- published: 09 Oct 2014
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Pachisi is a cross and circle board game that originated in ancient India which has been described as the "national game of India". It is played on a board shaped like a symmetrical cross. A player's pieces move around the board based upon a throw of six or seven cowrie shells, with the number of shells resting with aperture upwards indicating the number of spaces to move.
The name of the game derives from the Hindi word pachis, meaning twenty-five, the largest score that can be thrown with the cowrie shells. Thus the game is also known by the name Twenty-Five.
Parcheesi, Sorry! and Ludo are among the many Westernized versions of the game.
Pachisi is a game for four players, usually in two teams. One team has yellow and black pieces, the other team has red and green. The team which moves all its pieces to the finish first, wins the game.
Each player has four beehive-shaped pieces. The pieces of one player are distinguishable from another by their colour: black, green, red and yellow are used for each player.