Elizabeth Chase MacRae
MANKALA
A computerized version of the African
stone-and-board game for 1-2 players (ages 8 and up)
Cassette: 16K (APX-10156) Diskette: 16K (APX-20156)
MANKALA
by
Elizabeth Chase MacRae
Program and Manual Contents copyright 1982 Elizabeth Chase MacRae
INTRODUCTION
OVERVIEW
The stone age has met the computer age! Mankala, an ancient African
game traditionally played with stones on the ground or on a
hand-carved board, is now available on your ATARI Home Computer. But
the computerized MANKALA remains faithful to the original game's rules
and format.
Two players can compete against each other or one player can challenge
the computer at different levels of difficulty. Each player owns six
small playing bins and one large home bin, which are arranged as two
parallel sets. Start MANKALA with anywhere between three an eight
stones per bin. Players take turns picking up all the stones in one of
their playing bins and dropping one stone in each bin in a
counterclockwise direction. They move the stones by using a joystick
Controller to position their marker over a bin and then pressing the
red joystick button. MANKALA automatically picks up all the stones and
drops them in the other bins, Each stone dropped into a home bin
remains there permanently, and whenever the last stone in a turn lands
in the player's home bin, the player takes another turn, The game ends
when one player empties all the playing bins in his set, and the
holder of more stones is the winner.
REQUIRED ACCESSORIES
One ATARI Joystick Controller per player
Cassette version
16K RAM
ATARI 410 Program Recorder
Diskette version
16K RAM
ATARI 810 Disk Drive
-1-
GETTING STARTED
LOADING MANKALA INTO COMPUTER MEMORY
1. Remove any program cartridge from the cartridge slot of your
computer.
2. In a one-player game, plug your Joystick Controller into the first
(the leftmost) controller jack at the front of your computer console,
In a two-player game, plug your Joystick Controller into the first and
second (the two leftmost) controller jacks at the front of your
computer console.
3. If you have the cassette version of MANKALA:
a. Have your computer turned OFF,
b. Insert the MANKALA cassette into the program recorder's cassette holder
and press REWIND on the recorder until the tape rewinds completely. Then
press PLAY to prepare the program recorder for loading the program.
c. Turn on the computer while holding down the START key.
d. When you hear a beep, release the START key and press the RETURN key. The
program will load into computer memory. Turn on your TV set. The program will
start automatically.
If you have the diskette version of MANKALA
a. Have your computer turned OFF,
b. Turn on your disk drive.
c. When the BUSY light goes out, open the disk drive door and insert the
MANKALA diskette with the label in the lower right-hand corner nearest to
you. (Use disk drive one if you have more than one drive.)
d. Turn on your computer and your TV set, The program will load into
computer memory and start automatically.
THE FIRST DISPLAY SCREEN
The first display screen contains the word "MANKALA" and instructions
to press the START or OPTION keys.
-2-
PLAYING MANKALA
SELECTING YOUR OPTIONS
One person can play MANKALA against the computer with four
increasingly difficult levels of competition. Or, two players can
compete. In the one-player version, press the OPTION key until you see
the desired playing level on the screen.
WARNING: At the higher levels of one-player competition, the computer
will spend a noticeable amount of time planning its move. At level
four, For example, you may have to wait up to 15 seconds for some
moves.
After you set your options, press the START key to go on to the
playing field.
If you do not press the START key within a minute, the computer will
begin to play against itself, using randomly selected levels of skill.
PLAYING FIELD
The playing field consists of six regular bins and one large home bin
for each player as shown below.
+----+
| | +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+
| 2 | |2| |2| |2| |2| |2| |2|
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
+----+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+
+-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +----+
|1| |1| |1| |1| |1| |1| | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 |
+-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ +-+ | |
+----+
Player one's bins are labelled "1" and player two's bins are labelled
"2".
Player 1 uses the Joystick Controller plugged into the first
controller jack, and Player 2 uses the Joystick Controller in the
second jack.
CHOOSING THE NUMBER OF STONES
The regular bins each contain three stones to start, You may increase
this number to eight by pressing the SELECT key repeatedly. More
stones create a more difficult game.
When the computer plays against itself, the number of stones is chosen
randomly.
STARTING THE GAME
After you select the type of game and the number of stones you wish to
play with, press the START key to allow player 1 to go first or press
the OPTION key to allow player 2 to
-3-
MAKING A MOVE
As the game begins, a blinking cursor moves onto the playing field.
The second cursor appears after the first move is made.
Use your Joystick Controller to move your cursor from side to side
over you regular bins. Press the red Joystick button to select one of
your bins of stones, The cursor automatically picks up the stones in
that bin and distributes them. You can move your cursor only when it
is blinking, indicating that it's your turn.
You cannot position the cursor partway between your bins or too far to
the right or left. A buzzer sounds if you try to move your cursor too
far or if you select a bin with no stones in it.
GAME RULES
On each turn, select one of the bins of stones. Then:
1. The cursor picks up all the stones in the selected bin and drops them, one
by one in a counter-clockwise direction into all the regular bins (including
those of your opponent) and into your home bin.
2. If the last stone dropped lands in your home bin, then you have another
turn and your cursor continues to blink.
3. If the last stone dropped lands in one of your empty bins, then you
"capture" all your opponent's stones in the bin immediately opposite. The
cursor will automatically pick them up and put them in your home bin.
The game ends when the player whose turn it is has no stones left to
move. The player with more stones, including those in the home bin and
in the regular bins, is the winner. To simplify scoring, MANKALA
automatically picks up all stones remaining in the regular bins at the
end of the game and puts them into the appropriate home bin.
COUNTING THE STONES
Part of the challenge of MANKALA is counting the number of stones in
each bin, especially when there are more than just a few. When you
play the game with real stones, the rules allow that a player may look
at a pile of stones from any angle but may not touch them or move them
to count.
In your computer version of MANKALA, the counting is easier because
the stones appear in clumps of not more than 10 stones, Thus if you
have 12 stones in a bin, they will appear as a clump of 10 and a clump
of 2.
If you wait more than one minute before starting a new game, the
computer begin playing
-4-
against itself.
RESTARTING THE GAME
You can restart the game at any time by pressing the SYSTEM RESET key.
HINTS
A good initial strategy is to move the stones nearest your home bin
unless there's an obvious opportunity for a "capture", You can also
pick up some good ideas by watching the computer play against itself.
More sophisticated strategies include captures, and defensive
stone-counting moves to avoid capture.
-5-
QUICK REFERENCE SHEET
BEFORE GAME BEGINS USE:
OPTION key To choose the level of
competition
START key To begin the game
WAIT ONE MINUTE To let the computer play
against itself
BEFORE ACTION BEGINS USE:
SELECT key To select the number of stones
for play
START key Player 1 has the first turn
OPTION key Player 2 has the first turn
DURING THE GAME USE:
Joystick Controller To position blinking cursor
over a bin
Red Joystick button Completes a move
ANYTIME USE:
SYSTEM RESET Interrupt the game and begin again
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