What is "pachisi"

Pachisi \Pa*chi"si\, Parchesi \Par*che"si\, Parchisi \Par*chi"si\, n. [Hind., fr. pachis twenty-five, the highest throw in the game.]

1. A game, somewhat resembling backgammon, originating in India.

2. A game adopted from the Indian game, using disks, as of pasteboard, and dice; it is played on a cross-shaped board. [U. S. & Eng.]

n. An ancient Indian board game in which players, throwing dice, shells, etc. to determine the distance of each move, attempt to be the first to take all of their counters around the board.

n. an ancient board game resembling backgammon; played on a cross-shaped board

Pachisi is a cross and circle board game that originated in ancient India which has been described as the "national game of India". It is played on a board shaped like a symmetrical cross. A player's pieces move around the board based upon a throw of six or seven cowrie shells, with the number of shells resting with aperture upwards indicating the number of spaces to move.

The name of the game derives from the Hindi word pachis, meaning twenty-five, the largest score that can be thrown with the cowrie shells. Thus the game is also known by the name Twenty-Five. There are other versions of this game where the largest score that can be thrown is thirty.

There are other well known versions of the game, chausar, chaupar, chaupur or caupur. The word caupur derives from the Sanskrit catus pada meaning he who has four legs. Parcheesi, Sorry! and Ludo are among the many Westernized commercial versions of the game. It is also possible that this game had led to the development of the Korean board game Yunnori, through the ancient kingdom Baekje.