Navakankari means nine pebbles. Each player gets nine kankari, the board is three squares one inside the other, and the whole game is a hunt for a teen-ki-line: three of your own in a row. Make one and you pick up one of your opponent's pebbles. The same game is known around the world as Nine Men's Morris, and it has been played across India for generations.
Here are the rules as Mandli plays them, some tips, the house rules you might know, and how to play Navakankari online with a friend while the rest of the group watches and talks on voice.
Kya chahiye: Just phones. The app shows the stage, the legal moves and which pebbles you can take.
Rules: kaise khelte hain
The board
The board has 24 points on three nested squares, joined by lines at the middle of each side. There are 16 straight lines of three points. Each player has 9 kankari. Safed moves first, and in Mandli the challenger plays Safed.
Stage 1: Rakho (placing)
Take turns placing one kankari on any empty point until all 18 are on the board. You can already make lines while placing.
Stage 2: Chalo (moving)
Once everything is placed, each turn you move one kankari one step along a line to an empty neighbouring point. If you have no legal move, you lose.
Stage 3: Udo (flying)
When a player is down to 3 kankari, they may move any kankari to any empty point on the board. This is the host option "3 bache toh udo", on by default.
Teen ki line: taking a pebble
Every time a kankari you place or move completes a line of three of your own, you take one opponent kankari off the board. You can't take one that is sitting in a line of three, unless all of theirs are in lines. If one move makes two lines at once, you take two.
A line only counts when it is newly made. Moving a kankari out of a line and back in on a later turn makes it again, and that counts.
Winning and draws
A player with only 2 kankari left, or with no legal move, loses. It is a draw if the same position comes up a third time with the same side to move, or after 50 moves by each side in the moving stages with nothing taken. Players can also offer and accept a draw.
Time
Each move has 20 seconds and choosing a pebble to take has 15. If time runs out, the app plays for you: it makes a line if it can, else blocks yours. Three timeouts in a row lose the game.
Points kaise milte hain
A win is worth 20 points, plus 3 more if you win with 7 or more kankari still on the board (Poori fauj). A draw gives 8 each and a loss gives 2. Both players also get 1 point for each kankari they took, up to 7. Points carry across games in the same room.
Jeetne ke tips
- While placing, don't rush to make a line. Spread out and keep points where you can make two different lines.
- Watch for the opponent's two-in-a-row with an empty third point. Block it before it becomes a line.
- The middle points of each side, especially on the middle square, have more neighbours than the corners. Pebbles there have more ways to move.
- In the moving stage, a kankari that can slide in and out of a line takes a pebble every two turns. Build that shape.
- Once you are down to 3, flying makes you dangerous. Don't relax when you are ahead.
Ghar wale rules aur variants
Some families never allow flying. In Mandli the host can switch flying off in the lobby.
Some people let you take any pebble, even one in a line of three. Mandli only allows it when every opponent pebble is in a line.
A bigger version uses 12 pieces each and adds diagonal lines at the corners. Mandli plays only the 9-piece board.
Navakankari online kaise khelein
Make a room in Mandli, share the link on WhatsApp or show the QR code, and pick Navakankari. Friends without the app join from the browser link. Two play and everyone else in the room watches the same board, taps reactions and talks on voice. After each game the winner stays and the next person in the queue sits down; after 3 wins in a row the champion takes a break so everyone gets a turn. In Saath mode you play together in one room; in Door mode the voice chat inside the game keeps the banter going. A dropped player's seat is held for 60 seconds.
Sawaal jawaab
Is Navakankari the same as Nine Men's Morris?
Yes. Navakankari is the Indian name for the same 9-pebble game on three nested squares, known worldwide as Nine Men's Morris.
What are the rules of Nine Men's Morris?
Place your 9 pieces one by one, then move them along the lines. Every line of three you make lets you remove one opponent piece. A player left with 2 pieces, or with no move, loses.
Can you fly in Navakankari?
In Mandli, yes, by default. A player down to 3 kankari can move to any empty point. The host can switch it off.
Can you remove a piece that is in a line of three?
Only if all of your opponent's pieces are in lines. Otherwise you must take one that isn't.
Can I play Navakankari online with a friend?
Yes. Mandli is free, has no ads and needs no login. Share the room link on WhatsApp and play Navakankari with voice chat inside the game.