Carlotta Kvitberg: S-Kalaha: Solving a Swedish variant of Kalah

Abstract: S-Kalaha is a Swedish variant of the Mancala game Kalah. Using concepts prevalent in combinatorial game theory, like game trees and strategies, this Bachelor’s thesis studies S-Kalaha as a finite combinatorial game. It also offers a presentation of S-Kalaha, listing its rules, ways of modifying its structure, and even an algorithm for playing S-Kalaha without a physical board. The thesis delves into some programming by estimating game complexity walues for S-Kalaha, and weakly solves SKalaha for specific configuration of the board. It also finds a relationship between first-player losses and the number of pits on the board.