Tigadi (तिगड़ी) is a two-player board game from India, played on three concentric squares with 24 points. It is a variant of nine men’s morris — known in Hindi as नवकंकरी or नौ गोटी — with one important difference: the corner diagonals are real lines, so they carry both moves and captures. The name comes from the tigadi, a trio of your pieces on one line, which is what lets you capture.

How do you play Tigadi?

Each player has nine pieces, called gotis. You take turns placing them on any empty point until all eighteen are down. After that, you take turns sliding one goti to the next point along a drawn line. Whenever three of your gotis occupy one full line, you take an enemy goti off the board. Reduce your opponent to two gotis and you win.

A tigadi is three of one player’s gotis filling all three points of a single drawn line — the same idea as a mill in nine men’s morris. There are 20 such lines on this board: twelve around the three squares and eight along the spokes. Closing a tigadi captures exactly one enemy goti, no matter how many lines you complete at once.

Can a piece jump when you only have three left?

No. In Tigadi a goti always steps to the next intersection along a line — at nine pieces, at three, at two. There is no flying, hopping or jumping at any piece count. This is the biggest difference from the widely published nine men’s morris rules, where a player reduced to three pieces may move anywhere.

What happens if a player has no legal move?

They pass, and the turn goes back to their opponent. Being blocked is never a loss in Tigadi. Because the board is fully connected and every point has at least three neighbours, both players can never be stuck at the same time.

Is Tigadi the same as Nau Goti?

They are the same family of game. Nau goti means “nine pieces”, which is what each player starts with, and the game is also called नवकंकरी across parts of India. Elsewhere you will find it as nine men’s morris, mills, merels or morabaraba — though the diagonals and the no-jumping rule make this version distinct.

Can a tigadi capture more than once?

Yes, and this is how games are won. Move a goti out of a completed tigadi and back in on a later turn, and it counts again, capturing another enemy goti each time. Players call this a running tigadi, and setting one up is the strongest plan in the game.

Which pieces can I capture?

Any enemy goti that is not standing inside a completed tigadi of its own. Pieces inside an enemy tigadi are protected. If every one of your opponent’s gotis is inside a tigadi, that protection lapses and you may take any of them.

Can I play Tigadi online with a friend?

Yes. Create a room and you get a four-character code and a shareable link. Your friend opens the link on any device and you play in real time, with the server refereeing every move. You can also play on one device by passing it back and forth, or against the computer at three difficulty levels.

How does a game of Tigadi end in a draw?

Two ways. If the same position occurs three times with the same player to move, the game is drawn. So is a run of 100 turns with no capture at all. Both counters only start once every goti has been placed.

Daadi Game — Play Online Free in Your Browser

You can play it without installing anything

Search for Daadi and you will find two things: cloth and wooden boards for sale, and mobile apps. Both are fine, but neither is what you want if you just remembered the game and would like a round now.

This site plays in the browser. No download, no account, no advertising interruption — on a phone, a tablet or a laptop. Play the computer at three difficulty levels, pass one phone back and forth, or share a link and play someone in another city.

Where the name comes from

Daadi — also written Dahdi — is recorded as the Telugu name for the game, though in practice it travels much further than that. Indian board sellers use it as the default label across the country, usually alongside Navakankari, which tells you something about how widely it is understood.

That is normal for this game rather than unusual. It has a different name in nearly every Indian language: Navakankari in Sanskrit, Navkakri in Gujarati, Saalu Mane Ata, Jodpi Ata or Char-Par in Kannada, Nau Goti in Hindi. Europe is no better organised about it — mills, merels, marelles, morris.

The game in one minute

You have nine pieces. Take turns placing them on any empty point until all eighteen are down.
Three of your pieces filling one line takes an enemy piece off the board — straight away, even during placing.
Once everything is placed, slide one piece per turn to the next point along a line.
A piece inside a completed line of three is safe and cannot be taken.
Get your opponent down to two pieces and you have won.

That is enough to start. The full rules, including the two places where this version differs from what you may remember, are on the rules page.

Two differences worth knowing before you start

The Daadi board most people describe has three squares joined at the midpoints of their sides, and diagonal lines either are not drawn or do not count. The version here draws four corner diagonals and counts them, so there are 20 winning lines rather than 16.

And in many traditional descriptions, a player with no legal move loses. Here they pass, and play carries on. Neither change makes the traditional rules wrong — this is simply a variant, stated openly so nothing surprises you mid-game.

Common questions

Is Daadi the same as nine men’s morris?

The same family, yes. Daadi is one of the Indian names for the nine-piece mill game that English calls nine men’s morris. The board and the core idea — line up three, remove an enemy piece — are the same.

Can I play Daadi online with a friend?

Yes. Create a room and you get a four-character code and a link; your friend opens it on any device and you play in real time. You can also pass one phone between you, or play the computer.

Do I need to download an app to play Daadi?

No. The app-store versions work, but this one runs in your browser — nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.

Daadi, and where to play it