How to play Mangala: rules for Mangala, Nine Men's Morris and Toguz Korgool

Mangala: board and stones

Each player has 6 pits in front of them and 1 store on their right. At the start, 4 stones go into every pit; 48 stones in all. The stores are empty. Stones travel anticlockwise: left to right along your own row, then right to left along the opposite row.

Mangala: the move

1. Choose a pit with stones on your side and pick up all of its stones.
2. Drop the first stone back into the pit you took them from, then sow the rest one by one into the pits to the right. This is the rule that sets Turkish mangala apart from other pit games.
3. If a pit holds a single stone, that stone moves straight into the next pit and the pit is left empty.
4. While sowing you also drop stones into your own store, but you skip your opponent's store.
5. If there are many stones, the sowing goes all the way around the board and comes back to your own pits.

Mangala: where did the last stone land?

• In your own store: you play again. This can happen several times in a row.
• In an opponent's pit, making the count even (2, 4, 6…): all the stones in that pit go to your store.
• In an empty pit on your side, with stones in the opponent's pit opposite: all the stones opposite plus the stone you dropped go to your store. If the opposite pit is empty, nothing is captured and your stone stays in the pit.
• In every other case, the turn passes to your opponent. The turn also passes after an even or empty-pit capture; only a last stone in your store gives you another move.

Mangala: end of the set and the match

The set ends when all 6 pits on one side are empty. The player whose pits empty first takes all the stones left in the opponent's pits into their own store. Then the stores are counted: whoever has more stones wins the set, and 24-24 is a draw.

In a match, winning a set is worth 1 point and a draw half a point. In Quick Game you can choose 1, 3 or 5 sets; the two players take turns starting the sets.

Watch out: some people know the rule as "whoever runs out of stones wins". The side that runs out takes the opponent's remaining stones; that often wins the set, but not always. The winner is decided by the number of stones in the store.

Nine Men's Morris

The board is made of three nested squares and the lines joining them: 24 points and 16 mills (straight lines of three points). Each player has 9 stones; light stones start.

1. Placing: players take turns putting one stone on an empty point.
2. Moving: once all stones are placed, each move slides one stone along a line to an adjacent empty point.
3. Flying: a player down to three stones may move a stone to any empty point (this can be turned off in the game's Settings).

Whoever forms a mill, lining up three of their own stones on a line, removes one of the opponent's stones from the board. Stones that are not in a mill must be taken first; if all of the opponent's stones are in mills, a stone from a mill can be taken. Even if two mills are formed in the same move, only one stone is taken. Opening a mill and closing it again counts as a new mill.

A player reduced to two stones, or unable to move in the moving phase, loses. If the same position comes up three times, or 50 moves pass without a capture, the game ends in a draw.

Toguz Korgool

Each player has 9 pits and a kazan (store); every pit holds 9 stones, 162 stones in all. The kazans are not on the sowing path: stones only travel anticlockwise around the 18 pits.

• The move works as in Mangala: you take all the stones from a pit, the first stone goes back into the same pit, and the rest are sown one by one to the right. A single stone moves to the next pit.
• Even: if your last stone makes an opponent's pit even, all the stones in that pit go to your kazan.
• Tuzdik: if your last stone makes an opponent's pit exactly 3, that pit becomes your tuzdik and you take the 3 stones. From then on, every stone that falls into it goes to your kazan, no matter who is sowing.
• Tuzdik conditions: one per game; the opponent's 9th pit can't become a tuzdik; the pit in the same position as the opponent's tuzdik can't become a tuzdik. A tuzdik pit can't be played.

The first to collect 82 stones wins; 81-81 is a draw. If the player to move cannot move, the game ends and the stones on the board go to the player whose side they are on.

The computer opponent and fair play

None of the three games involves luck; the computer calculates its moves with the very same rules engine you play with. Easy makes a mistake now and then, Medium looks a few moves ahead, and Hard calculates much deeper. Because Hard chooses between good moves that are very close in value, it doesn't play every game the same way.

Common mistakes

• Putting the first stone into the next pit in Mangala: the first stone is dropped back into the pit the stones were taken from.
• Dropping stones into the opponent's store as well: the opponent's store is skipped while sowing.
• Trying to capture after making a pit on your own side even: even captures only happen in the opponent's pits.
• Trying to capture with a last stone in an empty pit when the pit opposite is empty: if the opposite pit is empty, there is no capture.
• Thinking "whoever runs out of stones wins": the side that runs out takes the opponent's remaining stones, and the winner is decided by the stones in the store.
• Trying to take a stone from the opponent's mill in Nine Men's Morris: while there are stones outside mills, a stone in a mill can't be taken.
• Trying to claim a second tuzdik or targeting the opponent's 9th pit in Toguz Korgool: both are against the rules.