Game Pieces

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Ninety six shells used for the game mancala (see 21487A for the board). The game is played with a boat-shaped board with fourteen holes in two rows and a large hole at each end. Ninety-eight shells (of the same variety as those used in the game of capona) are employed, which, at the opening of the game, are evenly distributed in the fourteen cavities, seven in each. The two players sit on opposite sides of the board; either may begin, as may be agreed upon. The first player takes the shells from any one of the holes in the row nearest to him and drops one in each hole, passing to the left, and also in the large hole at the left end, but not in the large one at the right, which is the depository of his opponent. When he has dropped the seven shells, he takes the shells from the cavity in which he dropped the last one. He continues in this way until he has dropped his last shell into his end cavity. Both players continue alternately until all the shells in the small cavities are exhausted, when the player having the larger number of shells in his home is the winner. This game is widely distributed through Asia and Africa. In Sri Lanka, it is called chanca, and at Jahore, chongkak. The arrangement of the board in both cases is the game as in the Philippine game.