Historical researches show that Mangala Game was being played
in the period of Sakas, Huns and Gokturks.
Origins of "Coffee House" culture in the world was rooted in 1554
in Istanbul; and the traces of coffee culture in today's Europe were
seen from 1650 onwards, 96 years after it was seen in Istanbul.
Only two visual sources which reflect the coffee culture of that
period -where the strong basis of this culture was established- was
able to come to our time. Both of these resources were drawn in
Istanbul. Mangala game is one of the games that are existent in
both of these visual sources.
Throughout the history, Mangala Game has not been played for
gambling purposes. Foreign travelers who visited our country told
in their travel books that Turks were playing this game for hours
with enjoyment and without any dispute and that they never played
this game for money.
Mancala-type games are played in different countries of the world;
however there are certain characteristics of Mangala that are
different from other mancala games. In other mancala games,
pieces are generally called as "seeds" and moving the seeds is
called as "sowing seeds". This shows that those cultures were
agricultural societies. However, in Turkish Mangala, pieces
are seen as "soldiers". Moreover, for the division that we call
as "treasury" today, Turks used the word "orda" which means
"headquarter"; and this shows that our game was not a farm game
but a war game.
Another different characteristic of Turkish Mangala is that one of
the taken pieces is put into his own tent, that is, his own pit. In
other mancala games, there is no such thing like putting a piece
into player's own pit. The rule of putting one of the pieces in the
player's own pit in Mangala is a demonstration of the tradition of
protecting the family home in Turkish social life.
The rule of making the opponent's pieces even in order to gain
pieces symbolizes the dual understanding in the history of Turkish
belief and state system and it suits with traditional world view of
Turks. Acceptance by Ancient Turks of the sky as "father" and
the ground as "mother"; and the doublet of töles-left and tardusright
in Turkish state system and the doublet of yabgu and şad
system in administrative structure can be given as examples of
this understanding.
Ministry of Culture and Tourism has declared that Mangala Game
is one of the deep-rooted aspects of Anatolian culture, that it will
be useful to introduce this game to new generations and to spread
it, and that it will contribute to Turkey's advertisement in cultural
and touristic fields. The game has been found by the Ministry of
Education as appropriate to be played in schools.
The difference of Mangala Game from the other games of its age
is that it was a game that could be played by the people of any
age and culture ranging from the shepherd in the mountain to the
70-year-old scholar, from Sultana in the palace in Istanbul to the
5-year-old kid.
According to researcher Philip Townshend, seven of the
characteristics that people like most and take as example in a
society can be found in Mangala:
