Pallanguzhi

Infobox_Game
subject_name = Pallanguzhi
image_link =
image_caption = A typical wooden pallanguzhi board with 14 cups and 146 shells.
players = 2
ages = 5+
setup_time = 10 – 60 seconds
playing_time = 1 minute - 7 hours*
complexity = Medium
strategy = Medium
random_chance = Medium
skills = Quick Mathematics

Pallanghuzi, or Pallankuli, is a variant of Mancala played in southern India, especially Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. In Andhra it goes by the name "Vamana guntalu" [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/romadict.pl?table=brown&page=1153&display=simple A Telugu-English dictionary ] ] . It was once popularly played by Tamil women of southern India and Ceylon, and was sometimes used as a gambling game by men.

Gameplay

Overview of the Game

Pallanguzhi is played on a rectangular board with 2 rows and 7 columns. There are a total of 14 cups (kuzhi in Tamil language) and 146 counters. For the counters in the game, seeds, shells, small stones are all common for use.

12 counters are placed in each cup except the middle of each row into which only 2 counters are placed.. The starting player lifts the counters from any of his holes and, going counter-clockwise, distributes one counter in each hole. If he reaches the end of his cups he goes on the his opponent's side of the board. When the player drops his last counter, he takes the counter from the next cup and continues placing them in this way. If the last counter falls into a cup with an empty cup beyond, the counter in the cup beyond the empty hole are captured by the player and put into his store. That player then continues play from the next cup containing counters. If the last counter falls into a cup with two empty holes beyond, he captures no counters and his turn is over. The next player continues play in the same way, taking counters from any of his cups and going around placing counters in a counter-clockwise direction.

If, after having a counter dropped into it, a cup contains 6 counters, those become the property of the player who dropped the counter (called Pasu in Tamil language) . The round is over when no counters remain.

Once the first round is over players take the counters from their stores and fill as many of their holes as possible with counters. The winner will have a surplus of counters which are kept in his store. The loser of the first round will be unable to fill all of his holes. These unfilled holes are marked as "rubbish holes." In the next round play continues as before, but without the rubbish holes being included and the player who went first in the previous round going second.

During the game if a player has enough counters to fill any of his rubbish holes back up their status is removed and they are again used during play. The game is over when a player is unable to fill any cups with six counters at the end of a round.

See also

* Mancala
* List of mancala games

Notes