How to Play Oware
Oware is the Ashanti people's national game and the best-known of the African sowing games: twelve pits, forty-eight seeds, and captures that chain backwards across your opponent's row.
The board
- Twelve pits in two rows of six; four seeds in each. The row nearest you is yours.
- There are no stores. Captured seeds are counted beside the board. South moves first.
Sowing
- Pick one of your pits that has seeds and sow them one by one into the following pits, anticlockwise (along your row to the right, then back along your opponent's row).
- With twelve or more seeds, the lap skips the pit you started from.
Capturing
If the last seed lands in an opponent's pit and makes it two or three, capture those seeds. Then look at the pit before it: if it is also the opponent's and holds two or three, capture that too, and so on backwards until the chain breaks.
Special rules
- Grand slam: a move that would capture every seed on the opponent's side is allowed but captures nothing.
- Feeding: if your opponent has no seeds, you must choose a move that gives them some, when one exists. If none can, you take all remaining seeds and the game ends.
- A long stretch with no captures ends the game, each side keeping the seeds on its own row.
Winning
Twenty-five seeds wins at once; 24–24 is a draw.
Playing on kawu
Tap one of your pits to sow it. The path of the last move and any captured pits are outlined. Hint shows the hard computer's choice. Play either side against three levels, or two players on one device.
Next: Oware strategy.
Frequently asked questions
How is Oware different from Kalah mancala?
There are no stores: you capture seeds from your opponent's pits when your last seed makes a pit of two or three, and you can chain captures backwards. There is no extra turn for landing in a store, and you must keep your opponent supplied with seeds.
What is the grand slam rule?
A move that would capture every seed on your opponent's side is allowed, but it captures nothing. The seeds stay where they fell.
What happens when my opponent has no seeds?
You must make a move that puts seeds on their side if you have one. If no move can, you take all the seeds remaining on the board and the game ends.
Last updated 2026-10-21