In a message dated 11/5/99 9:54:47 AM Pacific Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<< I think there is an old African board game, Mancala, which is played
 with cowry shells (or seeds or pebbles). It consists of a board with
 hollowed out bowl-like spaces, in which the players place and rearrange
 their pieces. I can find out more about it if you like. Someone else may
 have played it? I think a version was sold commercially in the U.S. a
 few years ago, but I don't remember if it offered cowries as tokens. >>

Yes, Mancala is just as you have described it.  Furthermore, it is available
at most toy stores in several forms: standard (uses a real board and stones),
travel (folds up, stores stones), electronic handheld (my granddaughters LOVE
this one), and -- finally -- on CD-ROM for your computer.

You could easily substitute cowries (or any other small shells) in equal
numbers for the playing pieces in a standard game.

Try Target, Wal-Mart or Toys R Us as sources for standard, travel and
handheld versions.

Clarissa Stuart
Aloha, Oregon