Ashta Chamma

Chowka Bara or Ashta Chamma is a two- or four-player board game from India. This game is an example of a “fully observable” system that has an element of chance introduced by the roll of special dice and an element of strategy (the strategy being the pawn the player decides to move after the roll of the dice). While traditionally played with 4 or 6 cowry shells, dice can also be used. History The game of Chowka Bhara is one of the oldest board games in existence, still being played in certain parts of India. There are references to this game in some ancient Indian epics like the Mahabharata. Names This game is called by various names in different languages in different regions of India. This list shows the name, the language and then the region: Chauka Bara - Kannada - Mysuru region - Karnataka Katte Mane - Kannada - Rural Mysuru - Karnataka Gatta Mane - Kannada - Rural Mysuru - Karnataka Chakaara - Kannada - Karnataka Pakidakali - Malayalam - Kerala region Ashta Chamma - Telugu - Andhra Pradesh/Telangana Daayam or Thaayam - Tamil - Tamil Nadu Atthu (अट्ठू) - Hindi - Madhya Pradesh Kanna Kauri (कन्ना कौड़ी) - Hindi - Jabalpur,Madhya Pradesh Kavidi Kali - Malayalam - Kerala Chunga (चंगा) - Hindi - Madhya Pradesh Champool/ Kach kangri - Marathi - Maharashtra Ahmedabad Baji - Gujarati Chomal Ishto - Gujarati Kaangi chaala - Gujarati Mach kooki - Gujarati Changa po - Rajasthan Cheeta - Madhya Pradesh Chanda - Madhya Pradesh Teri chowk- Chhattisgarh Setup Chowka bhara normally has a 5x5 square board and four players, but one can also increase the number of squares depending on the number of players to any odd number squared (for example, 11x11). Assuming the size of the board is NxN (with N being odd), then each player will have N-1 pawns.