Mancala games are impartial, that is: both players use the same material. There is a North/South division in which the pieces circulate, but not a Black/White one. Roocala is a merger of a mancala game like Oware and a partisan game with the same object like the twin games Swish & Squeeze
Material
Below you see the initial position of the hex version of the game. It has a trajectory of 18 edge-cells that enclose an inner area of 19 neutral cells. Each player owns the 9 edge-cells at their side. Each edge-cell initially contains two flat stackable checkers and each player has two Rooks. The square version of the game differs only in that the board is 6x6 with 20 edge-cells, 10 belonging to each player, and a 4x4 neutral inner area with the Rooks in the corners. The rules are the same.
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Rules Making a move is mandatory. South (White) moves first and North (Black) gets one point, equivalent to one checker, to compensate for South's turn-order advantage. Moves come in three kinds:
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Moving and/or capturing by sowing checkers
To make a checker sowing move, disregard the Rooks wherever they are, and take all the checkers from any cell that doesn't belong to the opponent.
- If the departure-cell is a cell owned by the moving player, then distribute them one at the time over subsequent edge-cells in a counter-clockwise direction, without leaving any cell out except the cell that is sown. It means that if the cell contains more than 17 checkers, then the 18th checker must be dropped on the same cell as the first one. Alternatively, the move may start and proceed into the inner area in a straight line. If it reaches an edge-cell before running out, then it must proceed along the edge in a counter-clockwise direction.
- If the departure-cell is a neutral inner cell, then distribute them one at the time in a straight line. If an edge-cell is reached, then continue in the same way in a counter-clockwise direction.
Capture
If and only if the last checker is dropped on a cell not owned by the moving player, that contained exactly one checker before the drop, then the move results in the capture of that particular checker and, going backwards from that last cell, of one checker from every cell not owned by the moving player in an unbroken row in which the same occured: a checker dropped in a cell that contained exactly one checker before the drop.
Rook moves: moving and/or capturing with Rooks
- A Rook move must start on an otherwise vacant cell but may not land on one.
- It may not move over a cell that holds another Rook or one or more checkers or both.
- It may not land on a cell that holds an opponent's Rook but no checkers.
- It may not land on a cell that holds a friendly Rook.
- It may land on any cell that holds an opponent's Rook and at least one checker. It then captures the Rook by replacement while checkers are unaffected.
- It may land on ay cell not owned by the moving player that only holds one or more checkers, capturing one and only one of them by replacement.
- It may land an own cell that only holds one or more checkers.
Moving and/or capturing by hybrid sowing
A hybrid move includes one or more checkers and a friendly Rook. In a hybrid move the Rook is not subject to restrictions mentioned under "Rook moves". The move may start on any cell not owned by the opponent that holds a friendly Rook and one or more checkers. The sowing procedure is the same as above, except for the inclusion of a Rook. The Rook must be dropped on the last cell. If a player choses not to include the Rook, then the move will be a regular checker sowing move as described above and the target-cell will come one drop earlier. The procedure for starting on a cell owned by the moving player is again slightly different than one that starts on a cell of the inner area.
- If a cell owned by the moving player is sown, it may start in two ways. It may go counter-clockwise along the edge-track till it runs out or, alternatively, it may start and proceed into the inner area in a straight line. If it then reaches an edge-cell before running out, it must proceed along the edge in a counter-clockwise direction.
- If the move starts on a cell of the inner area then its direction must be a straight line. If it reaches an edge-cell before running out, then it must proceed along the edge in a counter-clockwise direction.
In either case:
- If the target-cell is owned by the moving player it marks the end of the move.
- If the target-cell is vacant it marks the end of the move.
- If the target-cell holds an opponent's Rook, then this Rook is captured by replacement while any checkers remain unaffected.
- If the target-cell holds only checkers, then a number of them up to and including the number of checkers dropped prior to the last drop, is captured from it. Which means all of them if the target-cell holds precisely enough or less checkers.
End of the game
- The game ends if one player has captured more than half the number of checkers, that's 21 in the square version and 19 in the hex version.
- The game also ends if a player on his or her turn has no legal move available. That means that there are no checkers on own cells, no checkers on cells of the central area and no available rook moves. If this situation happens, the remaining checkers go to the player who made the last move, before establishing the score.
Object
Roocala is a scoring game and most points win. Since North is granted an extra point for moving second, the total number of points is odd, so as a rule draws won't occur.
Draws
Cooperative cycles are possible: players can move single checkers to and fro in the inner area. But these moves are subject to "3-fold": after making the same move twice, the third time will end the game in a draw.
A forced cycle is possible if both have the same number of points, including the North's turn-oder disadvantage point in the count, and the last checker must forcibly be moved between two cells, one covered by only one or two white rooks and one only covered by one or two black rooks. This situation is obviously rare and counts as a draw.
How I invented ... Roocala
Play Roocala interactively