The combinatorics of Mancala-type games: Ayo, Tchoukaitlon, and 1/pi
Duane M. Broline, Daniel E. Loeb · arXiv (Cornell University) · 1995
Certain endgame considerations in the two-player Nigerian Mancala-type game Ayo can be identified with the problem of finding winning positions in the solitaire game Tchoukaitlon. The periodicity of the pit occupancies in $s$ stone winning positions is determined. Given $n$ pits, the number of stones in a winning position is found to be asymptotically bounded by $n^{2}/π$.