Planned
Mancala,
passed down, and played on.
People have been sowing stones around boards like this for centuries, parents teaching children, children teaching theirs. Keep it going from anywhere: live over FaceTime or Messages, or a move a day. Scoop, sow, capture, and fill your store. And on your own, a computer opponent that plays fair.
This is our plan for Mancala. We haven't started it yet. It's one of six family games we'll make after the classics, one app at a time, so the details will change as we get closer.
- Price
- Free, optional Pro
- Players
- You, or two together
- Pace
- Live, or over days
- Ads
- None, ever
- Data collected
- None
Two rows of pits. Two people.
Mancala is a quiet duel: counting, planning, and a little gasp when a capture lands. It was made to be played face to face, and now face to face can be a thousand miles apart.
One tap, and they're in
Start a game from FaceTime or Messages. Your friend taps once and sits down. No accounts. No codes. No setup. Hosting is free, and joining is free.
Live, or over days
Play live on a call. Or take turns through Game Center, a move whenever you have a minute, one game stretching across the week.
Every stone, together
You both see each stone land, one by one, the moment it's played. Undo your own last move, until your friend replies.
Only the people you know
No strangers. No chat rooms. No public tables. Your game travels through Apple, never through us. We never see it, and we like it that way.
Warm wood. Glass stones.
Stones you can count at a glance. And when you want it, a count under every pit.
Illustrations of the planned design. The finished app may look different.
How Mancala plays
Twelve pits. Two stores. Forty-eight stones. That's the whole game.
Sow
Pick up every stone in one of your pits. Drop them one at a time, counterclockwise.
Capture
End in your store and you go again. End in an empty pit of yours, and you capture the stones across from it.
Win
When one side runs out of stones, it's over. Whoever has more in their store wins.
Five things we'll never compromise
Every game we make has to pass the same five tests. Here's how Mancala passes them.
Easy, from the first move
Every pit shows its count, and every move shows where the last stone will land. A free hint every game suggests a pit, and says why.
Clean and calm
No pop-ups. No badges. No nudges to keep playing. Just the table, the game and the people you're playing with. Take all the time you like.
Private. Completely.
No accounts. No ads. No tracking. On your own, it works offline and nothing leaves your device. With friends, your game travels through Apple, never through us.
Beautiful
A warm wooden board and glass stones you can count at a glance. Every detail made by hand, because the people you play with deserve it.
Fun, and fair
The computer sees the same board you do and never cheats. Against it, undo any move you like, as many times as you like.
Mancala for everyone
Clear stones. Spoken counts. And a pace that belongs to you.
VoiceOver throughout
Every pit and stone count is announced, and every move is spoken. You can play Mancala without ever looking.
Voice and Switch Control
Standard accessibility actions, including a list of the moves you can make.
Sizes that fit
Larger pieces when you want them, with full Dynamic Type everywhere else.
High contrast
Tell the pieces apart by shape and shade as well as color. Never by color alone.
Reduce Motion
Pieces fade into place instead of sliding when Reduce Motion is on.
Moves announced
Hear where your last stone lands, and what it captures.
Free to play. Free to play together.
The whole game is free, and so is every game with friends, hosting and joining. Pro is one optional purchase for players who want more. Nothing to renew. Nothing to remove.
Free
Forever. Not a trial.
- The complete game, on your own or with a friend
- Play with friends: host or join, always free
- Live, or a move at a time over days
- Unlimited undo when playing the computer
- A free hint every game
- Every accessibility feature
- Works offline on your own, no account needed
Pay once
A single optional purchase.
- More hints in each game
- Coach: a quiet note when there's a better play, and why
- Practice: short drills for the trickiest positions
- Themes for the board and pieces
- Named saved games, as many as you like, each with a note
- 8-bit mode: your own table, drawn in retro pixels
- Saved games, synced through your iCloud
- Detailed stats and streaks
One-time purchase. Yours forever.
What's in Pro, and its price, will be decided closer to release. The full game will always be free.
Good to know
Can I play with friends?
Yes. That's what it's made for. Play over FaceTime or Messages with SharePlay, or through Game Center, live or taking turns over days. Always free, with no accounts and no servers of ours.
Does my friend need Pro?
No. Your friend needs Mancala, which is free, and one tap. Never Pro, never an account, never a sign-in.
When will Mancala be released?
Mancala is one of six family games we'll make after the classics, and we haven't started it yet. We don't announce dates we can't keep. The day it's ready, this page gets a download link.
Will it cost anything?
Not to play. Mancala will be free to download, and the whole game free to play, on your own or with friends. Pro will be an optional one-time purchase. There will never be ads or a subscription.
Does the computer cheat?
No. It sees the same board you do, thinks within a fixed limit, and plays by the same rules.
Do I need an internet connection or an account?
Never an account. Playing on your own works fully offline, and your games and stats stay on your device. Playing with friends far away needs a connection, and that's all it needs.
Will it come to Android?
Yes, that's the plan. The whole collection comes to Android after the iPhone and iPad apps.
Which rules does it use?
The widely played two-row game, with four stones in every pit. Which other versions we include will be decided when we research the game.
Data Not Collected
That's the App Store privacy label on every app we make, Mancala included. No accounts. No analytics. No advertising. Nothing you do in the app ever reaches us.
Coming later to iPhone and iPad.
Mancala comes after the classics. We don't collect email addresses, so there's no list to join. Check back here, and meet Solitaire while you wait.