Cups (1969)

About this game

Cups is a modern member of the mancala games family and was developed by Arthur and Wald Amberstone of the New York Game Associates and published by Sid Sackson in A Gamut of Games. Each player is given four cups, one pot and 40 beans. Players take turns placing one to four beans sequentially in their cups, beginning with the cup on the left and moving towards their pot on the right. Only if the last bean will land in the pot, a player may pick up all beans from a cup instead, and sow these. Whenever the last bean is placed in an empty cup, beans in the opponent's adjacent opposite cup are captured (to the pot). The player with most beans in the pot at the end of the game wins.

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Strictly 2 players — no more, no fewer.
• Rules load. At 2.0/5 this is a mid-weight game — expect a proper rules explanation before you start.
• Age. The publisher suggests 8 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.