Pallanguzhi

Pallanguzhi(பல்லாங்குழி) tamil

A typical metal pallanguzhi board with 14 cups and 146 shells.
Players	2
Age range	5+
Setup time	10–60 seconds
Playing time	1 minute – 7 hours*
Skill(s) required	Quick Mathematics

Pallanghuzi, or Pallankuli, (பல்லாங்குழி in Tamil,(తెలుగులో "వామన గుంటలు", പല്ലാങ്കുഴി in Malayalam) is a traditional ancient Tamil mancala game played in South India especially Tamil Nadu . Later the games were spread to other States \ Countries like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Variants are called as Ali guli mane (in Kannada) Vamana guntalu (in Telugu) and Kuzhipara (in Malayalam). The game is played by two players, with a wooden board that has fourteen pits in all (hence the name from the words fourteen pits (pathinaalam kuzhi). There have been several variations in the layout of the pits, one among them being seven pits on each player's side. The pits contain Cowry shells, seeds or small pebbles used as counters. There are several variations of the game depending on the number of shells each player starts with.

Pallankuzhi 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. 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.

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 counters 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.