Pachisi (/pəˈtʃiːzi/ pə-CHEE-zee, Hindustani: [pəˈtʃiːsiː]) is a cross and circle board game that originated in Ancient India.

The jeu des petits chevaux ('game of little horses') is played in France, and Mensch ärgere Dich nicht is a popular German variant.

Games similar to chaupar with different colour schemes along with dice have been identified from the Iron Age during the Painted Grey Ware period from sites in Mathura and Noh (1100–800 BC).

[4][5] Cruciform boards have been depicted from art reliefs of Chandraketugarh dated to 2nd–1st century BC.

A 6th- or 7th-century representation of Shiva and Parvati said to be playing Chaupar (a closely related game)[6] in fact depicts only dice and not the distinctive board.

[7] In a similar period, a board identical to pachisi was discovered in the Ellora cave system.

[7] Louis Rousselet wrote: The game of Pachisi was played by Akbar in a truly regal manner.

The Court itself, divided into red and white squares, being the board, and an enormous stone raised on four feet, representing the central point.

It was here that Akbar and his courtiers played this game; sixteen young slaves from the harem wearing the players' colours, represented the pieces, and moved to the squares according to the throw of the dice.

It is said that the Emperor took such a fancy to playing the game on this grand scale that he had a court for pachisi constructed in all his palaces, and traces of such are still visible at Agra and Allahabad.

[10]Irving Finkel adds: To date, these grandiose boards still represent the earliest secure evidence for the existence of the game in India.

There is a large square in the centre, called the Charkoni, which is the starting and finishing position of the pieces.

Once your all pawns have entered the game, throwing 10 or 25, or 35 allows you to move the respective numbers ahead.

A common strategy is for returning pieces to stay on these squares, where they are safe from capture until a 25 is thrown.