🪵 Play Pallanguzhi online

Pallanguzhi is the much-loved seed-and-pit board game of Tamil homes, the one many of us learned from a grandmother on a long holiday afternoon. Two rows of seven pits, five seeds in each, and one simple goal: collect more seeds than your opponent.

Pick up the seeds from one of your pits and sow them one by one around the board. Where your last seed lands decides everything: keep sowing, make a capture, or end your turn. The optional Pasu rule, on by default, adds a twist whenever a pit reaches exactly four seeds. Play against the computer on Easy or Normal, free in your browser with no sign-up. New to the game? Read our full guide on how to play Pallanguzhi.

How to play Pallanguzhi

1. The board has 2 rows of 7 pits, and every pit starts with 5 seeds. The bottom row is yours.
2. Tap any non-empty pit in your row. Its seeds are sown anticlockwise, one seed per pit.
3. After the last seed, look at the next pit. If it has seeds, pick them up and keep sowing.
4. If the next pit is empty, you capture the seeds in the pit after it, and your turn ends. Two empty pits in a row end your turn with no capture.
5. Pasu rule (on by default): any pit that reaches exactly 4 seeds is captured at once by the owner of that row.
6. When the player to move has no seeds in their row, the game ends and the other player takes the seeds left on their side.
7. If 30 turns in a row pass with no capture, the game ends and each player keeps the seeds still in their own row.
8. Whoever has captured the most seeds wins.

Tips to score higher

• Count the seeds before you move so you know exactly where your last seed will land.
• Look for an empty pit followed by a big pile; landing just before it gives a rich capture.
• Be careful with pits holding 3 seeds, because one more seed turns them into a pasu for the row owner.
• Late in the game, keeping seeds on your own side can pay off when your opponent runs out.

Frequently asked questions