Mancala game

Aualé

Oware is a wonderfully deep and satisfying board game that contains more strategy than its simplistic layout and rules might imply, and it is a member of the much larger group of mancala – also called count-and-capture – games. The game itself is based around a horizontal board with two parallel rows of six indented pockets and longer vertical indented stores (called the mancala) to the left and right of these rows. Each row is for one of the two players, and into each the pockets are placed seven small seeds. The victor is the player who captures the most seeds from these pockets and places them in their store, and the end game is triggered when 24 or more seeds have been captured. AualÈ is a graphical interface for playing Oware, which has three different phases of gameplay, with the first being collecting and redistributing the seeds from one of the pockets. This is all handled automatically by the games engine after you select a location.

The next phase is where you need to capture the seeds by redistributing seeds into a pocket with either two or three seeds. When this happens, you capture the entire contents of that pocket and place those seeds into your store. It's a little like checkers with fewer squares and more pieces, and while it only takes a moment to learn, there's plenty of subtle strategy to grapple with. AualÈ helps with this by offering four computer playing levels, from easy to expert, and you can play as either side or with a human opponent. There's also an undo and redo option, as well as the ability to save a game and come back to it later. The documentation is excellent, with a guide on how to play that includes animations and even a strategy and tactics page that can help you improve your skill.

Project Website

https://auale.joansala.com/

Aualé is a graphical interface for playing Oware, a member of the large mancala family of games.