Lily Hop
Navigate the board, capture pieces, and master the Mancala-inspired mechanics. A beautifully crafted game of resource management and strategic foresight.
A game by Máté Lencse
Try it online — then print and play with your kids
Lily Hop is the digital version of a printable board game designed by Máté Lencse. The original lives on paper, crafted to be played around a real table by families and educators.
We built this online version as a friendly practice ground. Play a few rounds against the computer, get comfortable with the Mancala mechanism, then download and print the game to play it with your kids at home. You'll already know the rules, so you can guide them confidently — turning a screen-time session into a shared learning moment.
Two players. A board full of pieces. The player who captures the most pieces wins.
Community Puzzle Gallery
- Create a puzzle situation which you can print and show to your kids or friends (children, students, etc.). This helps them learn tactics!
- Submit your puzzle to the gallery so others can see it and use it to learn.
Why play Lily Hop
A simple mechanic with deep educational value — exploring the benefits of play.
Ancient mechanics, modern twist
Built upon the timeless foundation of Mancala, Lily Hop introduces fresh mechanics that challenge players to manage resources while adapting to an ever-changing board.
Strategic Planning
Every move matters. Players must look ahead, evaluating how distributing their pieces across the lily pads will create vulnerabilities or opportunities for capture.
Resource Management
Pieces are both your movement capability and your potential prize. Players constantly decide when to concentrate their forces and when to spread them out.
Pattern Recognition
As players gain experience, they begin to spot the visual patterns that lead to successful captures, freeing up cognitive capacity for deeper tactical thinking.
Flexibility & Adaptability
The board transforms drastically with every single turn. Players learn to quickly abandon old plans and adapt to new threats and opportunities.
Fair play for all ages
The game supports built-in handicaps — like starting with fewer pieces or utilizing "Move something else!" tokens — allowing adults and children to compete fairly.
How to play
Learn the flow of the game in just a few steps.
The Goal: Catch the most pieces
The goal of Lily Hop is very simple: capture more pieces than your opponent, or leave them with no legal moves. The game ends when the outcome can no longer change, or when one player is unable to make a move.
Sow your pieces
On your turn, pick up all the pieces from any single space where you have more pieces than your opponent (or an equal amount). You then distribute these pieces, one by one, onto adjacent connected spaces in a continuous path.
Capture on the board
Whenever a space contains 5 pieces, all of them are removed and awarded to the player who has the majority on that space. There are three possible combinations: 5–0, 4–1, and 3–2. Naturally, the last one is the most valuable capture.
Educational roots, digital branches.
Lily Hop (Vízi liliomok) was designed by Máté Lencse, a dedicated pedagogue and game designer. Drawing inspiration from ancient Mancala games, Máté created Lily Hop to help develop crucial cognitive skills in children, ranging from resource management to combinatorial thinking.
By publishing the game online, our goal is to make it accessible to a wider audience while providing a safe sandbox for parents and educators to learn the rules before introducing it in the classroom or at the dining table.
For the physical version, we are currently developing a comprehensive educational PDF package (available soon), which details the exact pedagogical benefits and offers varied ways to introduce the game to children of different skill levels.
Máté Lencse, game designer and pedagogue.
Bring Lily Hop to your family table!
We're putting the finishing touches on a beautiful, printable PDF version of Lily Hop — complete with brain-building puzzles and educational guides. Drop your email below to get notified the moment it's ready!
Ready to hop in?
Two colors, endless strategy.