The Pachisi article from The Art of Contest was not the most robust article from our readings this week but it was the one that intrigued me the most. I have never played Pachisi and have only heard of it in passing before so it was interesting to read about the history and some of the game-play in the article. When I first scanned the article I looked at all the pictures and the one that struck me the most was the giant Pachisi board in the courtyard. It made me wonder how it was used. THen I read that they used real humans for those life size boards I thought wow. It reminded me of the anime No Game No Life (link at below) where they used a life size Chess board to fight to become the Ruler of the country, especially once I read that Pachisi was played frequently by royalty.
Another interesting fact about Pachisi that I took from the article was that the smaller, more portable, boards were made of cloth. Cloth is durable and easy to carry around and easily accessible as well, but it made me wonder why? Why cloth? Most games that we have come across in the readings or in out everyday lives use a solid board made of cardboard, wood, stone, or other hard material not cloth. That and the pieces they used, for these none life size boards, were well made and sometimes elaborate in design or precious in material used. Just as with the Pachisi cloth boards no two pieces, expect for the quartet someone owned, alike. There is one made out of crystal or glass, hard to tell, and others with beads or gems on them. With the Pachisi boards there was one with what looked to be a velvet base and another that looks akin to a Persian rug. It felt like you could tell what class, that might be going to far, the person was in by the materials used and how elaborate the cloth board and pieces were, which was quite fascinating.
The next part that struck me was the observer’s record of a game in 1851. To read that the players felt such strong emotions about the game pulled me away from my previous chess observation, as chess always felt like a patient silent game from what I have observed. While the players were having almost a mini-war though the people around were very relaxed and enjoying leisure. It made me wonder if Pachisi was ever used for political or diplomatic purposes in India, or in any country really. That was really all I got out of the article by itself without any prior knowledge of the game. I actually still do not really know any of the rues or how to play Pachisi but it is definitely something that I want to learn how to play.