Indian Dice Board Game: "Pachisi"

Pachisi is a board game that originated in ancient India; it is described as the national game of India. The name of the game comes from the Hindi word pachis, meaning twenty-five, the largest score that can be thrown with the cowrie shells that traditionally serve as dice for the game. Thus the game is also known by the name Twenty-five.

The game is played on a board shaped like a symmetrical cross embroidered on a square piece of cloth. There is a large square in the center, called the Charkoni. The four arms are divided into three columns of eight squares. The players' pieces are moved along these columns of squares during play. A player's pieces move around the board based upon a throw of six or seven cowrie shells, with the number of shells landing with their openings upwards indicating the number of places the player may move.

Pachisi is a game for four players, usually in two teams. Each player has four beehive-shaped pieces of a single color. One team has yellow and black pieces; the other team has red and green ones. The winners are those two people who both get their pieces to the finish first. Each player's objective is to move all four of their pieces completely around the board, counter-clockwise, before their opponents do. The pieces start and finish on the Charkoni.

see also: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/37942?ft=shiva&offset=0&rpp=40&pos=12
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachisi
see also: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/37942?ft=shiva&offset=0&rpp=40&pos=12