Gyan Chaupar Rules
The game of knowledge — 72 squares, and 68 wins if you hit it exactly.
Gyan Chaupar — ज्ञान चौपड़, the game of knowledge — is the North Indian board of seventy-two squares, nine across and eight up, painted on cloth in Rajasthan and the hills with every square named for a state of the soul. Square 68 is Vaikuntha and wins the game; go past it and only the snake on 72 lets you climb again.
Ways to play Gyan Chaupar
Two to four at the board
Play Gyan Chaupar against the computer with one, two or three others at the board. Every seat is filled, so a game always starts.
Online with friends and family
Create a board, share the code, and play together on the same board. 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.
No ads, ever
No advertising, no interruption, nothing to dismiss. The same promise as every Vanikar™ game.
🎯 Objective
Land exactly on square 68, Vaikuntha.
🎲 Gyan Chaupar setup
- The board is nine squares across and eight up — seventy-two in all, with Vaikuntha as a pavilion over the grid.
- Two to four play; the computer takes any seat you leave.
- Pieces start off the board and are brought on with a dayam.
- The game is thrown with the dayakattai, the two four-sided stick dice.
▶ How to play Gyan Chaupar
- Throw the two sticks; a dayam — a one — brings your piece onto the board, and 1, 5, 6 and 12 throw again.
- Ten arrows carry you up: daya (mercy), dana (charity), dharma, jnana (knowledge), viveka (conscience) and the rest.
- Bhakti on 54 is the great one — it goes straight to 68 and wins the game.
- The snakes are the vices, and they carry you back down the board.
- Square 68 must be landed on exactly to win.
- Pass 68 and you are in the last squares of the top row, where nothing wins; a throw that would take you off the board does not move you.
- The only way out of those squares is to land on 72, whose snake carries you down to 51 — and up you come again.
📖 Detailed guide
The 72-square board
- Nine columns and eight rows, numbered back and forth as the modern game is.
- Square 68 sits in the middle of the top row, under a painted pavilion, with the sun and the moon in the corners.
- Every square carries the name of a state of the soul; the ladders are right understanding and the snakes are what undoes it.
- Four squares of the top row sit past the winning square, which is the board’s own joke on the over-eager.
Getting out of the last row
- Once past 68 you cannot win from where you stand: 69, 70, 71 and 72 are all beyond it.
- A throw that would carry you off the board simply does not move you.
- Landing on 72 puts you on the snake that drops you to 51.
- From 51 the climb is open again, and 54’s bhakti is three squares away.
The stick dice
- Two four-sided sticks showing blank, 1, 2 or 3; the throw is their sum, and two blanks are twelve.
- A dayam — a one — brings a piece onto the board; until then you cannot move.
- Throws of 1, 5, 6 and 12 earn another throw.
- The sticks cannot make 7, 8, 9, 10 or 11, which shapes every plan on the board.
🏁 How Gyan Chaupar is won
The first piece to land exactly on 68 wins. The board has no other way to finish: overshooting is not a loss but a detour, and the game goes on until someone hits it.
❓ Gyan Chaupar — frequently asked questions
How many players do you need for Gyan Chaupar?
Gyan Chaupar is played by 2–4. Seats you do not fill are taken by the computer, so a game always starts.
When can I play Gyan Chaupar?
Gyan Chaupar is in development. It will arrive in Board Games by Vanikar™ and is included in the same subscription as the card games, with nothing separate to buy.
Is Gyan Chaupar included in my subscription?
Yes. One Card Games by Vanikar™ subscription covers the card games, Chess & Checkers and the board games, and every game released after them.
Does Gyan Chaupar have ads?
No. No Vanikar™ game has ever carried advertising, and none ever will.
What happens if I go past 68?
Nothing good and nothing final. The squares past 68 do not win, a throw that would take you off the board does not move you, and the only way back into the game is to land on 72 and take its snake down to 51.
What is the bhakti ladder?
The arrow on square 54. It goes straight to 68 and wins the game outright, which makes 54 the square most worth aiming at on the whole board.
Is Gyan Chaupar the same as Snakes and Ladders?
It is one of its ancestors. The idea is the same — ladders up, snakes down — but the board is 72 squares rather than 100, the winning square is not the last one, and it is thrown with stick dice rather than a cube.
What is Leela?
The name Harish Johari gave this board when he retold it in the 1970s as a game of self-knowledge. The ladders, snakes and square names used here follow that telling.