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India's board games

Board games fit for an emperor.

Pachisi and chaupar at Akbar's court, snakes and ladders as a road to heaven, a Mughal race to the treasure, the tiger hunt. Their stories, and two apps to play them today.

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A maharaja and his companions seated round a cross-shaped pachisi cloth, painted in Udaipur about 1868
Maharaja Sovan Singh playing pachisi. Udaipur, Mewar, about 1868.The Metropolitan Museum of Art · 2019.123 · Public domain (Met Open Access)
96 squares on a pachisi board Four arms of twenty-four, as Abu'l Fazl counted them for Akbar. 72 squares on the old snakes and ladders India's most common board. You win on 68, Vaikuntha. 64 squares on the Ganj spiral From the Talisman, inward, to the Mughal treasure. 48 soldiers against 4 elephants A hunt game from the court of Mysore.

The story in nine stops.

From a Persian Book of Kings to Akbar's court, the hill painters, Lucknow, Udaipur and Bengal.

  1. About 1530 · Iran

    Shah Tahmasp's Book of Kings paints the scene the Met titles "Buzurjmihr masters the Hindu game of chess".

    Chess

  2. About 1590 · Akbar's court

    Abu'l Fazl writes down chaupar as Akbar played it: sixteen pieces, three long dice, ninety-six squares.

    Chaupar

  3. 1694–95 · Basohli

    A painter of the hills shows the god Shiva and the goddess Parvati at a game of chaupar.

    Chaupar

  4. 1698 · Mughal India

    Muhammad A'zam's notebook already calls Ganj, the race to the treasure, "the European game".

    Ganj

  5. Early 1780s · Lucknow

    A 72-square gyan chaupar: ladders of devotion and mercy, snakes of darkness and ego, and heaven on square 68.

    Snakes and Ladders

  6. 1830s · The Deccan

    Three tigers against thirteen sheep: one of many hunt games, each region with its own count.

    Sheep vs Tigers

  7. About 1868 · Udaipur

    A maharaja plays pachisi on a cloth board. Kori's safe squares are read from the board in this painting.

    Pachisi

  8. After 1850 · England

    Ludo, a simplified pachisi, goes on sale in England. Around the 1950s it finds its way back to India.

    Ludo

  9. Late 1800s · Bengal

    In Bengal the game is played as golokdham.

    Snakes and Ladders

Did you know?

Pachisi is Hindi for "twenty-five", the highest usual throw of the cowrie shells. Finkel, "The Four-Arm Race" Pachisi
Ganj is not ganjifa. Ganj means treasure, and a notebook of 1698 already calls it "the European game". Digby, "Treasure: The Mughal Game of Ganj" Ganj
When snakes and ladders became an English game, the Indian cowrie shells were swapped for ordinary dice. Topsfield, "The Meaning of Snakes and Ladders" Snakes and Ladders

Play them today.

Two apps, Bengali first and in English too. Against the computer, or hand to hand on one phone, with Birbal at your side.

Kori.

কড়ি

Ludo, Snakes and Ladders with the old 72-square board, Pachisi with cowries, Chaupar with stick dice, and Ganj. A new Ganj table every day, the same dice for everyone.

Get Kori on Google Play Play in the browser Soon

Android, from Google Play. The browser version at kori.gutikhela.com is on its way.

Kori on a phone, as it ships today (Bengali)

Chaal.

চাল

Chess and Sheep vs Tigers (Bagh-bandi), and one chess puzzle a day: mate in one, two or three. Against the computer, Birbal gives you a hint when you ask.

Get Chaal on Google Play Play in the browser Soon

Android, from Google Play. The browser version at chaal.gutikhela.com is on its way.

Chaal on a phone, as it ships today (Bengali)