Parqués facts for kids

Parqués is a popular board game from Colombia. It's a bit like other "Cross and Circle" games, such as Pachisi. While you roll dice to move, you also need to think carefully about your strategy. The main goal is to get all your game pieces to the finish line!

The Colombian Board Game

Parqués is Colombia's own version of Pachisi, a game that first came from India. Even though it looks a lot like the Spanish game Parchís, most people in Colombia agree that Parqués is a unique Colombian creation. It developed from Pachisi, just like other games such as Parcheesi and Ludo.

Parqués mixes the original Indian game with special parts of Colombian culture. You won't find Parqués played in other countries in Latin America or around the world.

Who Plays Parqués?

People of all ages play Parqués across Colombia. It's a very popular game for both children and adults. You can find game boards for 4, 6, or even 8 players. Often, these boards have pictures of famous soccer teams, singers, or actors on them.

The game board is usually placed inside a box with a glass top. This glass makes it easy to roll the dice. Some versions are made of paper, which makes them easy to carry around.

How to Play Parqués

Parqués is played with two dice. Depending on the board, two to eight players can join in. Each player gets four game pieces, usually in a specific color like red, blue, yellow, or green. Sometimes, you can play with fewer than four pieces.

Starting the Game

At the beginning, all your pieces are in a spot called "jail." They also go back to jail if an opponent "captures" them. To get your pieces out of jail, you need to roll a pair of matching numbers (called "doubles") with the dice. You get three tries to roll doubles.

Rolling different pairs lets you free different numbers of pieces:

• If you roll 1-1 or 6-6, you can free all four of your pieces.
• If you roll 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, or 5-5, you can free two of your pieces.

Once freed, your pieces move to a special spot next to the jail. This spot is called "Home" or "Salida" (which means "exit" in Spanish).

Taking Your Turn

If you don't roll any doubles during your turn, you pass the dice to the player on your right. If you do roll doubles, you free your pieces and get an extra turn to move them.

When it's your turn to move, you roll the dice again. You must move your pieces based on the numbers you roll. For example, if you roll a 5 and a 3:

• You can move one piece 8 spaces forward.
• Or, you can move one piece 5 spaces and another piece 3 spaces.

After you make your move, you pass the dice to the player on your right. Pieces can only move forward, never backward. Also, they cannot be in any of the four boxes right before their "Home" box.

Capturing Opponent Pieces

You can capture an opponent's piece by landing your piece on the same box as theirs. When you capture a piece, it gets sent back to its jail! In Colombia, capturing is often called "eating" ("comer" in Spanish).

Safe Spots

You cannot capture a piece that is on a "Safe" box or a "Home" box. These are protected spots.

However, you *can* capture pieces on your own "Home" box. If you free a piece from jail and there are opponent pieces on your "Home" box, those pieces are captured and sent back to their jail. They lose all the progress they had made.

Sometimes, a player might choose not to capture an opponent's piece, even if they could. If another player notices this and points it out, the piece that *should* have captured must go to jail instead. If no one notices, nothing happens.

Special Boxes on the Board

There are three important types of special boxes on the Parqués board:

• Home: This is where your pieces go when they are first freed from jail.
• Safe: Pieces on these boxes cannot be captured by other players.
• Arrival: To win, your pieces must move through nine special boxes that are usually the same color as your pieces. The ninth box is the very last spot for each piece. When a piece reaches this ninth box, it is removed from the game. The first player to get all their pieces out of the game wins!

See also

In Spanish: Parqués para niños