Traditional Indian street game

Dhaayam (Dice Race)

Dhaayam is a race board game from Tamil homes, played on a square grid drawn on the floor or on cloth. Pieces travel round the board and turn in toward the centre, driven by throws of long brass dice or cowrie shells.

Play Dhaayam free on Google Play

How it's played on the street

Draw a square board of 5 by 5 or 7 by 7 boxes. The crossed boxes are safe squares, including each player's starting box and the centre.
Each player has a few pieces that start off the board. Throw the dice, two long dhaayakattai or cowrie shells, to move.
In the dice game, a piece comes in on a throw of one, the dhaayam the game is named after.
Pieces go anticlockwise round the outer boxes, then turn inward toward the centre.
Land on a lone opponent piece outside a safe square and it goes back to start. Most homes say you must capture at least once before moving into the inner boxes.
The first player to bring every piece to the centre wins.

Other names

Thaayam Tamil spelling
Ashta Chamma Telugu
Chowka Bara Kannada
Pakidakali Malayalam

How it plays in Vilayo

Throw the brass dice and race your pieces home before Grandma. Like every game in Vilayo, it is built in real 3D, and the touch controls do what your hands would do on the street.

Levels are short, and each one gives up to three stars. Easy, Medium and Hard tiers bring new grounds and harder challenges, and the whole game plays offline.

Dhaayam, recorded in Vilayo.

Questions about Dhaayam

What are dhaayakattai?

Long four-sided dice, traditionally cast in brass and thrown in pairs. Some homes throw cowrie shells instead.

Is Dhaayam the same as Ludo?

They are cousins. Both race pieces round a board and send captured pieces back, but Dhaayam turns in toward the centre and uses its own dice or cowries.

Can I play Dhaayam on my phone?

Yes. Dhaayam is one of the 12 games in Vilayo, free on Android. It plays offline, in English, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada.