Paramapadam Rules

• 2 to 6 players, one token each. Every token starts off the board.
• The first player is chosen at random; play then goes round in the same order.
• The board has 132 squares in 11 columns and 12 rows, numbered in a zigzag: the bottom row left to right, the next right to left, and so on up to 132 at the top left.
• The first player to reach 132 wins. With three or more players the game goes on for the other places — 2nd, 3rd and so on — until only one player is left, who takes last place.

Throw two long Dayakattai sticks together. Each shows a blank or 1, 2 or 3 pips. Add them up. A blank counts as 0, except that two blanks count as 12. Each stick lands on its own, so some totals come up more often than others.

The order of the sticks doesn't matter: blank + 1 and 1 + blank are the same throw.

• A token outside the board needs a Thayam (blank + 1) to come in. It goes onto square 1, and you roll again.
• Any other throw, even 5, 6 or 12, leaves it outside, and your turn ends.
• Once in, you never need another Thayam, even if a snake takes you back down near the start.
• In the game you can choose other numbers that also bring a token in, as some families do.

• Move forward by the total, counting from the next square: from 10, a 4 takes you to 14.
• The move is compulsory and can't be split.
• Any number of tokens can share a square. There is no capturing or blocking.

• Land exactly on the foot of a ladder and climb to its top. Land exactly on a snake's head and slide to its tail.
• Passing over them does nothing, and so does landing on a ladder's top or a snake's tail.
• A snake or ladder only counts on the square where your turn ends. While you are rolling again, you pass over whatever you land on; when your last roll of the turn stops on a ladder's foot or a snake's head, you climb or slide then. Only one counts per turn, and they never give an extra roll themselves.

Once your token is on the board, throwing 1, 5, 6 or 12 gives you another roll after you move. Extra rolls can follow one another without limit. Any other throw ends your turn. In the game you can choose which numbers give an extra roll before you start.

You need the exact number to land on 132. If a throw would take you past it, your token stays put and your turn ends — even on a number that would normally give another roll.

Reaching 132 ends that player's turn at once, even if they had an extra roll to come. They take the next place and play continues with the others.