Tsoro

About Tsoro

A sowing game in the mancala family, and the publisher explains it at unusual length. You seed seven balls at a time across ten holes, and the hole you nominated as your bank pays best. The colours are not decoration either: certain combinations in a cell produce star balls that ordinary balls cannot match.

How to play

• The board is ten holes distributed evenly across two rows.
• Before play starts, choose one hole to serve as your bank.
• Each turn, take seven coloured balls from the reservoir and drop them into successive holes.
• Every drop scores, and drops into your bank score the most.
• A pair of differently coloured balls in one cell earns a red star; four balls of the same colour in one cell earns a star ball.
• Star balls each carry their own effect -- the black star, for instance, changes the colour of every ball in a cell.

Tips

• Choosing your bank is the only decision you make before the rules start applying, and it shapes every turn afterwards. Do not pick it casually.
• Seven balls landing in successive holes means you are always feeding cells you did not intend to feed. Count ahead to where the seventh ball lands, not just the first.
• Colour combinations are a second layer running underneath the point total. Chase bank drops exclusively and you will never see a star ball.