Traditional games of South Asia

Traditional games

Gillidanda

Gillidanda or gulli danda is a game where players attempt to hit a stick as far as possible to score points. It has similarities to the popular South Asian sport of cricket, as well as to traditional games around the world, such as tipcat.

Chindro

Chindro (also known as Stapoo or Kidi Kada) is a game popular in the Indian subcontinent. The game is played with a stone that is tossed or slid on a marked-off playing court. It is similar to hopscotch.

Gutte

Gutte (similar to Meergati and Bilghotti in Pakistan) involves players throwing up and then grabbing stones on the ground, while ensuring none of the stones falls from the air to the ground.

Dark room

Dark room is the same as hide-and-seek, except that it is played in an entirely dark room.

Donkey Donkey

Donkey Donkey (similar to the Pakistani Beech ki Billi) is a game in which two players attempt to throw a ball to each other, while a player in the middle tries to catch it.

Ball games

Maram pitti

Maram Pitti is similar to Pakistan's Maran Kuttai.

Seven stones

In the game of seven stones (known by several other names in various regions), one team throws a ball at a pile of stones and then attempts to rebuild the pile, while the other team tries to eliminate the first team's players by throwing the ball at them.

Variations of tag

Deciding who the denner is

In many South Asian variations of tag, the player meant to tag the other players is known as the "denner". There are various ways of selecting the denner, such as Saa Boo Three (also known as pugam pugai), in which a group of three players face one of their hands up or down, and if one of the players faces their hand the opposite way of the other two, then they are chosen as the denner.

Kabaddi

Kabaddi is a contact sport played between two teams of seven players each. During the game, a lone member of one team ("raider") enters the opposite half of the court and tries to tag members of the opposition team ("defenders") without being tackled. In a single raid, often lasting a maximum 30 seconds, points are awarded for successful tags if the raider does not get out, while defenders earn a point if the raider is tackled, goes out of bounds or timed out. Tagged or tackled players temporarily step out of the game and can be revived when the team scores points. Raids alternate between the teams throughout the game.

There are several variations of the sport though the two major forms are the standard style, played on a rectangular court, that is part of international competitions such as the Asian Games, and circle style (also called Punjabi kabaddi), played on a circular field.

Kho-kho

Kho kho is a traditional Indian sport that dates to ancient India. It is one of the most popular traditional tag games in the Indian subcontinent after kabaddi. Kho kho is played on a rectangular court with a central lane connecting two poles at either end of the court. During the game, nine players from the chasing team (attacking team) are on the field, with eight of them sitting (crouched) in the central lane, while three runners from the defending team run around the court and try to avoid being touched or caught. Each sitting player on the chasing team faces the opposite half of the field.

In the game, one player from the chasing team (the "active chaser" or "attacker") may run around the court to tag (touch) members of the defending team. Each successful tag earns one point, and tagged defenders must leave the field. However, the active chaser is restricted from crossing the central lane to access the other half of the court and cannot change direction once they begin running toward either pole. These restrictions can be bypassed if the active chaser either switches roles with a sitting teammate — by touching them on the back while saying "Kho" — who is facing the other half of the court, or by running behind either pole to switch direction or halves. Each team alternates between scoring and defending, with two turns for each role. Each turn lasts nine minutes, and the team with the highest score at the end of the game wins.

Freeze tag

Freeze tag (also known as Baraf Paani in North-India and Pakistan, and as Borof Paani in Bangladesh) involves players becoming "frozen" in place when tagged by an opponent, but becoming unfrozen when tagged by a teammate.

Atya-patya

Atya patya (Marathi: आट्यापाट्या) is a traditional South Asian tag sport played by two sides of nine players. It is more popular in rural areas of India. It is more commonly played in Maharashtra, a western Indian state. Atya patya is described as a "game of feints". The playing area comprises nine trenches, coming out of either side of a central trench; a point is awarded to the attacking team's players for each trench they cross without being tagged by the defensive players within the trenches. The game ends after 4 innings (scoring turns) of 7 minutes each, with each team having two innings to score. It has been described as a game of "militant chase". The sport is played in a relatively small area and requires no equipment, similar to other games indigenous to India such as kabaddi, seven stones, kho kho, gillidanda and langdi.

Langdi

Langdi is a traditional South Asian field sport which combines elements of tag and hopscotch. It was originally played during the Pandiyan Dynasty and called "Nondiyaattam" at that time. The teams alternate chasing (attacking) and defending roles in each of the 4 innings of the game, with the chasing team's players restricted to hopping around on one foot, and attempting to score points by tagging as many defenders as possible within the 9 minutes of each inning. It is described by Marathis as a sport with a Marathi ethos.

Langdi is considered to be useful in training for sports like kho kho, volleyball and gymnastics. The National Langdi Federation received national recognition in 2010.

Aankh micholi

Aankh micholi (similar to Bangladesh's Kanamachi) is a form of blindfolded tag.

Kokla chappaki

This game (similar to Rumal Chor and Bengal's Rumal Churi) is similar to duck, duck, goose.

Oonch Neech

Oonch Neech (or Oonch Neech ka Papada) is a rural and urban street children's game and variation of tag played in North India and Pakistan. Oonch Neech (Hindi) translates to Up and Down in English.

Board games

Snakes and ladders

Snakes and ladders is a board game for two or more players regarded today as a worldwide classic. The game originated in ancient India as Moksha Patam ('liberation lesson'), and was brought to the United Kingdom in the 1890s. It is played on a game board with numbered, gridded squares. A number of "ladders" and "snakes" are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares. The object of the game is to navigate one's game piece, according to die rolls, from the start (bottom square) to the finish (top square), helped by climbing ladders but hindered by sliding down snakes.

Another traditional game called Ludo, is mostly played at the same board on the other side. Four participants can play this game with the help of dice.

Carrom

Carrom is a tabletop game of Indian origin in which players flip or flick discs, attempting to knock them to the corners of the board, in a similar fashion to billiards. Throughout South Asia, many clubs and cafés hold regular carrom tournaments. Carrom is commonly played by families, including children, and at social gatherings. Different standards and rules exist in different areas.