Pallankuzhi

Pallankuzhi (Tamil) is a traditional board game that is played in Tamil Nadu. It is similar to Oware and Mancala. The game is played by two players, with a wooden board that has seven pits on each player's side, containing Cowry shells. There are several variations of the game depending on the number of shells each player starts with. As the game proceeds, each player distributes the shells over all the pits. The players may "capture" the shells, as permitted by the rules of the game. The rules of capture depend on the variant of the game played. The game ends when one of the players captures all the shells, and is declared as a winner.