Dakon is one of the Southeast Asian mancala games. It is also known as Dhakon or Dhakonan. It is played in Java on 2×5, 2×6, 2×7, 2×8, 2×9 and 2×10 wooden boards with one store at each end of the board. Dakon is played with the number of seeds in each hole at the start of play being the same as the number of holes in a row on the board. That is, 5 seeds in each hole in a 2×5 board, 6 seeds in each hole in a 2×6 board, 7 seeds in each hole in a 2×7 board and so on. Store holes are left empty at the start of play. Pieces for play are usually small cowries. For simplify, the pieces are called “seeds”. It is similar to other games of holes and seeds from Asia as Sungka or Congklak.

The game is played in rounds. The player who won the most rounds wins the game. The object of each round is to put as many seeds in the own store hole as possible. The players play consecutive turns until one player is left without seeds. The player who has won the last round starts the next round. For the second round each player, using the seeds captured in the previous round, fills as many holes as can on the own side. The second and the succeeding rounds are played by the same rules as the first round except that only the holes which were occupied at the start of the round are used.

In this type of game the beginning player has an advantage because dakon has a special property that also is present in other mancala games: winning openings. That is, sequences of moves leads to a direct win for the beginning player and can left the opponent player with less than n counters and this player is therefore unable to fill even a hole in the next round.

Each player owns the store at his right-hand side of the board. The players play in turns. The player who plays first is chosen at random or agreed between both players. To start playing a player makes a move with multiple laps in counter-clockwise. The player who plays sow the seeds one by one, including the own store but not the opponent’s store, until the last seed of a lap falls into the own player’s store or into an empty hole.

If the last seed falls into the own player’s store, the player who is sowing begins another move from any occupied hole on the own side of the board. If the last seed falls into an empty hole on the opponent’s side of the board, the player’s move is over and it becomes the opponent’s turn to play.

If the last seed of a lap falls into an empty hole on the player’s side of the board and the opponent’s hole opposite is occupied, the player captures the seeds contained as well as the single seed from the capturing hole on his side and puts them in his store. Then the turn is over.

If the last seed falls into an empty hole on the player’s side of the board and the opponent’s hole opposite is empty, the player’s turn is over with no captures being made.

If it is the turn to move of any player and there is no seeds in the own side of the board, this player passes. The opponent player plays again. The round is over when all the seeds are in the 2 stores (6A and 6B).

In the previous diagram you can see a schematic representation of Dakon 2×5+2 board at the start of play. The top row belongs to player A. The bottom row belongs to player B.

To illustrate better all that we just explained, you can see the following examples. Let us suppose you are player B. You decide move from the hole 4B:

You pick up 5 seeds contained in the hole 4B and you sow these one by one in the following holes, including the own store (6B):

You reach in the hole 3A, now it contains 6 seeds. Your turn is not over.

You pick up the content into the hole 3B and continue sowing with multiple laps one by one but not including the opponent’s store (6A):

You reach in the hole 4A. Your last seed sown falls into an empty hole in your own side of the board and the opponent’s hole opposite is occupied, so you capture the contents of the opponent’s hole as well as the single seed. You place these 7 seeds into your own store (6B). Your turn is over. Now there are 8 seeds into your own store:

You’ll play consecutive rounds until one player is left without seeds. For the second round each player, using the seeds captured in the previous round, fills as many holes as can on the own side with 5 seeds in each hole beginning from the own extreme right-hand. The player having the majority of seeds from the previous round, puts his leftover seeds into the own store. The other player will to do the same. If you have captured, for example, 32 seeds and your opponent 18 seeds in the previous round, you put 5 seeds into each of the 5 holes in your row and put the remaining 7 seeds into your store (6B). Your opponent puts 5 seeds into each of the 3 holes on his right-hand side of the board and puts the leftover 3 seeds in his store (6A). See the following diagram:

In the previous example you achieved letting the holes 1A and 2A nullified for both players from now. To emphasize this fact, is placed a small object inside these holes. We have drawn a red outline in the holes to indicate this fact.

The second and the succeeding rounds are played by the same rules as the first round except that only the holes which were occupied at the start of the round are used. The player who made the last move of the preceding round sows first in the next round, and the play continues until one player fails to win at least 5 seeds in a round and is therefore unable to fill even one hole.

There are several variants of the game known:

Dakon sometimes is played in clockwise direction and each player owns the store at his left-hand side.

There is another variant that has a different way of capturing when the last seed falls into opponent’s empty hole. Usually in this situation your turn is over with no captures, but in this variant occurs that you can take the opponent’s seeds on the right and left sides of the empty hole and keep them in your storage hole.