What is Pachisi-style Ludo?
Pachisi is the Indian game Ludo was made from. This variant brings the rules of Pachisi that fit the Ludo board onto it, while the die, the route and the rest of the game stay as you know them.
Twelve squares of the track become castles, three on each arm of the cross: the square at the outer end of the middle column, and the fourth square in from the outer end of each outer column. A token on a castle cannot be captured, and you cannot land on a castle that holds an opponent's token. You can still pass over it, and your own tokens may share it.
Your tokens may also double up on any square of the track. A stack is not a wall: opponents may pass it, and an opponent who lands on it on an ordinary square captures the whole stack and sends every token in it back to the yard. Whenever a landing captures, every opposing token on that square goes.
The castles change how the race is run. They are stepping stones where a token can wait in safety for a better roll, and a castle you hold also keeps opponents from stopping there. With four players, switch on team play in the setup to play in two partnerships, as Pachisi is usually played.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Ludo | Pachisi-style Ludo |
|---|---|---|
| Castle squares | Standard LudoNone. Only your own start square protects your tokens. | Pachisi-style LudoTwelve castles, three on each arm. A token on a castle cannot be captured, and you cannot land on a castle an opponent holds. |
| Doubling up | Standard LudoTwo of your own tokens cannot share a square of the track. | Pachisi-style LudoYour tokens may share any square. A stack does not block: opponents may pass it. |
| Captures | Standard LudoLanding on an opponent's token sends one token back to its yard. | Pachisi-style LudoLanding on an ordinary square sends every opposing token on it back to the yard, a whole stack at once. Nothing is captured on a castle. |
| Dice | Standard LudoOne die. A 6 brings a token out of the yard and earns another roll. | Pachisi-style LudoThe same. Pachisi's cowrie shells and its graces of 6, 10 and 25 are not used; the 6 plays the part of the grace. |
| Board and route | Standard LudoTokens start in the yards, go once round the track (52 squares on the four-armed cross) and finish up their home column. | Pachisi-style LudoThe same four-armed Ludo board and route, so Pachisi rules are for two to four players. Pachisi's start and finish in the centre and its longer arms of eight squares are not used. |
| Partners | Standard LudoEveryone plays alone. | Pachisi-style LudoEveryone plays alone, as in Ludo. With four players, team play can be added to play in two partnerships. |
| Other options | Standard LudoSafe start squares, an exact roll to finish, three sixes, the extra roll on a capture and the other options can be changed in the setup. | Pachisi-style LudoAll of them still apply. Blockades can be added, which turns doubled pieces into walls. |
History
Pachisi is a race game from India, often called its national game. Its name comes from the Hindi word paccīs, twenty-five, the largest throw of the cowrie shells it is played with. It is played on a cross-shaped board with a large square in the centre called the Charkoni, where the pieces start and finish. Each arm of the cross has three columns of eight squares, and twelve squares are marked as castles, where a piece cannot be captured.
Pachisi is usually played by four players in two teams, yellow and black against red and green. Six or seven cowries are thrown, and the number of shells that land mouth up decides the throw. With six shells, a throw of 6, 10 or 25 is a grace: it brings a piece out of the Charkoni and earns another throw. More than one piece of the same team may share a square, and a capture sends the captured pieces back to the Charkoni, from where they need another grace to re-enter.
The Mughal emperor Akbar is recorded playing the game on a grand scale: he had courts laid out for it in his palaces, and traces of them remain at Agra and Allahabad. Ludo, patented in England in 1896 (British patent 14,636), is one of its commercial versions: it replaced the cowries with a die and the centre start with four corner yards. Parchís in Spain and its American counterpart are other descendants.
The variant played here keeps the Ludo board and die and takes over the castles, the doubling of pieces and the capture of everything on a square. Pachisi's cowrie throws, its centre start and finish and its eight-square arms are left out.