Pachisi

Pachisi is the national game of India. It is a simplified version of the even more venerable Chaupar, but both have been played at least since the fourth century A.D. Some Indian rulers really knew how to play it in style:

The Indian Emperor Akbar I of the 16th century Mogul Empire, apparently played Chaupar on great courts constructed of inlaid marble. He would sit on a Dias four feet high in the centre of the court and throw the cowry shells. On the red and white squares around him, 16 beautiful women from the harem, appropriately coloured, would move around according to his directions. Remains of these boards can be seen today in Agra and Allahabad.—Pachisi Online Guide

Pachisi is a board game, played with beehive-shaped stones often on a cloth that is shaped like a cross. European versions usually have a square board, and it is widely known in Europe, though often under different names. In the English-speaking world it is called Ludo, in Sweden Fia med knuff. In Germany it was introduced in 1918 by one Josef Friedrich Schmidt as Mensch ärgere dich nicht, obviously he wanted to pass it as his own invention, and obviously he got away with it. In France it is known as Le jeu de dada with slightly different rules.

Computer Implementations

Pachisi by George Leotti was one of the first VGA games, three months older than Robert Roberds' McDoe!. It is interesting that it was the shareware authors—who usually preferred high resolutions—who utilized the new graphics mode first.