Ancient Indian Boardgames: Digital Documentation

Title (dcterms:title)

Pachisi

Description (dcterms:description)

The information on Pachisi has been recorded by E. De. M. Humphries in Karwi, a district in Uttar Pradesh. He writes in his essay that in the common meeting space of the village lay this board as shown in the image on a stone bench. In 1904 he attempted to gather the rules of the game.
Every arm of the cross is made into three rows consisting of eight squares. Among these, the fifth square from the end of each outer row and the center square of the bottom row are highlighted with a diagonal cross to show that a piece on either of these squares is protected from being captured. The game is played with four players, but can also be played with two or three participants, each having four “men” identified by their colours or pieces. Every player positions himself facing one arm of the cross, aiming to start at the center of the board and travel down the center and up the left-hand row of his respective arm, moving his four pieces around the board, eventually guiding them down the right-hand side and up the center row of his arm to land them in the triangular area at the center.

Alternative Title (dcterms:alternative)

Pacheesi, Chaupar

Rules (dcterms:instructionalMethod)

To start the game, place the 4 pieces on your respective mark. Refer to rectangle home row to start the game. The pieces will move in an anti-clockwise direction along the board through the columns. The main objective of the player is to make their 4 pieces reach the central square before the opponents. This game was traditionally played using 6 seashells. But you can use a dice for playing this game as well. The players take alternate turns to play this game. The pieces move according to the number which comes on the dice/seashells. The player who gets the highest number on their dice or seashells compared to the opponents starts the game by moving their piece. The player gets an additional turn if they get a ‘6’ on their dice. If you are playing with seashells, then you will get extra turns on getting ‘6’, ‘10’ and ‘25’. However, if you get the same number consecutively three times while getting your additional turn, then your entire turn gets cancelled. If you are using dice, then your turn will stand cancelled if you get ‘6’ consecutively three times. The same applies to ‘6’, ‘10’ and ‘25’ on the seashells. (For example, your turn does not get cancelled if you get a 6 and then a 10 and again a 6, the turn will only get cancelled if you get either ‘6’, ‘10’ or ‘25’ consecutively). If a piece lands on a block already occupied by the opponent’s piece, then that piece ‘hits’ the opponent’s piece and stays on that block until the next move. The piece which gets ‘hit’ lands on the zero mark and starts the journey over again. You shall get an extra turn after ‘hitting’ an opponent’s piece. There is no limit to the number of times you ‘hit’ your opponent’s piece and get extra turns consecutively. You can make a ‘pair’ by placing two of your pieces on the same block simultaneously. A single piece cannot ‘hit’ the opponent’s pair, but a ‘pair’ by the player can ‘hit’ the opponent’s pair. In this case, both the pieces from the ‘pair’ of the opponent land back on the ‘0’ mark. The pairs can move half the number of steps as compared to the number you get on the dice/seashells (for instance, your pair can only move 1 step if you get 2). You can break the pair on a block which has a ‘cross’ symbol and move the pieces individually from the consequent turn. The crosses on the board indicate ‘safe squares’; players cannot ‘hit’ each other’s pieces on these ‘safe squares’. A player’s piece cannot occupy these safe places along with the piece of their opponent simultaneously. If you land in a condition in which you get the number which allows you to only move your piece to the ‘safe block’ occupied by the opponent. In such a case, you shall skip your turn. In case you do not wish to move your piece according to the number you get, then you can skip your turn and allow your piece to stay in the same block. A player with their designated ‘home-row’ can enter the coloured columns and eventually reach the central square. Only designated pieces can enter their designated coloured column of the rectangle. For example only blue, green and red pieces can enter the blue, green and red coloured columns respectively. The pieces which reach the central square are removed from the board as they have finished their journey.
On reaching block ‘8’after circling the whole board, the player gets two choices. Either they can enter the respective coloured columns and finish the journey of their respective piece,or they can move along the 9th block, then the 10th and continue with the entire journey over again. The player who is able to make all 4 of their pieces reach their home before their opponents is declared as the winner. The game continues until only one player is left to land all their pieces on the home. In this game, you also get players who are declared as the first runner-up and the second runner-up.

Creator (dcterms:creator)

E. De. M. Humphries

Source (dcterms:source)

NOTES ON "PACHESI" & SIMILAR GAMES by E. De. M. Humphries in Sedentary Games of India eds. Nirbed Ray and Amitabha Ghosh

Contributor (dcterms:contributor)

E. De. M. Humphries

Rights (dcterms:rights)

Creative Commons

Format (dcterms:format)

Boardgames

Medium (dcterms:medium)

Boardgames on Text

References (dcterms:references)

NOTES ON "PACHESI" & SIMILAR GAMES by E. De. M. Humphries in Sedentary Games of India

Pachisi- Boards and Pieces

Spatial Coverage (dcterms:spatial)

Uttar Pradesh

Variants (dcterms:isVersionOf)

1. T'shu-p'u is a small version of Pachisi from China also known as Chatush-pada in India.
2. Chaupar is another variant of Pachisi, also originated in India.
3. Parcheesi, originally called Patcheesi, is an American copyrighted variation of Pachisi.
4. Parchís Is a variant from Spain
5. Puchese was possibly an early Pachisi variant from England.
6. Mensch ärgere dich nicht is a German Pachisi variant developed by Josef Friedrich Schmidt in 1907/1908 and first marketed in 1914.

Chonpa- A Variant of Pachisi

Pachisi

Pachisi: Downloadable Game

Chaupar: Downloadable Game

Chaupar, Handmade

Chaupar, Pataleshwar (Incomplete)

Chaupar, Pataleshwar (3)

Chaupar, Pataleshwar (2)

Chaupar, Pataleshwar (1)

Entered by (dcterms:accrualMethod)

Adrija Mukherjee

Notes (foaf:status)

A civil servant who was appointed as the Sub-divisicnal Officer at Karwi Sub-division at IJ.P. in 1904 Submitted an inspection report on Mauza Gidarah, Pargana Karwi, the extract of which was published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society.
The essay mentions the United Province which was the term used for the region of Uttar Pradesh during the British Period.

Tags (dcterms:conformsTo)

Sedentary Games

Pachisi

Chaupar

Uttar Pradesh

Cowrie

Four-player