Pachisi is the national game from India and Pakistan in which 4 players advance 4 pawns in a cross-shaped board. It is usually played in 2 player teams. The yellow and black ones play against the red and green ones. The winners are those 2 people who get their pawns out first. The turn can be forfeited voluntarily
Adaptations[]
Modern adaptations of this game are: Ludo, Twenty-Five, Parkase, Parchis, Parcheesi and Parques
It is played with dice or shells of cauri
Type of game[]
Pachisi is a Cross and Circle game. Games of this type are: Pancha Keliya from Ceylon; Nyout, from Korea and "Edris To Jin" from Syria. In the Mayan ruins of Mexico vestiges of a similar game have been found. It is presumed that Moctezuma's subordinates played it. It was called Patolli
Rules[]
Pachisi's goal is to run a complete circle around the board. The exit is the same starting place, Charkoni. Each toss is only valid for one pawn. If an extra turn is won, it is possible to move with another one. In order to leave the jail, the first pawn may leave with any toss of the dice. The other pawns must leave with a 6, 10 and 25, respectively
Other player's pawns can be eaten only in squares which are not safe. Safe squared are called castles. The player places his pawn next to the other one and the other one is returned to its Charkoni. In addition, the player who eats it also wins an extra turn
Score[]
In order to know the score, the number of cauris which fell upwards are counted, as follows:
Score CAURIS VALUE 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 and another turn 1 10 and another turn 0 25 and another turn
Country adaptations[]
SPAIN Parchis. It's a very similar game to Ludo GERMANY Mensch-ärgere-dich-nicht. It means: "Don't get angry, man" . It was created in 1910. They also play Chinesenspiel which means "Game of the Chinese". It was very popular in the 19th century FRANCE Le Jeu de Dada or Petits Chevaux which means "The Game of Horses" and "Small Horses", respectively ITALY Non t'arrabbiare which means "Don't get angry" COLOMBIA Parques. Cyber Parques is the PC version ENGLAND Ludo: It means "I play" in Latin THE UNITED STATES Parcheesi. It's the most similar game to parques. See rules below. There is also a game called Aggravation, which is very similar to Ludo
Equipment[]
- 4 sets of 4 beads or marbles, differently colored to distinguish them (black, green, red and yellow)
- 6 cowry shells (If these are not available, coins may be flipped instead.)
- Board: The playing area is cross-shaped. Each arm of the cross is a 3x8 grid. The center of the cross is called the Charkoni.