Still popular in many parts of West Africa and in other parts of the world as well, Mancala is widely considered the oldest game in the world. It originated in Arabia and Egypt around the fifteenth to eleventh centuries B.C.E. Muslim traders spread it through West Africa, where various versions of the game became deeply ingrained in the culture. Adults and children on all levels of society played it almost daily as an important family game, as part of a ceremonial rite of passage, or as a recreational pastime among friends. Some people believe that the New World practice of playing a version of Mancala in a house of mourning to amuse the spirit of the deceased until burial of the body derives from an ancient West African practice.

There are hundreds of variations of Mancala with different names, including...