How to play — InGame

Chowka Bara

A race around a chalked square, run on four cowrie shells. Two to four players; each brings four pieces home to the centre.

Aadu Puli Attam

Goats and tigers. Three tigers hunt across a triangle of twenty-three points; fifteen goats try to pen them in. No dice — every move is yours.

Pallanguzhi

Ali Guli Mane, the sowing game. Two rows of seven cups, six tamarind seeds in each, and a store at either end. Whoever gathers the most seeds keeps the board.

Pagade

The Mysore court’s chaupar, on the embroidered cross. Two to four players, four pieces each, three long dice. Out of the centre, all the way round, and home again.

Snakes and Ladders

Paramapadam. A hundred squares, one die, one piece each. Two to four players, and nothing to decide — only to hope.