Qawale is a 2-player abstract strategy board game published by Gigamic and designed by Romain Froger and Didier Lenain-Bragard. It blends elements of Connect Four and Mancala, inspired by stacking stones along natural paths.
Inside the box
- 1 wooden game board
- 8 colored pebbles for Player 1
- 8 colored pebbles for Player 2
- Neutral/tan pebbles placed in the 4 corners of the board during setup
How to Play
- Setup: Each player takes 8 pebbles of their designated color, and neutral pebbles are placed in the four corners of the board.
- Add a Pebble: On your turn, take one of your colored pebbles and place it on top of any existing stack of pebbles on the board. You cannot place a pebble on an empty space.
- Move the Stack: Pick up that entire stack of pebbles and distribute them one by one (from bottom to top) as you move orthogonally (horizontally or vertically, never diagonally) across adjacent spaces. You cannot immediately backtrack to the space you just came from, though you can circle around a path.
- Win Condition: The first player to align 4 pebbles of their color in a row—looking at the top-visible pebble of each stack horizontally, vertically, or diagonally—wins the game. If both players run out of pebbles without a 4-in-a-row, the game ends in a draw.