Angana: Chowkabara Chennemane

Remember the summer holidays? The cool red floor of the house, cousins sitting round a chalk board, four cowries rattled in a cupped hand, the seeds dropping one by one into the pits of a wooden board, nobody in a hurry, and a quarrel over a count forgotten by evening. Angana brings those afternoons back. Angana means courtyard: one app for the traditional games of India, played the way they were played at home. Sit down for a few minutes, by yourself against the phone or with someone beside you, and go back there. CHOWKABARA Also known as Chowka Bara, Chowka Bhara and Ashta Chamma. • A five by five board drawn in chalk on a red oxide floor, the five safe squares marked with a cross • Four cowries for dice: count those that land mouth up; all four up is a chowka (4), all four down is eight, and both earn another throw • Four pawns each, round the outer ring, then the inner ring the other way, and home to the centre • Hit a pawn to send it back; the jodi, two pawns together, moves as one and blocks the way • Two, three or four players; pawns from the kitchen: groundnuts, tamarind seeds, peas, gravel stones, bangle pieces and more CHENNEMANE Also known as Ali Guli Mane and Alaguli Mane; a cousin of Pallanguzhi and the mancala games. • A carved wooden board of fourteen pits, five seeds in each • Play with tamarind seeds or cowries • Lift the seeds of one pit and sow them one by one; when the last falls, lift the next pit and sow on; when the next pit is empty, take the pit beyond it and the pit opposite • Karu: four seeds in a pit go to its owner, even in the middle of the other player's sowing • Round after round, until one cannot fill a single pit; a pit that cannot be filled is closed with a bit of broom stick • Two players: you and the phone, or two people with the phone on the floor between them YOUR FAMILY'S RULES Every family plays a little differently, and Angana lets you choose. For Chowkabara: whether a hit is needed before going inside, the jodi rules, extra throws. For Chennemane: four, five or six seeds a pit, the opposite pit, karu, equal pits when one player is short of seeds, and a game of one, three, five or seven rounds. THE FLOOR, THE WOOD AND THE SOUND The polished red floor with the light from the open door, the chalk that wears where the pawns are pushed, the carved board with brass studs, the threshold with turmeric and kumkum. The cowries are shaken and strike the floor; a tamarind seed knocks on the wood. Every sound is made on the phone. IN ENGLISH, KANNADA AND HINDI Choose the language in the app, at the board, or in your phone's settings. YOUR GAMES ARE YOURS • Works offline. No account is needed • Close it in the middle of a game, and the game is there when you open it again • Continue with Google, or sign in with your email, if you wish, to carry a game on on another phone • Save a copy of everything in one file at any time • Nothing is sold Angana is made by Dixith Labs (dixith.com).

Welcome to Angana: traditional Indian board games for the whole family. Play Chowkabara, Pagade, Chennemane and Paramapada Sopana with family, or against Gubbi the sparrow. Learn with lessons, choose Beginner, Medium or Expert, take back a move, and read the history of each game. Free, no ads, and an account is optional. In English, Kannada and Hindi.