Indian board games

thumb|Chess set from Rajasthan, India Chaturanga (, , ) is an ancient Indian strategy board game. It is first known from India around the seventh century AD.

board game

thumb|Tibetans playing carrom in Delhi

Pachisi (, ) is a cross and circle board game that originated in Ancient India. It is described in the ancient text Mahabharata under the name of "Pasha". 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 as lots, with the number of shells resting with the aperture upward indicating the number of spaces to move.

Ludo (; ) is a strategy-based board game for two to four players, in which the players race their four from start to finish according to the rolls of a single die. Ludo shares characteristics with other cross-and-circle games from around the world; these types of games include the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican game Patolli, and the Indian game Pachisi. The game and its variations are popular in many countries and under various names.

thumb|Fabric chausar board Chaupar (IAST: caupaṛ), chopad or chaupad is a cross and circle board game very similar to pachisi, played in India. The board is made of wool or cloth, with wooden pawns and seven cowry shells to be used to determine each player's move, although others distinguish chaupur from pachisi by the use of three four-sided long dice. Variations are played throughout India. It is similar in some ways to Pachisi, Parcheesi and Ludo.

thumb|upright=1.3|A game of Parcheesi in progress Parcheesi is a brand-name American adaptation of the Indian cross and circle board game Pachisi, published by E. G. Selchow & Co and Winning Moves Games USA.

thumb|250px|A fish shaped pallankuli board Pallanguli, or Pallankuli (, , , , , ), is a traditional ancient mancala game played in South India, especially Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This game was later introduced to Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in India, as well as Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The game is played by two players, with a wooden board that has fourteen pits in all (hence, it is also called fourteen pits, or pathinālam kuḻi. There have been several variations in the layout of the pits, one among them being seven pits on each player's side. The pits contain cowry shells, seeds or small pebbl

thumb|upright=1.4|Carpet with the Ashtapada board (detail). India or Greater Iran|Iran, 15th-century. [[Museum of Islamic Art, Doha]] Ashtāpada () or Ashtapadi is an Indian board game. Although it is played on a checkered board similar to chess, Ashtāpada predates it and differs in its mechanics and victory conditions. The game was mentioned on the list of games that Gautama Buddha would not play. Chaturanga, which could be played on the same , appeared sometime around the 6th century in India; it could be played by two to four participants.