The opening position is shown in Figure 1. Sixty-four seeds are used, with two per hole. The first player is chosen by lot. In subsequent games the winner of the previous game plays first. The objective is to leave the opponent with an empty inner row.
Players take alternate moves.
One 'turn' or 'move' may consist of several 'lifts' and 'sowings', and possibly of several captures. A move starts by the player lifting the seeds in one hole and sowing them one by one into the subsequent holes, moving either in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction, as desired. The other two are known as takata . This may mean that the direction of sowing is reversed. During a mtaji, every subsequent 'relay' may occasion a capture if the circumstances described above recur.