In the game Mancala, people "sow" and "catch" seeds. Historians think that mancala may have been used at the start of civilization as a way to keep records, as part of a harvesting ritual, or as a way to predict the future. There is evidence that the game was played in ancient Sumeria, which is now Iraq, ancient Sudan on the upper Nile River, and Egypt thousands of years ago. People have found old mancala boards in Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Ghana. Africans who were brought to America as slaves brought the game Mancala with them. That time they were thinking how to play how to play mancala.