Sungka is a traditional Filipino Game played by two participants. The objective of the game is to amass

stones or cowrie shells in the player’s home base (bahay) by continuously distributing the shells around

smaller holes until the player runs out of shells to distribute. The person who collects the most shells in his

or her bahay wins.

A Sungka board consists of a set of cups that hold stones. Each player has six playing cups, along with a

home cup at the far right end. Each cup (except for the home cup) initially holds seven stones.

The players take turns removing the stones from a cup on their side and depositing a stone in each of the other

cups in a counterclockwise fashion. When the player reaches the end of his or her row, he or she will drop a

stone in his or her home cup, and then continue to drop stones on his or her opponent’s side. If he or she

reaches the end of his or her opponent's row, he or she will not drop a stone in his or her opponent's home

cup.

When a player runs out of stones, several things can happen depending on where the last stone was dropped:

1.If the player’s last stone was dropped on the opponent’s side, the player's turn ends.

2. If the player’s last stone was dropped in his or her home cup, his or her turn continues, and the player may

 select any cup from his or her side to pick up stones from. Play continues until his or her turn ends.

3. If the player’s last stone was dropped on his or her own side and last the cup he or she dropped a stone in

contains other stones, he or she must take all the stones from that particular cup, and continue dropping stones

 in a counterclockwise fashion. This can occur multiple times, and the player continues the same process until his or her turn ends due to the other rules.

4. If the player’s last stone was dropped in an empty cup on his or her side, the player takes his or her own

stone and the stones directly across his or her cup, and deposits all of them in his or her home cup. The

player’s turn then ends.

Play continues until all stones are in the home cups. If a player has no possible moves left – say there are

no stones in any of the cups in his or her side – the player then loses his or her turn.

When the game is over, both players count the number of stones in their home cup. Whoever has the most

stones wins.

Sungka also has a three-player variation. When a capture occurs, the player will capture all the stones in the

next player's opposing cup. Play continues in a rotating fashion among all three players.