How do you beat mancala on nabooti island?

Answer 1

At the Mountains of the Moon on Nabooti Island, you must beat the old man at the game of mancala. The game plays just well enough to beat you if you make random moves.

There are three rules that allow you to easily win :

1. Each move goes counter-clockwise, leaving one pebble in each pit along the way
2. Ending in your own large pit (right side) gives you another move
3. Ending in an EMPTY pit gives you that pebble, plus any in the pit across from it.

Your first move on each turn should be one that ends in your right side pit (you get an extra turn), followed by clearing to the right, or grabbing a pile of pebbles from the far side.

*SAMPLE GAME* which may work for you :

With your side of the board numbered left to right, #1 to #6, play the following (multiple moves in brackets) : [4 then 5][3 then 6][5][4][2,6,5,6,1][1][3] - the game will play this losing variation about 40% of the time.

Playing Mancala (Mountains of the Moon, Nabooti island)

Mancala is a pebbles-and-pits game played in regions of Africa. The object is to defeat your opponent by collecting more pebbles in your large pit (to the right) than the opponent does in his (on the left). Taking turns, each player selects a pit with a number of pebbles in it on his half of the playing board (in this case, the lower half is you, the player, and the upper half is representing the old man). The pebbles are then moved counter-clockwise, dropping one into each subsequent pit along the way until all are used. If a player ends a move in his own large pit, he moves again. If he ends in an empty pit, he collects that single pebble AND any pebbles in the pit directly above or below, and places them in his large scoring pit. When all the small pits are emptied on either side, the player making the last move gets all remaining pebbles on the board. The player with the most pebbles wins.

The player can beat the old man with moderately good play. Try to end your moves in your own large pit so you can play again. Watch for large piles of pebbles in the upper pits that you can grab by ending in an empty pit below it.

(For additional strategy, see the related question)