Main Pacheh is race game played on a square board from the Penang region in Malaysia. Curiously, the name of the game is similar to the name for many cross-shaped games known throughout South, Southwest, and Southeast Asia.
Rules
5x5 board, with the central square on each side and the central square of the board marked with an X. Two to four players, each with four pieces, which start on one of the marked squares on the edge of the board. Four cowrie shells used as dice. The throws are as follows, with the value of the throws equaling the number of mouths which land up, all mouths down = 8, and grants the player another throw. Pieces moves in a spiral track around the board in an anti-clockwise direction until they reach the space before the starting point, at which point they proceed around the inner circles in a clockwise direction, and then to the central space. When a player lands on a space occupied by an opponent's piece, the opponent's piece is sent back to their starting position. When a player reaches the central square by an exact throw, it is removed from the board. The first player to remove all four of their pieces from the board wins.
