India to the World
Wikimedia Commons, via Wikipedia: Pachisi

Language, Music & Games

Pachisi / Ludo

by ~medieval eraMedieval IndiaBoards (e.g. Fatehpur Sikri courtyard)Pan-Indian / unspecified

600 CE

A cross-and-circle race game, ancestor of the modern game Ludo.

Dated
600 CE–1500
As scholars put it
by ~medieval era
Originator
Medieval India
Source text
Boards (e.g. Fatehpur Sikri courtyard)
Region
Pan-Indian / unspecified
Discipline
Language, Music & Games
Evidence
Documented
Confidence
High
Verification
Reference-cited

Meanwhile in the West

Patented/commercialised in Britain as Ludo (19th c.).

Fair to say

Related race games exist in other cultures.

Path to modern innovation

A globally popular family game.

Transmission

Colonial-era adoption and simplification.

  1. Fatehpur Sikri, 16th c. CE. Emperor Akbar

    Akbar's palace courtyard holds a giant pachisi board, said to have been played with courtiers as the pieces.

  2. New York, 1867. John Hamilton, then Selchow & Righter

    Pachisi is copyrighted in the United States as Parcheesi, sold as 'the royal game of India'.

  3. London, 1896. Alfred Collier

    A simplified version with a cube die and a cup is patented in England as Ludo, Latin for 'I play'.

Play it in Then → Now

References

  • 1Histories of board games

Further reading

Related

Chess (Chaturanga)

Corrections and additional sources: edit IND-067 on GitHub.