Two to four at the board
Play against the computer with one, two or three others at the board. Every seat is filled, so a game always starts.
Board Games by Vanikar™ · In your browser
The boards families keep coming back to
Sixteen games, two to four to a board, against the computer offline or online with friends and family. Snakes and Ladders leads them, on seven boards; behind it are the old boards it came from, thrown with the Tamil stick dice, two sowing games played with seeds instead of dice, and the tables everyone knows — Backgammon, Reversi, Mahjong, Sea Battle, and the dice games Farkle and Yatzy.
One account
Board Games by Vanikar™, Chess & Checkers by Vanikar™ and Card Games by Vanikar™ share one sign-in. A Card Games subscription includes every one of them — there is nothing separate to buy.
See plans →- 16
- games
- 2–4
- players
- 7
- boards for Snakes and Ladders
- 0
- ads
What you get
A table set properly
Every game keeps your place, counts towards your stats, and never shows you an advert.
Online with friends and family
Create a board, share the code, and play two to four together — from a browser on any device, and from the Board Games app on Android today, iOS to follow — the same board either way. Online games count towards your rating and My Stats.
Picked up where you left it
Close the tab mid-game and come back to it: the game is kept in your browser, on the board you were playing.
Boards and pieces to choose
Snakes and Ladders has seven boards — jungle, desert, ocean, arctic, space and candy beside the classic — and ten sets of pieces, from counters to tamarind seeds.
Stats and leaderboards
Wins and games count towards My Stats and the leaderboards, exactly as the card games do.
The games
Sixteen boards, one family
Each is its own game, with its own board, its own dice and its own way of getting home.
Snakes and Ladders
The modern game: a hundred squares, ladders up, snakes down, and a six rolls again. Seven boards to pick from, each with its own ladders and snakes.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Paramapadham
The Tamil elder of them all, played through the night of Vaikunta Ekadasi: a hundred squares, virtues for ladders, demons for snakes, and Vaikuntham at the top.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Gyan Chaupar
The game of knowledge, on the 72-square board: 68 wins — but only if you land on it exactly, or the snake on 72 sends you back to 51.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Gyan Bazi
The Jain board, eighty-four squares under a crown of three: the vows carry you up, the passions carry you down, and Siddhashila is home.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Shatranj al-Arifin
The chess of the gnostics: a hundred squares along the Sufi path, from repentance to the Throne, with the diseases of the heart waiting on the way.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Dhayam
The Tamil race around a cross, thrown with the same sticks. Land where another piece stands and you cut it: back to the start it goes, and round you carry on.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Aadu Puli Aattam
Goats and tigers on a triangle. Three tigers hunt fifteen goats; the goats win by hemming the tigers in so none can jump. No dice at all — it is all position.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Pallanguzhi
The Tamil sowing game. Lift a pit, sow its seeds one a pit round both rows, and sow on from wherever the last one lands: a turn keeps going until it meets an empty pit. Four in a pit is a pasu, and the board is played in rounds.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Guilds to Galaxies
The property-trading game, on nine boards — a century each from the 1400s to the 2200s. Buy, build, charge rent, and see the same game played from guild halls to galaxies.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Mancala
The sowing game as it is sold — the rules of Kalah. Six pits a side, a store at your right and a seed dropped into it on the way round; a last seed home is another turn, and a last seed in an empty pit of yours takes the pit across.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Backgammon
The oldest race game still played: fifteen checkers a side, hits and the bar, and gammons worth two and three. No doubling cube — a game is one game.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Farkle
Roll, set the scorers aside, and roll the rest or bank: a roll with nothing in it is a farkle and the turn’s points are gone. First to 10,000 closes the game.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Mahjong
The Chinese tile game, the streamlined Hong Kong way: draw, discard, call pung, kong or chow, and go out on four sets and a pair. One hand is one game, scored in fan.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Reversi
The game sold as Othello: outflank a line of the other color and the whole line turns yours. Black first, a forced pass when you cannot move, and the most discs on a full board wins.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Sea Battle
Two hidden fleets of ten ships, set out at random. Call a square, hear miss, hit or sunk, and shoot again after a hit; the first to sink all ten wins.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Yatzy
Three rolls a turn, hold what you like, and score one box a round: the upper bonus at 63, a Yatzy for 50, and the joker rule for the second one. Highest card after thirteen rounds wins.
▶ Play in your browser How to play →Learn & Play
Explore all guides → History, strategy and your next good move
History · 3 min
Snakes and Ladders history: boards with a meaning
Explore the Indian roots of Snakes and Ladders, its relationship to Gyan Chaupar and other teaching boards, and the differences in Vanikar’s collection.
Read the guide Strategy · 3 minAadu Puli Aattam strategy: goats versus tigers
Learn placement and movement strategy for Aadu Puli Aattam: protect landing points as the goats and preserve escape routes as the three tigers.
Read the guide Start here · 3 minGuilds to Galaxies: your first game, step by step
Learn Guilds to Galaxies: choose one of nine centuries, buy holdings, complete groups, improve evenly and build wealth before the round limit.
Read the guide Questions
Frequently asked
Which board games can I play today?
Sixteen: Snakes and Ladders, Paramapadham, Gyan Chaupar, Gyan Bazi, Shatranj al-Arifin, Dhayam, Aadu Puli Aattam, Pallanguzhi, Guilds to Galaxies, Mancala, Backgammon, Farkle, Mahjong, Reversi, Sea Battle and Yatzy. All of them play in your browser at play.vanikar.games/board-games.
Can I play board games online?
Yes — every one of them. Two to four share a board (two at Aadu Puli Aattam, Pallanguzhi, Mancala, Backgammon, Reversi and Sea Battle): create a board, share the code, and the others join. It is the same online play the card games have, with the seat kept if you reload and the result counting towards your rating.
Do I need an account?
Yes — the same Vanikar™ account as Card Games and Chess & Checkers. Sign in once and everything is there, with your stats following the account rather than the device.
Are the board games included in my subscription?
Yes. One subscription covers the card games, Chess & Checkers and the board games, and every game we release after them.
What are the stick dice?
Dayakattai: two four-sided sticks, thrown together. They show blank, 1, 2 or 3, the throw is their sum, and two blanks are twelve. A one — a dayam — brings a piece onto the board and throws again, as do 5, 6 and 12. Paramapadham, Gyan Chaupar, Gyan Bazi, Shatranj al-Arifin and Dhayam are all played with them.
Is it on my phone?
The board games play in any phone browser today, and online play is cross-platform: a player in a browser and a player on a phone can sit at the same board. Board Games by Vanikar™ is on Google Play now, the App Store listing is coming, and both use the same account.
Roll when ready.
Pick a board, fill the seats, and play — no download, no advert, no wait.
▶ Play in your browser