Find The Capturing Sow
📋 What it is
A key puzzle skill: scan all your pits to find the ONE move whose last seed captures the most seeds.
🗣️ Coach says
Sharpen your eye with the "find the capture" drill: given a position, check every one of your pits, predict each landing, and find the single move that captures — ideally the biggest haul. This is exactly the calculation you do every turn in a real game, done under puzzle conditions.
🧠 Memory hook
Scan every pit, predict every landing, and pick the one big capturing move.
😂 Giggle
Why is a wraparound sow the trickiest?
Because a seed that loops the whole board might even drop back near where it started!
😲 Whoa!
This "find the best capture" puzzle is the mancala version of a chess tactics puzzle — solving many of them trains you to spot captures instantly in real games.
✅ Quick check: How do you find the best capturing move in a position?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
Check each of your pits, predict where its last seed lands, and pick the move whose landing captures the most seeds.
Comparing all landing pits reveals the biggest available capture.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Take any mancala position and find the single move that captures the most seeds. Prove it by counting.