Dayakattai

Dayakattai, also called Dayaboss, is a Tamil dice game from Tamil Nadu in southern India, played by two or four people, or in multiples, organized into teams. Players roll dice and move markers around a board in a race format, a pattern this game shares with the well known Indian dice game Pachisi. The name Dayakattai comes from the Tamil word thayam, meaning first stone, referring to the throw that starts play. The game exists in several regional forms, each varying the board layout and scoring rules while keeping the same basic dice and race mechanic. It remains a traditional pastime in Tamil communities, passed down as a folk game rather than a commercially published product.