Pagade Instructions
DID YOU KNOW?
Pagade is the national board game of India. This race game is known by numerous names in different parts of the vast country. It is called as Pagade (Kannada), Chaupar (Hindi), Chausar (Hindi), Chopat (Hindi), Pachisi (Hindi), Parcheesi (English - USA), Sokkattan (Tamil), Dayakattam (Tamil), Pagdi Pat (Marathi).
CONTENTS:
One weToyToy Pagade game board; 4 sets of wooden pawns (each set contains 4) which are colored Red, Black, Yellow, and Green; two Stick Dice.The game board has four arms joined at the sides of a central big square which is ‘Home’. Each arm is made up of three rows of eight squares. We shall call the home-arms of Red, Black, Yellow, and Green pawns as Red-Arm, Black-Arm, Yellow-Arm, and Green-Arm, respectively. Red pawns go around the board starting from and ending at Red-Arm. Similarly, other pawns start their journeys on respective ‘home-arms’. Given below (as a white arrow line) in Fig.2 is the path of Red pawns
Pagade is a race game in which two or four players can play. Given here is the rule for four-player game. The Fig.3 shows the game board from the Red’s point-of-view. Some squares are sequentially numbered from 1 to 75 while others have been blackened. The numbering originates from the home-arm of Red. Squares 1 to 7 are collectively called Red’s Belly.
Belly is the private domain of one set of pawns wherein pawns of other sets cannot venture. Blackened squares in the Fig.3 depict the Belly of other pawn-sets and hence Red pawns cannot move into those squares. The Red pawns start from its Belly, move from 1 to 75 sequentially and then to 8 and go down the belly to 1 and finally plunge into ‘Home’ as given
below:
1-2-3-4-5-………………….-72-73-74-75-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-Home.
Similarly, other pawns move around the board and come back to their respective home-arm and go down their Belly and into Home. The movement (anti-clockwise direction) is shown as an arrow in Fig.2.
During the roll of the wooden dice, example the top of one dice has 3 dots and another has 6 dots. Pawn/s can be moved in two ways:
Case-1: One pawn can be moved 3 squares and another, 6 squares (always sequentially forward).
Case-2: Both numbers are added and only one pawn is moved i.e., in this case, one pawn is moved 9 squares (3+6).
When both dice have the same number of dots on the top side, it is called a doublet. A doublet (1,1 or 3,3 or 4,4 or 6,6) can be used either to move two individual pawns or a single pawn or a pawn-pair can be moved together. There is no bonus extra turn for rolling a doublet.
If two pawns are cut, both have to be placed starting from the Belly, corresponding to the number got from each dice (one pawn for each dice). Until and unless all cut pawns are reintroduced on the board, a player cannot move other pawns. Pawn-Pair: If two pawns of the same color come together on a square, they form a “pawn-pair.” By default, all players have a pawn pair at the beginning of the game. A player can choose to break and separate a pawn-pair at any given time just by moving one or both pawns (to different squares). Any pawn or a pawn pair can jump over another pawn-pair. A roll of doublet of dice is required to move a pawn-pair together. Only a pawn pair can cut another pawn-pair (with the roll of a doublet). A single pawn cannot cut a pawn-pair. Same-colored two pawns on separate squares cannot land together on the square occupied by another pawn-pair. Such cutting is also not allowed. For example, a Green-pair is on 70 and there are two Red pawns, one on 66 and another on 67. Now if Red rolls 3 & 4 on dice, it might seem that they both are forming a pawn-pair at 70 and hence can cut the Green-pair present there, but they can’t, since a pawn-pair can be cut only by an already formed pawn-pair.
Except for the squares in the Belly (1 to 7), nowhere else can there be more than two pawns on a single square. For a pawn to enter its Belly on its way to Home, the player should have cut at least one opponent pawn. A pawn that has entered its Belly on the way to Home has to be distinguished from other pawns that are still starting the race. Hence such a Home-ward pawn is turned on its side in the Belly, thus moves deep into the Belly and finally enters Home. An exact number of dot/s on either dice (or both) is required to enter ‘Home’. There are no safe squares in this game. A pawn is safe only in its Belly, i.e., from squares 1 to 7. There are no bonus turns in this game, not even when a player cuts his opponent’s pawn, not also during a roll of a doublet. If two pawns are cut, both have to be placed starting from the Belly, corresponding to the number got from each dice (one pawn for each dice). Until and unless all cut pawns are reintroduced on the board, a player cannot move other pawns. Pawn-Pair: If two pawns of the same color come together on asquare, they form a “pawn-pair.” By default, all players have a pawn pair at the beginning of the game. A player can choose to break and separate a pawn-pair at any given time just by moving one or both pawns (to different squares). Any pawn or a pawn-pair can jump over another pawn-pair. A roll of doublet of dice is required to move a pawn-pair together. Only a pawn pair can cut another pawn-pair (with the roll of a doublet). A single pawn cannot cut a pawn-pair. Same-colored two pawns on separate squares cannot land together on the square occupied by another pawn-pair. Such cutting is also not allowed. For example, a Green-pair is on 70 and there are two Red pawns, one on 66 and another on 67. Now if Red rolls 3 & 4 on dice, it might seem that they both are forming a pawn-pair at 70 and hence can cut the Green-pair present there, but they can’t, since a pawn-pair can be cut only by an already formed pawn-pair.
