A free sowing game of seeds and pits

Seed Pits is a free sowing game in Games by Zaweba. You scoop up the seeds from one of your pits and drop them one by one round the board, trying to fill your store faster than the computer fills its own. It's an ancient kind of game, and it plays offline with no adverts or account.

Sowing games are played all over the world under many names. Their appeal is in the counting: each move is a small sum, and seeing where the last seed will land is the whole skill.

The rules of Seed Pits

You have six pits along the bottom row, and a store. Pick one of your pits. Its seeds are sown one per pit anticlockwise round the board, into your own store but never the computer's.

If your last seed lands in your store, you go again. If your last seed lands in an empty pit on your side, you capture it along with the seeds in the pit opposite. When one row is empty, the game ends and the bigger store wins.

To play, click one of your pits on the bottom row to sow it. Seed Pits is on the Board games shelf of Games by Zaweba, and the title card explains everything before you start.

Counting your way to a win

Look for extra turns. A pit with exactly the right number of seeds to reach your store gives you another go. Playing those first is often best, because you might set up another one straight after.

Count before you click. For each pit, count the seeds and follow them round in your head. Where does the last one land? That tells you whether you'll get an extra turn, make a capture or simply hand seeds to the computer's side.

Set up captures. An empty pit on your side with a full pit opposite it is a tempting target. If you can arrange for a sowing to end in that empty pit, you take both.

Protect your big pits. The computer is looking for captures too. A pit on your side with lots of seeds opposite an empty pit on its side is at risk if its sowing could end there.

Think about the end. The game ends when one row is empty. If you're ahead, emptying your own row quickly can finish the game while you're winning. If you're behind, keeping seeds on your side buys time.

A calm game with a lot going on

Seed Pits looks gentle, but it rewards careful counting, which makes it good practice for children learning to add and plan, and absorbing for adults. Esc pauses whenever you need it, the game pauses itself when the window loses focus, and F1 explains the rules again.

Games by Zaweba keeps your plays, wins and best score on each tile, stored in a file on your own PC.

Other traditional games in the app

Traditional games keep their traditional names in Games by Zaweba, and the Board games shelf has several old favourites. Mill is nine men's morris on an inlaid board. Tables is backgammon, the ancient game of tables. Block Dominoes is the pub block game with a double-six set. If you enjoy the counting in Seed Pits, Five Dice, the thirteen-box dice game, also rewards working out the best use of every roll.