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Freevo Mankala MultiBoot MySSH TvTime

MANKALA

by Michael Ruelle


Acknowledgements

This game is dedicated to Bob The Shoes Green, who actually taught me how to program on an Apple2E. He also showed me how to program this game.

The Begining:

The game starts up with the board setup for the game. Each of the pits contains 3 stones. The pits are offset because the offset bins with no stones in them are called you home bins. They help tell the score.

The Object:

The object of the game is quite simple, Move the more stones into your home bin.

How To Play:

Flip a coin (not provided) to see who becomes first player. The first player then can pick up all the stones in one of his pits (towards the bottom of the screen). Then beginning with the next pit moving counterclockwise around the board, he deposits one stone into each pit, including his homebin. If he has stones left, then he must deposit the stones, one to each pit on the opponent's side of the board. However, he does not deposit stones in the other player's home bin.

Free Turn:

A player wins a free turn when the last stone he is depositing lands in his home bin. He may continue taking free turns as long as his last stone lands in the home bin. It is possible to have up to 17 free turns in a row.

Capture:

A player wins a capture when the last stone deposited is dumped into an empty bin on his side of the board. He then captures all of the stones in the pit opposite the one he landed in. These stones are then placed in his home bin. A capture will end the player's turn.

How The Game Ends:

The game ends when any player clears all of the stones from his first six pits. When this occurs the player with stones in his pits puts them into his home bin. Obviously it is not always best to go out of the game first.

Some Strategy:

  1. Before making any moves check for free turns or captures.
  2. By depositing stones on your opponent's side of the board, you can control his moves.
  3. Constantly try to arrange your stones to get free turns. It is possible to take seventeen turns in a row.
  4. You can force your opponent into moves by threatening to capture one of his pits.
  5. If a player has 13 stones in his pit and moves them, he will end up where he started with a capture!
  6. End of Game strategy is very important aspect of the game. It is important to realize that stalling moves and moving without free turns is necessary some times. Because going out too early might cause your opponent to win!

Here is the Applet Version of the program

Press start to begin. If you wish to play again press stop and then start. This will reset the game.

Here is the source for the Applet Version

The applet has three main parts. The actual applet that lives on the webpage, the window class which has the main program, and the canvas which I draw on. Below are links to the three source files. Warning, this code is not commented at all.

View Applet source
View Window source
View Canvas source


Here is the C Version of the program

view source