a time, and every pit shows its count, so you can follow the whole trip.

How to Play Sungka

The 7 pits nearest you are yours, and so is the store on your right. Stones always travel the same way round the board. You drop one into your own store each time you pass it, and you skip your opponent's store.

1. Pick up a pit. Choose one of your pits that has stones and sow them, one into each pit after it.
2. Keep going on a pile. If your last stone lands in a pit that already had stones, on either side, pick them all up and keep sowing.
3. Land in your store to go again. If your last stone drops into your own store, you take another turn.
4. Capture from an empty pit. If your last stone lands in an empty pit on your side, and the pit across has stones, that stone and the whole pile across go into your store.
5. Stop on an empty pit across the board. If your last stone lands in an empty pit on your opponent's side, your turn ends.

The game ends when one side has no stones left in its pits. Each player keeps the stones still on their own side, and the bigger store wins. With 98 stones, 50 in your store is a sure win.

Sungka, Congkak and Congklak

Sungka, congkak and congklak are names for the same family of games. Sungka is the name in the Philippines. Malaysia and Brunei call it congkak, and Indonesia calls it congklak or dakon. They share the long board, the 7 pits a side, and the rule that a last stone on a pile keeps the move going. Families and regions differ on small points, such as which way stones travel and whether a capture needs your move to go once round the board first.

All of them belong to the larger mancala family, the sowing games played across Africa and Asia. The Southeast Asian mancala games stand out for their relay sowing, which makes one turn much longer than in the Kalah game most Americans know.

Sungka Rules on Foony

Traditionally, both players open at the same moment, each sowing from their own side at once. Online, players take turns from the first move, which is how most online versions play it. A game here is also a single round, without the "burnt" pits a player loses in the next round when they can't fill them.

The host can still change the game. Sungka uses 7 pits of 7 stones, but you can pick other numbers. Empty Capture lets a last stone in your own empty pit go to your store even when the pit across is empty. Random Start spreads the stones before each game. Leftover Stones can give every stone left at the end to the player who ran out.

Sungka Strategy

• Chase the long chain, but know where it ends. A move that lands on pile after pile looks great until its last stone stops in an empty pit on your side next to nothing to capture. Follow it to the end before you tap.
• Use your store as a springboard. Ending in your store gives you a free move. A chain that finishes there is worth more than a slightly longer one that doesn't.
• Watch your empty pits. An empty pit on your side across from a big pile is a capture you can set up. One on your opponent's side across from your big pile is a capture you can give away.
• The first turn is strong. Because a turn can chain so far, moving first is an advantage. Take turns going first with a friend, or turn on Random Start.

Play Sungka with Friends or the Computer

Create a room, pick the Sungka rules, and send the link. To practice, press Play Bots and pick a level. In Sungka the computer looks at most two moves ahead, so a bot that moves first can't sweep the board before your first turn. Win a Sungka game with at least 72 of the 98 stones in your store to earn the Full House achievement. Classic, Avalanche, Oware and Mangala are on the main mancala game page.