User:Mr Mancala

From Wikinfo

Welcome and "Hallo"!

My page in German. Meine Seite auf Deutsch.

My name is Ralf Gering. I live in Germany, in a tiny village between Bonn and Koblenz. My favorite hobbies are mancala games, hiking, cooking and animals (I have three chicken and four running ducks). In my spare time I co-moderate the Yahoo!Group mancalagames, a gorgeous forum founded by the British Oware player Paul Smith, and I am the owner of a large international forum (over 700 registered members) on intentional communities. I have studied Culture and Religion at Tübingen University and graduated in 1999 (Master of Arts).

That's me (not the dog).

My favorite Mancala games are Togus kumalak (German spelling ;-), Lamlameta, 55Stones, Kauri and Layli Goobalay (as played in Berbera, Somaliland).

I have invented numerous Mancala games: 55Stones (2002), Afrika (2004), Geisterfahrer (2004), Pas de Deux (2004), Progressive Mancala (2004), Rondell (2005), Kauri (2006), Manji (2007) and Trias (2008). In addition, I suggested some meta-games such as Condi Mancala (2006) and Royal Mancala (2006). There are also a few other board games I authored: Netak (1973), Doppelt hält besser (mid-1970s), Dornröschendame (1986), 1000-Volt-Go (1988; tournaments in Germany and the USA), Walking Purchase (2001) and Écoute-moi! (2002).

In my library, I have a small collection of Mancala boards (about 35), a growing number of monographs on mancala games (24 at the moment) and many research articles on mancala (more than 400).

I authored numerous articles for the Canadian Abstract Games magazine. In 2002/2003 I was a jury member of the Simultaneous Game Design Competition sponsored by About Abstract Games and Abstract Games magazine. What a pity - there wasn't even a single mancala game!

In regard to Wikinfo, I hope that our encyclopedia will replace one day Wikipedia. The German Wikipedia, which I know best, has also been called Wikipravda because of the terrible abuse of power, censorship and manipulations that is so rampant. I believe that many Wikipedians will eventually discover Wikinfo and offer their knowledge here.