Last updated on January 17th, 2026 at 12:10 am
Mancala+ – Board Game Review
Mancala+ is a Board/Entertainment/Family game from Spiny Software, first launched in 4th October 2008.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 567+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Mancala+ Stand Out
Play the classic African board game against a challenging computer opponent, or another person!
Features:
- Selectable difficulty level
- Human vs. iPhone or Human vs. Human
- Select from 3 to 6 starting seeds per pit
This version of Mancala uses standard Kalah rules:
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Each player's pits are filled with a preset number of seeds
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On any given turn, a player may sow seeds from any of their pits, proceeding counterclockwise around the board, skipping the opponent's store
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If the last seed lands in the player's own store, the player gets a free turn
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If the last seed lands in an empty pit on the player's side, and the opposite pit contains seeds, the player captures both the single seed, and all seeds in the corresponding pit on the opponent's side
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When either player has no seeds in any of their pits, the other player's seeds move into their store, ending the game
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At the end of the game, the player with the highest number of seeds in his or her store is the winner
COMING SOON:
- More advanced Mancala rule sets, including Oware
This Board game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Mancala+ is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 15th February 2010
Recent improvements include:
- Updated for OS 3.1
Download & Availability
Mancala+ is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
This games challenging and fun at the most btw the computers easy if you know how to play.
Fun, but doesn't work w/iOS 11. Sadness.
This app is a decent app and has potential. However there are a few changes that could be made to make it perfect. First off, the player "your turn" indicator could be a little more obvious. We didn't notice it before. Secondly the new game, definitely needs a confirmation dialog, our big fingers occasionally have hit the button mid game and disappointedly had to restart with no choice. This needs fixed. Other than that the app is entertaining and a quick fix for boredom. The apps file size is another great thing 0.4mb is definitely worth the space (practically nothing!). Fix these few things and it would be fantastic.
Crashes and doesn't play ! We get an error message and it does nothing. There is other versions of this game.
We brought this app and it worked great for a while. It apparently has not been updated and does not work with our iPhone 6.
This game doesn't even know how to play Mancala at the end of the game all of the marbles automatically went to the computer player.
It is SO annoying! The pit flashes when it moves! If we could give it 0 stars, we would.
It cheats! We put our seed in an empty pit on our side and the computer didn't give us our seed or any others in the corresponding pit on the opposite side.
Great game! Just like the version of Mancala we learned from a friend — without the possibility of spilling the seeds all over the inside of our car. One question: What happened to the old icon? We skipped the upgrade to 1.1.1 because our version works fine and the new icon is terrible. Bring back the one that actually looks like a mancala game.
Better than sf5 free (which has ads). Which is not to say this is snazzier but that it's classier.
We think this is a great mancala! We'd like to request that the developers also offer Dakon, or Congklak, which is a variant played in Indonesia. Since the concept is similar, we think it would be easy to modify the existing code.
We don't see y ppl give this bad reviews. There r no problems with this game. What r u waiting for? Get it.
We play Mancala on our PC. This is just like it, just as fun and totally addicting. And once in a while we win.
Best mandala app ever! We love how it looks Best graphics and design.
Good app. Goes too fast though. Also for the person who wanted to listen to their own music: you can. Press the home button two times fast and you should get a play button. Just start playin from where it cut you off. Needs an update.
This is a great game! We like being able to play against the computer. However, we would like to be able to listen to our music. We have the sound off and it still cuts our music off. Thank you Still waiting for an update so we can listen to our own music. Just took away two stars. Great fun app though. Thank you for the update now we can listen to music while playing. Of course now we get distracted and don't win as often LOL.
LOVE this game! We've plaid it for years on the real, wood version with friends, but we LOVE the fact that we can now play against the computer/iPod! We play it all the time as a stress reliever, and a lot of times right before we go to bed. We love how you can control the speed of the pieces being moved, depending on how fast you want to play. FUN.
Great application. Highly recommend.
We got this when it was free. There were no rules posted and the speed was too fast to understand what was happening. We almost deleted it but was too lazy. Then came the update – much improved! We now had rules to learn how to play and we could slow things down to help us see the iPod's moves and strategies. This is now one of the games we play on a regular basis and would gladly pay the .99 if we had to. Can't wait to see what the next update will bring, hopefully one of the things is a new icon. As others have said, the big plus sign is kind of lame and gives no indication of what this game is about like the old icon did. Bring the old icon back. Other than that, great game.
It's fun to play and the interface works.
The upgrades have made significant improvements. Rules are accessible if u r new to the game. Nice design look and feel. Easy or hard to beat difficulties. Always the game we come back to now that we get how to play! Always fun.
When we first saw this app we snatched it up, hoping we could learn Mancala with it. Originally no instructions were included, so we just waited patiently for the promised update and we are very glad we did. The rules are well-written and we, somone who has never played Mancala previously, was able to follow them and pick it up quickly. Being able to adjust the animation speed is a great addition and really has helped us better understand what's happening on the game board. The colourful pieces help in the same regard. We also appreciate being able to adjust the A.we. Difficulty and we hope to use the two-player mode soon. As another person mentioned we might not mind if it were possible to disable the numbers, and net play would be an excellent addition. If you do add net play, please add ratings a la chess. It's nice to have an idea of your opponent's ability. We really only have two small complaints. The A.we. Sometimes is repetitive, and the new icon isn't very appealing. When we see it we don't think "Mancala" at all. We preferred the previous one! Inoltre, thanks very much for this fine app, and for introducing us to this fun game! We look forward to future updates.
Maybe we are a little too competitive, but we could not close the app until we beat the AI at least three times. We actually learned a few moves…. This app is fun.
This game is cool we're the 100 review :).
A well-implemented version of this classic game. Great for curling up on the couch with that special someone and having a blast.
Great for a quick game of an old favorite.
Took a bit to get used to how fast it moves; otherwise it's great! We love it.
We really enjoy this came! We felt a little overwhelmed at first so we adjusted the skill level and got used to it and now we can't stop playing.
May have different rules, but it is a great game in of itself, especially for free. Future ideas… Have game speed options, different rule options, and allow the player to come back to the game later. Good work.
This is a great representation of mancala as we learned to play it in the midwestern US. The speed is find if you are an experienced player, but an option to slow down the animation would be useful when learning. We beat the computer about 60% of the time so far, so if it seems too difficult, keep practicing.
We have played some Mancala before and we are really enjoying this Mancala game. It is great because we can play the computer or with a friend. We suggest if you don't know how to play to play human vs human and it helps it be slower so you can learn. If you know how to play already & enjoy the game do not hesitate to download. If you don't know the rules Google them it doesn't hurt to not have everything handed to you with a free app such as this.
Unlike the bad reviews, we found exactly as the actual game. It's only too fast if you don't understand the game. Then it should only take you a few minutes to figure it out, and it's fun while you do. GREAT free game. It makes us want to pull out our game at home and play with family.
We love this game comp Is kinda fast but we beat it so it's all good just give us the option to slow it down.
We've been waiting patiently for this game to be released on the iPhone! Now that it's here, we shall retreat to our corner and play until we pass out. Wonderful.
We remember playing this as a kid. One thing when going back and doing an update, include the rules somewhere. We hate having to go back to the app. Store for instructions and rules. Overall, great.
We played one for iPod touch, and it was easy. But this has a difficulty meter and the game plays very fast. We just wish it had online play.
This game models the regular game perfectly, it even let's you choose how many stones to have in each cup and whether to play against a person or an iPod. Plus, it even tells you how many stones are in each cup during play. As for the difficulty problem, GO INTO SETTINGS PEOPLE. It lets you choose there, along with the number of stones. We're no genuis, but we can win pretty easily in the easiest setting. One thing to change though could be to slow down the speed of the moves the iPod makes.
This is the best Mancala app for the iPhone. Highly addictive. Get it.
Classic game that never gets old. We just ask that you slow the game speed down in the next update, or at least add a setting allowing you to toggle the visual effects and speed.
We think we will like it, but where are the instructions.
…is awesome. We're still tryna figure the game out. Maybe there should be more animation and an instruction sheet inside the game. All in all great app. EDIT: we still think it needs the above mentioned and also a title screen. We now finally understand the game and have spent the past 45 minutes playing. It's simple but too addictive (where's the surgeon general when you need him?!?!).
An excellent implementation. The computer opponent is quite challenging.
Slowly figuring out how to play this game and already it's a good way to pass time for us.
It aint whack actually is a pretty fun app.
We have no idea what some of the people are talking about below, the game does not go "too fast", the speed is adjustable; we even felt that the default was a bit too slow for us and set it to maximum, why on earth do you need to seed the pieces move?? It wastes time and you don't need to see them move to know where to go, and if for some reason you want to, adjust the speed. We only have one gripe with this free game, and that's that the AI is too dumb. We have it set to maximum difficulty, it takes a long time to think and yet we beat it everytime.. It's not a huge deal for us though because we mainly use it to play other human animals. Other than that, big thanks to the dev for making this great game free.
The problem we have is once you put it to hard it thinks forever. The game goes soooo slow.
This is a solid free game. The animation is fast and that's fine by us. We beat the CPU on our second try. The graphics could be a little better but is free so no complains here. Quit the whinning.
Simple, clean and works great! We don't understand why someone would want it to slow down unless they really don't know how to play mancala. Seriously folks… We know you want want want more…. But it's free! Looks GREAT.
We love this game..it's really addicting but we only give this game a 4 star only because everytime we recieve a call an then go back to playin our game it starts us all over…plz change this it gets really annoying :-(.
Great graphics, but way too fast to enjoy anything. Click yes if you agree or to just get this review to the top.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.1.2
- Size: 0.34 MB
- iOS: 3.1 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Spiny Software
Last updated: 15th February 2010 | Genre: Board, Entertainment | Developer: Spiny Software