Player 1 has the 6 boxes at bottom, with six ###### in each, while player 2 has the top 6 boxes.
Player 1 always starts the game on the bottom row of boxes.
Player 1 selects a box with some # and then the computer will place the #s
around in boxes counterclockwise appropriately with one # to a box
including, if you have enough, one in the right side "KALAHA" or Home that is the middle box on the right.
The second player then takes a turn and selects a box on the top row and the computer then distributes
the #s counterclockwise
but never in player 1's KALAHA. If a player's last # from a selection is placed in their own KALAHA then
they can select another box with #s to distribute. If, for example, the last # of player 1 lands in an empty box of
the opponent's, then player 1 gets to have this last # plus the #s in the other player's box on the opposite
side placed in player 1's KALAHA on the center right. The player's 2 KALAHA
is the center left box. The
object is to have more #s in your KALAHA at the end of the game than the other player. The end occurs
when either player has no #s left in any of their boxes.
Egyptian Kalaha is at least 7000 years old. In many Egyptian archeological sites they have found 14 holes in
stones that are the basis for the game. Along the caravan paths in the Middle East and
Northern Africa they have also found these 14 holes on floors or "stone benches" of caves. The game is also protrayed in paintings from
Egyptian tombs. More recently, the game has been played in coffee houses where betting is
common. (source: Global Toys AB).
JavaScript © 1999 by John A. Byers.