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Mankala Counting Game
Four projects from FamilyFun
Winning the most buttons makes this African counting game a quick hit with youngsters. Older kids get a kick out of figuring out a strategy.
The game board is made from an egg carton. Remove the lid and tape an extra cup (cut from another carton) to each end--to be used as banks in which the players can store their winnings. Put four buttons into each cup, but leave the banks empty.
The first player starts the game by taking the buttons from any cup. Beginning with the next cup and moving counterclockwise, he drops a button into each cup. Next, he takes the buttons from the cup into which his last button fell. He continues emptying and depositing until his last button falls into an empty cup. (This differs from following turns.)
Then, the second player, moving in the same direction, empties the cup of her choice and redistributes the buttons. If her last button falls into a cup with three buttons, she wins all the buttons in that cup. But if any button other than the last one falls into a cup of three, the first player wins the buttons from that cup. Players alternate turns until four or fewer buttons are left in the carton. The child with the most buttons in his bank wins.
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