Your boxes are at bottom, with six ###### in each.
You must select 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 your "KALAHA" or Home which is the middle box on the right.
The computer is the other player, of course, and it takes a turn immediately after
you and selects a box (only top row) and also distributes the #s counterclockwise
including if necessary putting some in your boxes (but never in your KALAHA). The same rules
apply to you. If your last # from a selection is placed in your own KALAHA then
you can select another box with #s to distribute. If the last # lands in an empty box of
your opponent's, then you get to have this last # plus the #s in the computer's box on the opposite
side (above) placed in your KALAHA on the center right. The computer's KALAHA
is the center left box. The
object is to have more #s in your KALAHA at the end of the game than the computer has. 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.