Two questions come up about Mancala more than any other: does the player who moves first always win, and what is the best first move? We measured both on our Mancala, which plays the standard six-pit, four-seed game (often called Kalah) against the computer. You always move first there, so the answer is directly useful to you.

Pits are counted the way the game counts them: 1 to 6 from left to right along your row, so pit 6 sits next to your store and the number keys 1 to 6 play them.

How we tested it

We put two identical computer players against each other. Each one looks ten moves ahead (counting both sides' moves), using the same search and scoring as the game's own computer opponent. We checked our copy of that player against the game's own on 1,000 positions, and it picked the same move every time. Every move was played through the actual game, and all 48 seeds were on the board after every one of the 50,074 moves.

For each of the six possible first moves we forced that opening and let the two players play the rest: 80 games per opening. A player that looks ahead the same way every time plays the same game every time, so each player chose at random between moves it rated within half a seed of its best. That gave 460 different games out of 560, not 80 copies of one.

Then we ran 80 more games where the first player picked its own opening. To see how much the results depend on how far the players look, we repeated the whole thing with both players looking eight moves ahead, 100 games per opening.

Does the first player always win?

No, but they win most of the time. When both players were equally strong and the first player chose its own opening, the first player won 67 of 80 games (84%) and lost 13. On average it finished about 12 seeds ahead. With both players looking eight moves ahead, it won 95 of 100.

Computer scientists reported in 2000 that this six-pit, four-seed game is solved: with perfect play the first player wins. That was their work, not ours, and Mancala rules vary from house to house (when captures count, when the game ends), so a small rule change can change the answer. Our games are not a proof. They show that between two equally good players under our rules, going first is worth a lot, but only if you open well.

The best first move in Mancala

Here is how the first player did after each forced opening, with both players looking ten moves ahead, from best to worst:

  • Pit 3: won 77, drew 2, lost 1. Won by a median of 26 seeds.
  • Pit 6: won 62, drew 1, lost 17.
  • Pit 4: won 51, drew 3, lost 26. Final scores were almost level on average.
  • Pit 2: won 23, drew 3, lost 54.
  • Pit 1: won 3, drew 4, lost 73.
  • Pit 5: won 0, lost all 80.

The eight-move run, 100 games per opening, put the same two openings on top but swapped them: pit 6 won 97 and pit 3 won 90. Pit 4 dropped to 35 wins, so treat it as a coin toss. Pits 1, 2 and 5 lost most of their games at both depths. The ten-move players and a deeper search (below) both put pit 3 first.

Open with pit 3. It holds four seeds and sits four pits from your store, so the last seed lands in the store and you get a free turn. That is the only free turn on the opening board.

What to play after pit 3

The free turn gives you a second move. Looking 17 moves ahead from there, the same player's estimates were:

  • Pit 6: about 8 seeds ahead
  • Pit 5: about 4.5 seeds ahead
  • Pit 4: about level
  • Pit 2 or pit 1: 4 to 5 seeds behind

So the opening is pit 3, then pit 6. That puts two seeds in your store before the computer has played a move. If you would rather not use the free turn that way, pit 6 on its own is the next-best opening.

From the very first move, looking 17 and 18 moves ahead, pit 3 and pit 6 were the only openings that came out ahead at both depths, with pit 3 in front. These are estimates from a deep look-ahead, not proven results.

Why pits 1, 2 and 5 are so bad

Each one ruins a free turn.

  • Pits 1 and 2 sow a seed into pit 3. Pit 3 now holds five seeds, so it overshoots your store and your free turn is gone. You lose your best move before you have used it.
  • Pit 5 drops a seed in your store, then two into the computer's row. The computer's second pit becomes five seeds, exactly enough to reach its store, so it starts with two free turns instead of one. The first player lost all 80 games after it in the ten-move run and 74 of 100 in the eight-move run.

Pit 6 also sows into the computer's row. It gives the computer a new free-turn pit but spoils the one it already had, so the computer still has only one.

What to do differently

  • Count before your first move. Pit 3 is the only free turn at the start. Don't play a move that puts an extra seed in it.
  • Use the free turn on pit 6, not on whatever is nearest your hand.
  • Before you sow into the computer's row, check what you give it. Ask whether any of its pits now hold exactly enough seeds to reach its store. A single extra seed there is what sinks pit 5.
  • When an opening goes wrong, it is not bad luck. Mancala has no dice and nothing hidden, so taking a move back and trying the other pit is a fair way to see where it went wrong.

The full rules, including captures and how the game ends, are on the Mancala rules page.

Play Mancala free: no download, no account, three difficulty levels, and an undo for testing an opening line against the computer.

If you like older board games, our beginner's route through classic board games is a good next stop. For more games we measured instead of guessing about, see can you always win 2048?