About Seed Pits
Seed Pits belongs to the mancala family, a group of sowing games played across Africa and Asia for many hundreds of years. This version follows the rules usually called Kalah.
How a match works
The board has two rows of six pits, with four seeds in each, and a large store at either end. Player one owns the bottom row and the store on the right. Player two owns the top row and the store on the left.
On your turn, pick up all the seeds from one of your pits and sow them one by one into the pits that follow, travelling anticlockwise. You drop a seed in your own store as you pass, but skip your opponent's.
Two special rules apply. If the last seed falls in your store, you move again. If the last seed falls in one of your own pits that was empty, and the pit directly opposite has seeds in it, you capture both lots into your store.
The game ends when all six pits on one side are empty. Each player then adds whatever remains on their side to their own store. With forty-eight seeds in play, twenty-five wins.
How to win
Look for free turns. A pit whose seed count exactly reaches your store gives you another move. At the start, the third pit from the left does this. Chaining two or three free turns together is the strongest thing you can do.
Set up captures. An empty pit on your side is an opportunity. Find a move that ends there while the pit opposite is full.
Watch your opponent's empty pits for the same reason, and move seeds out of the pits that face them.
Keep seeds on your side late in the game. Whatever is left in your row when the game ends counts for you.
It rewards counting and patience, and it is one of the oldest ideas among two-player HTML5 games.