Chaupar
Encyclopedia
Chaupar is a board game
of the Cross and Circle
family played in India
that is very similar to Pachisi
. It is believed that both games were created around the 4th century. The board is made of wool or cloth. The dice are six cowry
shells and the pawns are made of wood. It's usually played on a table or the floor.
There are palaces in Allahabad and Agra which served as giant Chaupar boards for the Indian Emperor Akbar I from the Mogul Empire
in the 16th century. The board was made of inlaid marble and it had red and white squares. He used to sit in the center and toss the shells; 16 women from his harem were the pawns and they moved the way he told them.
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
of the Cross and Circle
Cross and Circle game
Cross and Circle is a board game design used for race games played throughout the world.-Design:Strictly, the design comprises a circle divided into four equal portions by a cross inscribed inside it; the classic example of this design is Yut...
family played in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
that is very similar to Pachisi
Pachisi
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...
. It is believed that both games were created around the 4th century. The board is made of wool or cloth. The dice are six cowry
Cowry
Cowry, also sometimes spelled cowrie, plural cowries, is the common name for a group of small to large sea snails, marine gastropod molluscs in the family Cypraeidae, the cowries...
shells and the pawns are made of wood. It's usually played on a table or the floor.
There are palaces in Allahabad and Agra which served as giant Chaupar boards for the Indian Emperor Akbar I from the Mogul Empire
Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire , or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
in the 16th century. The board was made of inlaid marble and it had red and white squares. He used to sit in the center and toss the shells; 16 women from his harem were the pawns and they moved the way he told them.
Rules
- No value of the dice will gain an extra turn.
- There are no safe squares.
- The pawns do not get out from the Charkoni (nest) square, but from the 6, 7, 23, and 24 positions.
- Pawns can be converted into "super pawns". If 2 or more from the same player are placed in the same square, they can move as a single pawn and can only be eaten by another super pawn.
- Forfeiting the turn voluntarily is not allowed (unlike Pachisi).