Since each cowrie carry 2 points, 2 tokens for Chamma and 4 tokens for Ashta are entered on the board. The tokens enter the board only after a Chamma or Ashta is thrown. Each player's piece must completely traverse the outer squares before moving into the inner squares. The path for Player 1 is given in the example diagram. Each player has a fixed path to move pawns, which is in an anti-clockwise direction. Casting 4 or 8 gives the player an additional turn, which can continue until that player rolls a number other than 4 or 8 (namely 1, 2, or 3).ĭepending on the number rolled, the player can move one (or more) of their pawns that many number of squares on the board. Therefore, the possible values are 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8. However, if every shell shows a value of 0, then the value of the roll is 8 and if all of them shows a value of 1, then the value of the roll is 4. The mouth of the shell landing upwards has a value of 1 and downwards has a value of 0. The game is controlled by throwing four cowry shells and counting how many are 'as it is' versus those that land 'inverted': if all four shells land inverted it is called 'ashta' and if all land as it is then it is called an 'chamma'.Įach player takes a turn to roll the cowrie shells. Cowrie shells used as dice, though in this picture six were thrown instead of the four used in this game.

Ashta chamma game meaning