Posted on: 13 December 2013

Card board game, Patchesi, made in England by John Jaques & Son Ltd in the 1890s

Pachisi has been played in India for many centuries and is considered the country's national game. The name is derived from the Indian word for 25, which is the highest throw of cowrie shell dice. The game was introduced into England at the end of the 19th century and became better known as Ludo. John Jaques registered the name Patchesi in 1887.

Object history note:

Cross shape set against a diamond shaped board, with a centre square and four arms leading from it. Each arm has 24 squares of which each has 3 marked with a cross design.

Historical context note:

Rewards: extra turns
Forfeits: missed turns
No. of Players: 4
Equipment required: markers, counters, dice

Rules placement: ?

Copyright: © V&A Images


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This was originally known as "CHAUSAR" - as it had four sides & was later renamed to "CHAUPAR" or "CHAUPAD" - may different spellings & this Patchesi was the Anglicised version of the original game played for over 1000 plus years before the inventor of Patchesi copied it 7 maybe make LUDO ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakuni

Ludo is what I think this is.

Elongated ludo. In tamil nadu it is still played as "dayapass" with metallic rectangular dice of the size of a cigaratte, with 1,2,3 and blank markings. Rolled in pairs it gives out 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 12. How many things we lost due to introduction of printing by west? What happened to all our archives,govt should engage research scholars to cull these out?

Yes it is called Dayan kattam In tamil

Daaya kattai or daaya kattam :)