You do not need to buy anything to play Aadu Puli Attam. The board has been drawn in dust, chalked on doorsteps and scratched into stone for as long as people have played it, and it takes about five minutes with a pencil and a ruler. Here is how, with a check at the end so you know the board is right.
What you need
- A sheet of paper or card, A4 or larger. The bigger the board, the easier it is to pick pieces up.
- A pencil and a ruler. A pen for going over the lines afterwards, if you like.
- Three tiger pieces and fifteen goat pieces of a different colour or shape. Coins of two sizes, two kinds of dried beans, buttons, bottle caps, shells and pebbles all work. Traditionally, tamarind seeds against small stones.
Step 1: the base line
Near the bottom of the sheet, draw a horizontal line about 18 cm long. Mark four points on it, evenly spaced: one at each end and two in between, so the gaps are equal. These four points are the base.
Step 2: the apex
Find the middle of the base line and go straight up from it about 24 cm. Mark a point there. This is the apex, the top of the board, where one tiger starts.
Step 3: the four sloping lines
Draw a straight line from the apex to each of the four base points. You now have a fan of four lines. Where they leave the apex they are close together; at the base they are spread out.
Step 4: the three rows
Divide the height between the apex and the base into four roughly equal parts and draw a horizontal line at each of the three marks between them. Make each row longer than the fan is wide at that height, extending past the outer sloping line by about one gap on each side. The extension is important: it creates the two extra points on each row.
Mark a point wherever a row crosses a sloping line (four per row) and one at each end of each row (two per row). Each row has six points.
Step 5: the two side lines
Join the left ends of the three rows with a vertical line, and the right ends with another. These short side lines close the figure and turn the row ends into real points that pieces can move between.
Check the count
Count the points: one apex, three rows of six, four on the base. Twenty-three. If you have more, you probably marked a point where a row meets a side line's extension; if fewer, one of the rows is not extended past the outer sloping lines.
Also check the lines. There should be exactly ten: four sloping lines from the apex, three rows, the base, and two vertical sides. A move in the game always follows one of these ten lines to the next point along it, so a line that is missing or an extra one that is drawn by mistake changes the game.
Set up and play
Put one tiger on the apex and the other two on the middle two points of the top row. Keep the fifteen goats in your hand. The goat player places first. The full rules, including how tigers jump and how each side wins, are in the complete rules of Aadu Puli Attam, and the strategy guides for goats and tigers will give you a plan for your first games.
Drawing it bigger
On a pavement or a playground, chalk works, and the same proportions apply: a base about three strides wide and an apex about four strides above it. Use two colours of pebbles or two sizes of bottle caps for the pieces. The game is a good one for children once they can count, because the goat player learns to look before placing and the tiger player learns to plan two moves ahead.
If you would rather skip the drawing, the app has the board, three difficulty levels of opponent, a tutorial and pass-and-play on one phone. It is on the App Store, and the offline modes are free.
Frequently asked questions
Does the board have to be an exact triangle? No. The sides are the vertical lines joining the row ends, so the shape is a fan with straight sides rather than a true triangle. Proportions do not matter as long as every line is straight and every point is where two or more lines meet.
How big should the gaps be? Big enough that a piece on one point does not cover the neighbouring point. With coins, 3 cm between points is comfortable.
Can I play on a Bagh-chal board? Not this game. Bagh-chal uses a 25-point square grid and different piece counts. The two are cousins with different boards; see the tiger and goat games of South Asia.
What can I use for pieces if I only have one kind of coin? Heads up for tigers, tails up for goats. It works surprisingly well.