Pallanguzhi is an ancient and traditional Mancala game which was played in South India. In South India, Pallanguzhi was played mostly in Tamil Nadu and later on, the games were played in places like Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia.
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Variants of Pallanguzhi Game
There are quite a large number of variants associated with the Pallanguzhi game such as Ali Guli mane in Kannada, Vamana Guntalu in Telugu and Kuzhipara in Malayalam.
Ali Guli Mane is a board game of the Mancala family in Karnataka.
The Ali Guli Mane board consists of two rows that have 7 holes each. There are two players and each player will hold the row of holes which is closest to him.
This game can start with 70 pieces and 5, 7 or 12 pieces placed in each hole.
Similarly, Vamana Guntalu is a variant of the Pallanguzhi or the Mancala game and is popular in Andhra Pradesh.
This game is an indoor game and is one of the oldest games which helps in enhancing the memory of the players.
It is played on a wooden board that is hand carved in nature and the major intent of the game is capturing more seeds than your other opponent. Similarly, the Pallanguzhi game is known as Kuzhipara in Malayalam and is the oldest form of the Mancala game.
Game Origin ( Who made the Game)
The origin of the Pallanguzhi game was during the period of the Chola dynasty in India. This game was played by the players on the premises of the temple and later on became quite famous with the Tamil people.
Components of Pallanguzhi Board Game
The major component of the Pallanguzhi game is the board which can be constructed of various materials like wood, shell, etc.
The board will contain holes that are arranged in the form of rows. These holes are otherwise known as pits or depressions and hold the playing pieces.
The playing pieces are seeds, beans, shells or even half-marbles.
The objective of the game
The major objective of the Pallanguzhi game is to capture more stones than the opponent.
How to Play the Game – Strategy & Game Rules
Mostly, the game board consists of 2 rows and 7 columns. There are a total of 14 cups and 146 counters present on the board.
With the beginning of the game, every player will distribute all the playing pieces or shells over the pits. When it’s a particular player’s turn, he would select a hole with seeds that would be sown over the board. This selection of holes is limited to the holes on the current player’s side of the board, as well as holes with a certain minimum number of seeds. Both the players can spread seeds through the counters across both the rows.
In the next step known as sowing, all the seeds from a particular hole are dropped one-by-one into subsequent holes in a motion wrapping around the board. The game will end when any one of the players would be able to capture all the shells present in the board and will be declared as the winner. It is very necessary for both the players to remain alert throughout the game and plan the next move in advance.
Pallanguzhi games can be obtained easily online on the Amazon website. The below-mentioned websites can be visited to procure Pallanguzhi games easily.
Benefits of playing this game ( for kids and elders)
The Pallanguzhi game is common among children and elderly people. It focuses on numerical ability, strategy, alertness, and focus. It is beneficial as it helps children in learning to count and also improves eye-hand coordination at the time of playing. It also helps in enhancing memory, observation skills and the motor skills of children.