2 players
Ashtapada
- Game family
- escape
- Origin
- India
Overview
Ashtapada is a term referring to a board game that predates Chess in India. It is widely believed that the 8x8 Ashtapada board, which is marked in certain places, was appropriated and used for Chaturanga, since many Chaturanga boards in India maintain the Ashtapada markings, though they are meaningless for Chess. In the Ashtapabada of Balabharata (thirteenth century), a dice game is described as being played on the Ashtapada, with dice determining the movement of pieces on the board.
Source rules (English)
To be reconstructed. The rules implemented here are suggested by Jenny Kile as follows: Besides being an 8x8 squared board, the board consists of certain marked spaces which denote safety, entry, or exit for players. The four corners, the four central squares, and two center squares on each side are crosscut, like shown. Two, three, or four people can play the game. If two players are playing, each would sit on one side of the board and enter their two pieces onto the center crosscut squares along the outer side The object of the game is to be the first player to enter and exit both his pieces. A player exits his piece once reaching the center squares.