Aangan - Traditional Games

Chaupad or Pachisi is a race game popularised in the west as Ludo, and in the USA as 'Parcheesi - the Royal game of India'. Great kings like Akbar & Mummadi Krishnaraja Wadeyar were connoisseurs of this game & there are probable references to this game in the epic of Mahabharata too. While Akbar had a life-size game etched in his courtyard in Fatehpur Sikri, Mummadi Wadeyar modified the 4-handed game to 8 and 12 handed games with spiritual implications.

Chaturanga literally means 4 angas or limbs, which are symbolically represented by the 4 branches of an army - elephant (minister), horse, ship & soldiers. The game developed during the Gupta period came to be known as Shatranj and later as Chess. Chaturanga is believed to be the common ancestor of chess. chaturanga is believed to be the common ancestor of chess, shogi, makruk, xiangqi and janggi games.

Bagh Bakri belongs to the family of hunt games involving prey and predator, with the prey being much larger in number than the predator. These games are found carved into stone slabs in historic monuments and temples across India. One of the variants of this game is known as Bagh Chal, which is also the national game of Nepal. In Europe, this game is known as Fox and Geese. 

Navkankari translates to nine pebbles and shares commonalities with the game tic-tac-toe. Like many other ancient games, this game and its variants have also been found carved into stone slabs in temples and other historic monuments all over the world. It is commonly known in Europe as Morris or Merels game.