O An Quan rules and tips
O An Quan, the mandarin square game, is a Vietnamese children's game traditionally played with pebbles in squares drawn on the ground. It belongs to the mancala family. Rules vary by region, and this page describes the version on Chess Arena.
The board
Each side owns five small squares holding five stones each. At either end sits a large mandarin square holding one mandarin piece worth ten points.
The rules
- On your turn, pick up all the stones in one of your squares and sow them one at a time, in either direction.
- If the next square holds stones, pick them up and keep sowing. If the next square is a mandarin square, your turn ends.
- If the next square is empty, capture the contents of the square after it. If an empty square and a full one follow again, capture those too, as a chain.
- Young mandarin: a mandarin square that still holds its mandarin but has fewer than five stones cannot be captured.
- If your side has no stones on your turn, pay five points to place one stone in each of your squares. Your score may go below zero, which counts as borrowing from your opponent.
- When both mandarins are gone, each player keeps the stones on their side and the higher score wins.
First steps to improve
- Count before you sow. The whole game is working out where the last stone lands.
- Look for a pair of an empty square followed by a full one, then see whether any sowing ends just before it.
- Keep some stones in reserve, so that you are not forced to pay to refill your side.