Games / Pallanguzhi

Pallanguzhi

Pallankuzhi, Pallanguli

The seed-sowing game from Tamil Nadu and South India. Sow, keep the relay going, catch the pasu and capture the most seeds.

  • 2 players
  • Computer at three levels
  • Simple Kalah mode
  • Ages 6+, free, no betting
Play Pallanguzhi

What it is

Pallanguzhi is a mancala game: a long wooden board with two rows of seven pits, played with seeds, shells or tamarind seeds. It has been played across South India and Sri Lanka for centuries, often by grandmothers teaching children to count and plan ahead.

On Khel ON you can play the computer at Easy, Normal or Hard, or pass one phone between two players. A guided first game explains each move as it happens, and a Hint button shows a good pit. Younger children can start with Kalah, a simpler mancala with a store at each end. You earn stars and badges, and there is no betting.

Families play Pallanguzhi in many ways. Khel ON uses a common version: six seeds in each pit, sowing anticlockwise, relay sowing, capture across an empty pit and the four-seed pasu rule. Choose five seeds or a full match of several rounds under More options.

Screenshots

A Pallanguzhi game in progress, with a yellow ring on the pit the Hint suggests
Hint shows a good pit
The how-to-play guide explaining the pasu rule with a pit of four seeds
Five short rule cards
Pallanguzhi's start screen with Classic or Kalah, the computer level or a friend, and a guided first game
Classic, Kalah or a guided first game

How to play

  1. Pick up and sow

    Tap one of your pits on the bottom row. You lift all of its seeds and drop one in each pit going round the board, along your row and then the other player's.

  2. Keep the relay going

    When your hand is empty, look at the next pit. If it has seeds, lift them all and keep sowing. One turn can go round the board several times.

  3. Capture across a gap

    If the next pit is empty, you capture every seed in the pit after it, and your turn ends. Two empty pits in a row means nothing to capture.

  4. Catch the pasu

    Whenever a seed you drop makes a pit hold exactly four, those four are yours straight away, on either side of the board. When a player has no seeds to move, the round ends and each side keeps its own seeds. Most seeds wins.

Good to know

Kalah for younger kids

Six pits each and a store at each end. Last seed in your store means another turn, and landing in an empty pit captures the seeds across from it.

Three computer levels

Easy makes plenty of mistakes. Normal looks a few moves ahead. Hard searches deep and is very tough to beat.

Full match

Refill your pits from your seeds after each round. Pits you cannot fill rest for the next round, and you lose when you cannot fill even one.

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