Dominart

a physical game of strategy and skill that is easy to learn, but hard to master. Only those dexterous with both mind and hand may rise victorious from this competitive board game.

Components

• Mancala Board
• 16 mancala beads (8 beads of each color)

Objective: Get the most novices to reach mastery

Set-Up:

Lay the mancala board vertically across the table between you and your opponent. Place 8 mancala beads (from here on called “novices”) of the same color in the large pocket nearest you (from here on called the “base”). Shake hands with your opponent and begin the initiation.

Initiation:

To determine which player goes first both you and your opponent take turns flicking a novice as far as you can on the board. The player who flicks the novice the furthest gets to choose who goes first. In the case of a tie, both players continue taking turns flicking until one wins the initiation.

Gameplay:

On your turn you must either flick one of your novices on the board or flick a new novice from your base. You must only flick your novices forward and cannot flick them backward, sideways, or return to the same space. In the event that a novice is flicked in this way, the flick must be redone.

In the event that your novice lands in between the spaces of the board, the opponent chooses between the nearest 2-4 spaces around the novice to put it in. In this case, a novice may end up in the place it started that turn...

The rest of the rules can be downloaded in their most updated form below

Credits

Based on a game my sister, Zora Key, and I, Langston Key, made together when we were nine and twelve, redesigned, illustrated, and written for a public audience.