Best of Three: My Mancala Evening

"It's just moving pebbles around," I said — and lost the first game dry.

The Bet

We agreed on three games. I read the rules in a minute: take all stones from your pit, sow one per pit counterclockwise, last one in the store — move again. Seemed nothing to count. The AI opponent silently took the first game: its store kept filling while mine lagged five moves behind.

The Turn

I started the second game angrier and spotted the thing that decides everything. Your empty pit is a loaded trap: drop your last stone into it while stones sit opposite — and both pits go to your store at once. I set up such a capture by mid-game and leveled the score in one move. Then I earned a free turn through the store and closed the game out. 1:1, and the third one ran on nerves.

The Decider

In the third I chased a capture so hard that I missed the ending: one side ran out of pit stones, the remainder went to its owner — and it was not me. 1:2. Bet lost, but the mechanic lies open: the free turn through the store and the empty-pit capture — two levers, and everything spins around them.

Win it back for me. Mancala