Board Games
How to play Parcheesi
Bring all four pawns home using die counts, captures, safe spaces and blockades. Home requires exact movement, and one finished pawn does not end the race.
What you need
Classic Parcheesi board, four pawns per player and two dice
Set up the game
- Put pawns in matching Start and identify Enter and private Home Path. Highest two-die roll starts; play passes left.
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Playing Parcheesi
- Enter on five: one die showing 5 or both totaling 5. Entry is compulsory when possible. Use remaining die movement on entered pawns.
- Travel counterclockwise. Each die’s full count moves one pawn; both can move the same pawn sequentially. Use both if legal, otherwise an available one.
- An exact landing captures a lone enemy to Start. Blue safety protects, except an enemy on your Enter can be captured by your entering pawn.
- Two same-color pawns make an impassable blockade, including against their owner. Do not transfer that pair together into a new blockade.
- Use your own Home Path, enter Home exactly, and be first with all four home.
One die enters, the other moves
With a pawn in Start, you roll five-two. If Enter is open you must enter on five, then move that pawn two or move another entered pawn two. You cannot call it seven and leave all starting pawns untouched. A blockaded Enter prevents entry, changing the available movement.
Doubles and their penalty
Doubles give another roll. With all four pawns entered, use tops and bottoms as four movement parts totaling 14, or move none if all four parts cannot be used. Third consecutive doubles cancel movement and return the pawn closest to Home to Start, even on its Home Path. Resolve bonuses before the extra roll.
Beginner decisions
- Inspect intermediate destinations before combining dice: a total seven does not let you cross a blockade at the end of the first count.
- Advance trailing pawns when safe; finishing three early can leave the last exposed for a long journey.
Common rule mix-ups
- Treating possible five-entry as optional.
- Splitting a twenty-space capture bonus between pawns.
Questions about this game
What are the bonuses?
Capturing grants one pawn an indivisible 20; entering Home grants an indivisible 10. Forfeit if the full bonus is impossible.
Is every safety landing a capture?
No. The exception is entry onto your own Enter space.
Sources and edition notes
Winning Moves Classic Parcheesi, 2007 sheet, two dice; not Ludo or Parchís.
Sources and stated format checked October 14, 2026. This records a document check, not a claim of hands-on testing.
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