How to Play Pallanguzhi
Fourteen pits, seventy seeds, and a turn that keeps going round.
Pallanguzhi (பல்லாங்குழி) is the Tamil sowing game: two rows of seven pits cut into a plank of wood, five seeds in each — tamarind seeds or cowries — and nothing else on the board. Lift a pit and sow its seeds one a pit round both rows; when the last one drops, the next pit is lifted and sown on, and a turn can go round the board several times before it ends. There are no stores: what you take goes into a bowl beside the board, and the game is played in rounds until one side cannot fill a single pit. Play it against the computer at three levels, or online against another player.
Ways to play Pallanguzhi
Two to four at the board
Play Pallanguzhi 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
Take seeds until the other side cannot refill even one pit at the start of a round. A game the table settles early — after twelve rounds, or a very long run of moves — goes to the fuller bowl.
🎲 Pallanguzhi setup
- The board is two rows of seven pits. Five seeds go into every pit: seventy in all.
- There are no stores on the board. Each side keeps what it takes in a bowl beside it, and refills its pits from that bowl between rounds.
- You choose South — the bottom row, which sows first — or North; the computer takes the other at the level you set. Online, the host chooses South, North or a random draw.
- Seeds travel anticlockwise: along your row from your left, into the far end of the other row, back along it, and down into yours again.
▶ How to play Pallanguzhi
- On your turn, lift any pit of yours that has seeds and sow them one a pit into the pits after it, round both rows.
- When the last seed drops, look at the next pit. If it has seeds, lift them too and sow on from there — the relay. A turn goes on as long as the pit after the last seed has something in it.
- When the pit after the last seed is empty, the turn ends, and the pit beyond the empty one is yours: whatever is in it goes to your bowl. If that pit is empty too, you take nothing.
- Pasu: whenever a seed brings a pit to exactly four, those four are taken at once — by whoever owns the pit, not by whoever sowed them.
- When it is your turn and your row is empty, the round ends. Every seed left on the board goes to the side it lies on.
- Each side then refills its pits from its bowl, five to a pit, from its left, as many pits as it can. The pits it cannot fill are closed for the round: nothing is sown into them, and the seeds pass over them. The side that ran out sows first.
- A side that cannot fill even one pit has lost.
🎬 Watch: How to Play Pallanguzhi
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📖 Detailed guide
The board and the bowls
- Two rows of seven pits in a plank of wood — fourteen hollows — with five seeds in each at the start of every round. The traditional seeds are tamarind seeds or cowrie shells.
- The board has no stores. What a side takes goes into its bowl, shown beside its row, and the bowl is what the side refills from when a new round begins.
- Seeds go anticlockwise: from your left along your row, up into the other row, back along it, and down into yours.
- The count beside every pit and bowl is kept for you, so there is nothing to tally by hand.
The relay and the capture
- A turn is a chain of sowings. Lift a pit, sow its seeds one a pit, and when the last drops, look at the next pit: seeds there are lifted and sown on; an empty pit there ends the turn.
- The capture is the pit beyond the empty one, whatever it holds and whichever side it is on. An empty pit beyond takes nothing.
- A pasu is taken the moment a pit reaches four — in the middle of a relay, and by the pit’s owner. Sowing through the other row can hand them a pasu; sowing through your own can earn you one.
- A single turn can go round the board several times. The table shows the seeds moving one a pit, so you can follow where each sowing ends.
Rounds
- A round ends when the side to move has no seeds on its row to lift. Everything still on the board goes to the side it lies on.
- Each side refills from its bowl, five to a pit, from its left, as many pits as it can. The pits it cannot fill are closed for the round — crossed out, and skipped by the sowing. Whatever does not fill a pit stays in the bowl.
- The side that ran out sows first in the new round.
- A side that cannot fill a single pit has lost the game.
What the digital table adds
- A round in which nothing has been taken for sixty moves is over, as if both sides had run out: without that rule a last seed or two can circle the board for ever, since what is taken is always the pit beyond the empty one.
- Twelve rounds, or a very long run of moves, settle the game for the fuller bowl; equal bowls are a draw.
- Offline, choose your side and the computer’s level — Easy, Medium or Hard — and the game is kept in your browser until you finish it.
- Online, two sit at the board and the host chooses South, North or a random draw; South sows first. The result counts towards your rating and My Stats.
🏁 How Pallanguzhi is won
There is no score to count, only the seeds in the two bowls. The game is won when the other side cannot fill a single pit at the start of a round. On the digital table a round in which nothing has been taken for sixty moves ends there — otherwise a lone seed could walk round the board for ever — and a game of twelve rounds, or a very long run of moves, is settled for the fuller bowl: more seeds wins, and equal bowls are a draw.
❓ Pallanguzhi — frequently asked questions
How many players do you need for Pallanguzhi?
Pallanguzhi is played by 2. Seats you do not fill are taken by the computer, so a game always starts.
Where can I play Pallanguzhi?
In your browser at play.vanikar.games, on a computer, a tablet or a phone. Sign in with the same Vanikar™ account you use for the card games.
Is Pallanguzhi 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 Pallanguzhi have ads?
No. No Vanikar™ game has ever carried advertising, and none ever will.
How many seeds does Pallanguzhi use?
Seventy: two rows of seven pits with five seeds in each. Traditionally they are tamarind seeds or cowrie shells, and the board is a plank of wood with the pits hollowed out.
What is a pasu?
A pit brought to exactly four seeds by a sowing. The four are taken at once by whoever owns the pit — not by the player who sowed them — so a seed from your sowing can give the other side a pasu on their row.
What happens when a round ends?
Every seed left on the board goes to the side it lies on. Each side then refills its pits with five from its bowl, from its left, as many pits as it can; the pits it cannot fill are closed for the round. A side that cannot fill a single pit has lost, and the side that ran out sows first.
Is Pallanguzhi the same as Mancala?
They are the same family — sowing games — but not the same game. Pallanguzhi has seven pits a side, no stores on the board, relay sowing, the capture of the pit beyond an empty one, the pasu, and rounds; the Mancala sold in a box has six pits a side, a store at each end, another turn for a seed that lands home, and no rounds.