JOIN US ‘Yeni ata’, ‘Chaukaubara’, ‘Chanamini’ ‘Pagade’, ‘Kavade’, ‘Chaduranga’ were some of the indoor games played by the royal families during their leisure time. Of these games ‘Chanamini’ became popular and grew to be the game of the common people from ancient time. This game was played by people irrespective of age but in recent time unfortunately its popularity is declining and there are very few people know how the game is played.
This game is played on a wooden stand, which looks like a modern egg stand, which is 10 inch wide and 1 foot long. There are 14 scoop like spaces on the stand called ‘guni’ or ‘mane’ (house). Apart from this there are two spaces on both ends of the stand where the players place the seeds won by them.
‘Chanamini’ is incomplete without tamarind seeds as these are the seeds used by the players during their turn.
The game needs to two players and with the beginning of the game 5 seeds are place in every ‘guni’, which means 70 seeds are placed in totality in all the 14 ‘guni’.
The player who starts the game starts placing the seeds from first house into other houses.
During the course of the game if there are 4 seeds in a house it is called ‘Karu’. All in all the game goes on peacefully between the players as the rules are rigid about who takes over the game at what point.
The game in olden days used to be a source of entertainment. It is said to provide mental peace and develop tolerance and patience. Further, since the game involves lot of counting, it is said to be a good way of developing mathematic skills.
With the advent of television, computers, mobile etc, the younger generation have drifted away from these traditional games. Today Chanamini is used in some palatial mansions as a show piece and nothing more.
Some rural areas though have ‘Chanamini’ games being played it has remained confined to the boundaries of rural areas. With ‘Chanamini’ being a glorious reflection of the past, there is a need to nurture such rural games so that future generation are acquainted to them.