Chaupar

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.

Games similar to chaupar with difference in colour schemes along with dice have been identified from Iron Age, Painted grey ware period from Mathura.

Chopat is claimed to be a variation of the game of dice played in the epic poem Mahabharata between Yudhishthira and Duryodhan.

He would then casually utter "Sundari and Mundari"; at this point the mice would come and move the pieces around without the opponent noticing.

This game is usually played in a bantering manner, and it is quite common for players to mock each other's play just before the choris are thrown, or to attempt to distract their opponent by snorting, cracking knuckles, pretending to spit or making absurd noises to "curse" or spoil the opponent's turn.

Once the men cross the flower motif, they are played by laying the pieces on their side to indicate they are in their final home stretch and are safe now from any further attack.

In one version, scoring is as follows: To start, each player takes turns throwing the cowry shells.

The men travel around the outer perimeter columns in an anti-clockwise direction from their starting flower motifs.

Each arm of the cross has 17 squares for moving so: The home column for each player can only be entered by his men if he has already made at least one “tohd”.

Once the men cross the flower motif, they are played by laying the pieces on their side to indicate they are in their final home stretch and are safe now from any further attack.