This is one of a family of games called Mancala. Many players call one version of this game Pallanguli and it also is known simply as Wari. It is quite popular for several reasons. it can be played by scooping a few holes in the sand or dirt and using stones or seeds as the playing pieces. It can be played and enjoyed by children as well as adults — many experts rank it the equal of chess as a intellectual challenge!
This game of Awari is played against the computer. The six cups at the bottom of the screen are the player's cups. The six cups above them belong to the computer. When you press the NEW GAME button all of the cups will be filled with four dots ...let's call them seeds since many games of Awari are played that way. When you click your mouse in any of your cups the seeds in that cup will be distributed around the Awari board going to the right (counter clockwise). There must be seeds in the cup to begin with or the computer will beep at you. Also, you can only click on your own cups. The computer will beep at you if you try to use one of its cups.
Sometimes the number of the seeds in one cup can grow quite large and the seeds may reach completely around the Awari board, perhaps more than once. If the last seed falls on the player's side of the board his turn is over. If, however, the last seed falls in a cup on the computer's side and the total number of seeds in that cup now equals two or three, that number of seeds is added to the player's score and these seeds are removed from the board. Not only that but all the cups on the computer's side of the board leading up to the last cup which also contain two or three seeds also count and are added to the player's score. You'll see the last cup outlined, its seeds will disappear and if the previous cup also totals two or three that cup will be outlined and its seeds will vanish — and so on until the trail leads back to the player's side or the value in a cup is not two or three.
The game ends when it is your turn to move and there are no seeds in your cup to play. You've lost the game. Similarly, if it is the computer's turn and no seeds are left on its side of the board, you win. There is one more rule you must know. If it is your turn and there are no seeds on the computer's side of the board you must move at least one seed to the other side of the board for your opponent to play IF YOU CAN. If you can't, why, you've won the game.
That's really all you have to know to play the game of Awari. We've given you a little help in determining where the last seed in a cup will fall. If you click in the small circle under a cup you'll see a similar circle blink near the cup which will get the final seed. Hint: You can also use the small circles on the computer's side of the board to find out which of your cups might be in danger on the next computer move.
We hope you like our program and we remind you that it is shareware. If you enjoy playing Awari please send $5 to: Dale Blackwell, 12621 Neon Way, Granada Hills, California, 91344. We'll send our latest version of the game along with several more of our shareware products. To begin playing simply CLICK anywhere on the screen.
