Parchisi Dice Game Rules

How to Play Parchisi Dice Game

Objective

Parchisi is an adaptation of Indian board game Pachisi which has also been the basis of other similar games such as Ludo in England and Parchis in Spain, Parcheesi in America. Its a race game where players aim to move all their pawns to the home square. The game is played by 2 to 4 players and requires 2 six-sided dice.

Gameplay

There are 4 colored corners (Red, Green, Yellow, Blue) in the game and each corner can be taken by one player (called player nests). The game can be played by 2 to 4 players and its not necessary to use all corners in a game. If the game is played between 2 players only, then they must take the corners right across from each other. Each colored corner has a fixed starting point and then the pawn must travel through a fixed path and reach to its home square. Each color has 4 pawns which can be moved as per the following rules

Pawns are moved according to the rolled dice values which can be individual die value or the total sum value of two dice.
A Pawn only comes into the play after it is moved from its nest (corner position) to the starting point which can only be done if the rolled dice value is 5 for a single die or the two dice together.
Once pawns are into the play, it is moved anti-clockwise along the fixed path.
Players take turn in clockwise manner.
If player has no pawn in the play and he doesn't roll a five, he cannot make a move and turn is passed to the next player.
If player can make a move, he must do so.
If one of the two rolls cannot be used, player is free to pick any move.
If player's pawn lands on the same place as opponent's pawn, then opponent's pawn is sent back to his nest (corner position). This is called cutting opponent's pawn.
There are some safe places where player can not cut his opponent's pawn. These safe places are marked with grey color. There are 8 safe places in the board.
There are 4 semi-safe places which means player cannot cut opponent's pawn except in a certain condition. These semi-safe places are starting points of the 4 players. Pawns in these places can only be cut if a pawn is being moved from player's nest (corner position) to the starting point.
A pawn cannot be moved to a safe-place or semi-safe place, if it is occupied by opponent's pawn.
A player can move another pawn in a place already taken by one of his pawns so a player can move a maximum of two pawns at the same place. This is called Blockade.
When a blockade happens, no pawn can cross it including the player's pawn who created the blockade.
If a blockade is formed on a semi-safe place by an opponent, then pawns cannot be cut even when a pawn is moving from its nest (corner position) to the starting point.
A pawn can be moved to a home sqaure only by roll of the exact number.
When a player rolls a double, he gets another chance to roll after finishing his moves.

The first player to move all 4 pawns to the home square wins the game.

Credits - Parchisi Game Board Design By Víctor Manuel Campos Ramírez (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

How to play

Roll dice on your turn. Select a die or both dice and then click the pawn you want to move.