The Daily Mancala challenge for August 5, 2026: same opponent, same starting side, for every player in the world.
Midweek steps up: this opponent takes captures and chains extra turns if you let it.
Puzzle #5 of the daily run falls on August 5, 2026. The configuration is fixed by the date itself, so replays and rebuilds never change it.
The computer sows the opening move on this board. On this 48-stone deal, exactly one of the six opening sows (pit 3) lands its last stone in the store for a free extra turn, and none of them exposes an immediate capture in reply, so the first exchange is about tempo rather than traps.
At medium strength the computer punishes careless sows but still misses deep combinations — solid fundamentals win.
The archive holds 4 earlier boards. New to Kalah? Learn the rules step by step; veterans can study opening strategy instead.