# Pachisi (पचीसी)
**Pachisi** (पचीसी) is a traditional Indian cross-and-circle race game in which two to four players move four pieces each around a cruciform board, with movement determined by throwing six or seven cowrie shells rather than cubic dice[1](https://ancientgames.org/pachisi/) • [2](https://playculturalgames.com/how-to-play/pachisi/). It is the ancestor of a family of commercial race games that includes Ludo in Britain, Parcheesi in the United States, and Parchís in Spain[3](https://rarepike.com/ludo/ludo-vs-pachisi/) • [4](https://www.mastersofgames.com/rules/parchis-rules-instructions-guide.htm).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Cross-and-circle race game for two to four players, traditionally on an embroidered cloth board[2](https://playculturalgames.com/how-to-play/pachisi/) |
| Equipment | Six or seven cowrie shells thrown as binary dice; four pieces (goti) per player[1](https://ancientgames.org/pachisi/) • [5](https://sites.google.com/site/boardandpieces/list-of-games/pachisi) |
| Name | From Hindi *paccīs*, "twenty-five", the highest throw of the cowrie shells[6](https://rules.moddable.games/pachisi/index.html) |
| Earliest secure evidence | The Mughal court of Akbar in the 16th century, including the life-size playing courtyard at Fatehpur Sikri[1](https://ancientgames.org/pachisi/) |
| Scholarly dating | A 2021 study argues available evidence traces the cruciform game only to the 15th century, challenging claims of ancient origin[7](https://researchprofiles.ku.dk/en/publications/the-crux-of-the-cruciform-retracing-the-early-history-of-chaupar-/) |
| Close relative | Chaupar (caupaṛ), played with three elongated dice and regarded as the more aristocratic, strategically demanding version[1](https://ancientgames.org/pachisi/) |
| Descendants | Ludo (created 1896 as a simplified Pachisi), Parcheesi, and Parchís[3](https://rarepike.com/ludo/ludo-vs-pachisi/) • [4](https://www.mastersofgames.com/rules/parchis-rules-instructions-guide.htm) |
## Board and equipment
The board is a symmetrical cross, usually three squares wide, with a central square area called the charkoni where the arms meet[5](https://sites.google.com/site/boardandpieces/list-of-games/pachisi) • [8](https://internationalpachisifederation.com/rules/). Traditional boards were not wooden but embroidered cloth: a cruciform of chequered patches stitched onto a madder-red ground that could be rolled up and carried anywhere[2](https://playculturalgames.com/how-to-play/pachisi/). Surviving examples in museum collections include cloth boards with colored glass beads on red cotton, such as a mid-20th-century board from [Kathiawar](https://www.edgepedia.org/kathiawar) made by the Kathi people, held by National Museums Scotland[9](https://www.nms.ac.uk/discover-catalogue/chess-and-ludo-board-games-with-south-asian-origins), and cloth boards of pachisi, chaupar, and chausar owned by the University of Pennsylvania Museum[10](https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-indian-games-of-pachisi-chaupar-and-chausar/).
The dice are cowrie shells, which act as binary dice: a shell counts according to whether it lands with its opening (mouth) facing up or down, and the count of open shells determines how many spaces a piece moves[1](https://ancientgames.org/pachisi/) • [5](https://sites.google.com/site/boardandpieces/list-of-games/pachisi). Any binary lot can substitute, including coins or nut halves[5](https://sites.google.com/site/boardandpieces/list-of-games/pachisi). The name of the game comes from *paccīs*, the Hindi word for twenty-five, the best throw of the shells[2](https://playculturalgames.com/how-to-play/pachisi/) • [6](https://rules.moddable.games/pachisi/index.html).
## Play
Each player races four pieces clockwise around the board, traveling down the center of the board, up the left-hand row of their arm, around the outer circuit, and back down the right-hand side to the central home area[11](https://www.indiaboardgamesarchive.in/omekas/s/ancientindianboardgames/item/246). A piece enters the track only on a favorable throw, and an exact count is needed for a piece to reach home[2](https://playculturalgames.com/how-to-play/pachisi/) • [12](https://a4gamescompany.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/pachisi-ludo-21-7mb-podf.pdf).
Landing on a square occupied by an opponent's piece sends that piece back to start[2](https://playculturalgames.com/how-to-play/pachisi/). Certain marked squares, often called castles, are safe spaces where pieces cannot be captured[2](https://playculturalgames.com/how-to-play/pachisi/) • [12](https://a4gamescompany.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/pachisi-ludo-21-7mb-podf.pdf), and two or more same-color pieces on one square can form a blockade that opponents cannot land on or pass through[2](https://playculturalgames.com/how-to-play/pachisi/). The game can be played in partnership, with victory requiring both partners to bring all their pieces home[13](https://www.iels.org/assets/1/How_to_play_Pachisi.pdf).
There are no single standard rules; the game has many regional variations in movement and capture[5](https://sites.google.com/site/boardandpieces/list-of-games/pachisi). The International Pachisi Federation publishes a competition ruleset specifying a cloth of 30 to 32 inches square, six cowrie shells of 3 to 8 grams each, and eight pawns for singles play or sixteen for doubles[8](https://internationalpachisifederation.com/rules/).
## History and dating
Popular accounts describe Pachisi as an ancient game, with some sources dating it back over 1,500 years or to approximately 500 CE[3](https://rarepike.com/ludo/ludo-vs-pachisi/) • [6](https://rules.moddable.games/pachisi/index.html). A peer-reviewed 2021 study by Jacob Schmidt-Madsen, a researcher at the [University of Copenhagen](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-copenhagen)'s Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, challenges this view. Writing in a special issue of the *Board Game Studies Journal* devoted to misconceptions in board game studies, he argues that the available evidence allows the cruciform game of caupaṛ or paccīsī to be traced back only to the 15th century[7](https://researchprofiles.ku.dk/en/publications/the-crux-of-the-cruciform-retracing-the-early-history-of-chaupar-/). The same study suggests that certain ludic elements found in the game may derive from earlier games, such as phañjikā, a cowrie-shell game described in the 12th-century *Mānasollāsa*[7](https://researchprofiles.ku.dk/en/publications/the-crux-of-the-cruciform-retracing-the-early-history-of-chaupar-/).
The earliest secure evidence for the game as played is the Mughal court of Akbar in the 16th century. Akbar famously played on a giant, life-size Pachisi courtyard at [Fatehpur Sikri](https://www.edgepedia.org/fatehpur-sikri), using costumed servants as living game pieces[1](https://ancientgames.org/pachisi/). The Ashmolean Museum describes chaupar or pachisi as one of the most popular Indian board games during the Mughal period[14](https://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/4/891/892/all/per_page/100/offset/0/sort_by/date/start/1470/end/1900/object/11194).
## Chaupar and related games
**Chaupar** (caupaṛ), also spelled chausar, is the closest relative and is often grouped with Pachisi under shared names[10](https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-indian-games-of-pachisi-chaupar-and-chausar/) • [9](https://www.nms.ac.uk/discover-catalogue/chess-and-ludo-board-games-with-south-asian-origins). It is played with three elongated (four-sided) dice rather than cowrie shells and features different movement rules; it was considered the more aristocratic and strategically demanding version[1](https://ancientgames.org/pachisi/). Regional variants of the Pachisi family across the subcontinent include Pagade, played in [Karnataka](https://www.edgepedia.org/karnataka) with subtle rule modifications[1](https://ancientgames.org/pachisi/).
## Descendants
The game's spread to the West is tied to British colonialism in India[1](https://ancientgames.org/pachisi/). Ludo, created in England in 1896 as a simplified version of Pachisi, replaces cowrie shells with a single cubic die, uses a fixed square board with a central cross, and standardizes piece counts; a full game of Pachisi takes roughly 1 to 2 hours against 20 to 40 minutes for Ludo[3](https://rarepike.com/ludo/ludo-vs-pachisi/). In the United States the game became [Parcheesi](https://www.edgepedia.org/parcheesi), and in Spain Parchís, a race game on a cross-shaped board whose arms are divided into three columns of eight spaces[4](https://www.mastersofgames.com/rules/parchis-rules-instructions-guide.htm). Parchís is likely descended from American Parcheesi rather than directly from the Indian game[5](https://sites.google.com/site/boardandpieces/list-of-games/pachisi).
## References
1. [Pachisi: The Royal Indian Board Game That Inspired Parcheesi & Ludo, Ancient Games](https://ancientgames.org/pachisi/)
2. [How to Play Pachisi – Rules & History of India's Royal Game, Cultural Games](https://playculturalgames.com/how-to-play/pachisi/)
3. [Ludo vs Pachisi — Comparing the Classic and Its Ancient Ancestor, Rare Pike](https://rarepike.com/ludo/ludo-vs-pachisi/)
4. [Rules and instructions for the games of Parchis, Masters of Games](https://www.mastersofgames.com/rules/parchis-rules-instructions-guide.htm)
5. [Board and Pieces – Pachisi](https://sites.google.com/site/boardandpieces/list-of-games/pachisi)
6. [Pachisi — Variant Library](https://rules.moddable.games/pachisi/index.html)
7. [Schmidt-Madsen, Jacob (2021). The Crux of the Cruciform: Retracing the Early History of Chaupar and Pachisi. Board Game Studies Journal 15, 29–77.](https://researchprofiles.ku.dk/en/publications/the-crux-of-the-cruciform-retracing-the-early-history-of-chaupar-/)
8. [Rules of Game – International Pachisi Federation](https://internationalpachisifederation.com/rules/)
9. [Chess and Ludo: Board games with South Asian origins, National Museums Scotland](https://www.nms.ac.uk/discover-catalogue/chess-and-ludo-board-games-with-south-asian-origins)
10. [The Indian Games of Pachisi, Chaupar, and Chausar, Expedition Magazine, Penn Museum](https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-indian-games-of-pachisi-chaupar-and-chausar/)
11. [Pachisi · Ancient Indian Boardgames: Digital Documentation](https://www.indiaboardgamesarchive.in/omekas/s/ancientindianboardgames/item/246)
12. [Pachisi (Ludo) rules booklet, A4 Games Company](https://a4gamescompany.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/pachisi-ludo-21-7mb-podf.pdf)
13. [How to play Pachisi, IELS](https://www.iels.org/assets/1/How_to_play_Pachisi.pdf)
14. [Chaupar or pachisi game board, Ashmolean Museum](https://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/4/891/892/all/per_page/100/offset/0/sort_by/date/start/1470/end/1900/object/11194)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Board, card, and puzzle games › Board games › Traditional board, tile, and dice games*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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