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Philippines

Sungka

Philippines

Sungka is played on a long wooden board carved to resemble a boat, with fourteen small holes and two large stores called "bahay" (houses). Cowrie shells are the traditional playing pieces. It belongs to the same broad sowing family as Congklak and Ayo.

Players
2
Average time
8–15 min
Difficulty
●●●○○

Variant implemented

Philippine Sungka, 2×7 pits with 7 shells each, multi-lap sowing, capture by landing your last shell in an own empty hole. A single round is played; the multi-round "sunog" (burnt-hole) rule is not used.

How to play

Sungka is played on a long wooden board carved to resemble a boat, with fourteen small holes and two large stores called "bahay" (houses). Cowrie shells are the traditional playing pieces. It belongs to the same broad sowing family as Congklak and Ayo.

Variant implemented

Philippine Sungka, 2×7 pits with 7 shells each, simultaneous-free sequential opening, multi-lap sowing, capture with "sunog" (burnt) pits skipped.

Board and pieces

A long boat-shaped wooden board with fourteen small holes and two large stores called "bahay" (houses). Cowrie shells are the traditional pieces.

Setup

Seven shells in each of the fourteen small holes.

Turn

Scoop up a hole on your own side and sow anticlockwise, one shell per hole, including your own house but never your opponent's. If the last shell falls into an occupied hole, pick that hole up and keep going.

Capture and scoring

A final shell landing in an empty hole on your own side captures that shell plus everything in the hole opposite.

Win condition

When one side is emptied the other player takes the remainder. Most shells wins.

Draw condition

Equal counts are a draw.

Special rules

Ending in your own house grants another turn. In face-to-face play both players open simultaneously; that opening race is not modelled here — play alternates from the first move.

Computer opponent

Same alpha-beta engine as Congklak, tuned for the identical board geometry.

Open rooms

See who is waiting to play

Tags: sowing, abstract, two-player, perfect-information · Family: mancala