The most common rule set in games sold commercially as Mancala is for this game of Kalah. Mancala is actually a whole family of games. Kalah was invented in 1940 by an American, William Champion Jr.. He started selling the game in 1944, patented the rules in the 1950's, and founded the Kalah Game Co. in 1958.

The game is played on a board of two rows, each consisting of six round pits. The rows have a large store at either end called the Kalah. A player owns the six pits closest to them and the Kalah on their right side.

The game is started with four (4) seeds in each pit. A player takes all the seeds from one of their pits, and then they are distributed one by one, counterclockwise, in the pits and the player's own Kalah, but not into the opponent's store (Kalah). If the last seed is dropped into an opponent's pit or a non-empty pit of the player, the move ends without anything being captured. If the last seed falls into the player's Kalah, they must move again. If the last seed is put into an empty pi