Pachisi

Pachisi (, Hindustani: [pəˈtʃiːsiː]) 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. The name of the game is derived from the Hindi word paccīs, meaning 'twenty-five', the largest score that can be thrown with the cowrie shells; thus this game is also known by the name Twenty-Five. There are other versions of this game where the largest score that can be thrown is thirty. In addition to chaupar, there are similar games that have originated around the world. Barjis (barsis) is popular in the Levant, mainly Syria, while Parchís is another game popular in Spain and northern Morocco. Parqués is its Colombian equivalent. Parcheesi, Patchesi, Sorry!, and Ludo are among the commercial versions of similar games. The jeu des petits chevaux ('game of little horses') is played in France, and Mensch ärgere Dich nicht is a popular German cross-and-circle game.