THE SWEEP

NEXT ROUND

THE BOARD

Two rows of seven holes and a large store at each end — the head. Seven seeds start in every hole, 98 in all. The bottom row and the right-hand head are yours.

SOWING

Scoop every seed from one of your holes and drop one into each hole you pass. The direction used here runs along your row toward your head, through it, then along the opponent’s row. You always sow into your own head and never into theirs.

WHERE THE LAST SEED LANDS

In your head: sow again. In a hole that already held seeds: pick that whole hole up and carry on — the relay. In an empty hole on your side: take it plus whatever sits in the hole facing it, and the turn ends. In an empty hole on their side: the turn ends and the seed is lost there.

ROUNDS AND BURNT HOLES

The round ends the moment the player to move has no seeds. Everything left in the other player’s holes goes to that player. Then both sides refill seven seeds a hole from their own head; unfilled holes are burnt and skipped for the round, and the loser of the round opens the next one.

THIS VERSION

Traditional sungka opens with both players sowing at the same time. That cannot work against an AI, so turns here alternate and you move first. Burnt holes are skipped automatically, so the traditional penalty for dropping a seed into one — the opponent confiscates it — never comes up. A match runs until one side cannot open a single hole or 7 rounds have passed, whichever comes first; at the cap the bigger head wins. A relay is stopped after 400 laps as a safety valve, and you will be told if that ever happens.