TOKKUROW
South Sudanese Stone Game
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Developed by Thiep Don · Tokkurow preserved with respect for Dinka, Anuak and Shilluk tradition
Wear your gloves with pride. Each glove is earned by playing Tokkurow.
Origin: Played across South Sudan by the Dinka, Anuak and Shilluk peoples. Related to the four-row Mancala family documented by Richard Pankhurst (1971).
4 rows × 12 holes = 48 holes, 2 stones each = 96 total. Player 1 owns the front two rows (gold), Player 2 owns the back two rows (blue). A raised ridge separates the two territories.
Both players pick a starting hole in secret within a 3-second window. Neither sees the other's choice until the race begins. Both hands then sow at the same time — the first to finish goes first in the main phase.
No captures happen during kickoff. Each hand sows only in its own two rows, so the two sowers cannot steal from each other mid-race. Captures begin in the main phase.
If a player does not pick in time, a legal hole is auto-picked for them. Both players always race.
Player vs Player requires one of you to tap Begin Kickoff Race to start the countdown. Player vs AI starts automatically.
Each player sows only within their own two rows, in a continuous loop. The two players face each other and sow in opposite directions:
P1's loop: outer row left→right, then inner row right→left, then back to start.
P2's loop: outer row right→left, then inner row left→right, then back to start.
The two sowers therefore sweep toward each other's column positions — captures meet head-on in the middle of the board.
If the last stone lands in a hole that already contains stones, the player picks up those stones and continues sowing. Repeats indefinitely — the turn only ends when the last stone lands in an empty hole.
Capture happens when the last stone lands in your own inner row, the landing hole was already occupied before the drop, and both opposing enemy holes directly across are non-empty.
Take all stones from the two opposing holes, then resume sowing from where the first stone of the current segment landed.
A player who cannot make a legal move (every hole on their side has fewer than 2 stones) loses immediately. The opponent wins.
Total stones on the board remain 96 at all times. Captures temporarily remove the opponent's stones but the capturing player immediately re-sows them, so no stone is ever destroyed.
Player score = the sum of stones currently in their two rows. A player wins by squeezing the opponent out of legal moves, not by collecting stones.
Challenge a friend to a match of Tokkurow — the traditional South Sudanese stone game played by Dinka, Anuak and Shilluk peoples.