Dashain Games
Traditional Dashain and Tihar Games in Nepal
Dashain (दशैं, also written Dasain or Bada Dashain) is the longest and biggest festival in Nepal. Offices and schools close, people travel home, and for days the house is full of relatives. Between the tika, the feasts and the visits, there is a lot of time to sit together, and that is when the games come out. These are the Dashain games (दशैं खेल) most families know, and which of them you can play online.
Want to play now? Langur Burja and Bagh-Chal run free in your browser, on a phone or computer, with no sign-up.
See the gamesWhen are Dashain and Tihar in 2026?
Dashain follows the lunar calendar, so its dates move each year. In 2026 (2083 BS) it begins with Ghatasthapana on 11 October, reaches Vijaya Dashami, the main tika day, on 21 October, and closes with Kojagrat Purnima on 25 October. Tihar, the festival of lights, follows about two weeks later, with Laxmi Puja on 8 November. The exact tika time (साइत) is announced each year by the Nepal Panchanga Nirnayak Samiti, so check your patro for it.
The games carry over from one festival to the next. Langur Burja and card games are played through both Dashain and Tihar, and many families keep a Bagh-Chal board out all year.
1. Langur Burja (Jhandi Munda)
If one game says "Dashain", it is Langur Burja (लङ्गुर बुर्जा). Six dice are shaken under a bowl or bucket, players back one of six symbols on a mat (the crown, flag, heart, spade, diamond and club), and the bowl is lifted to see how many dice show each one. It is also spelled Langur Purja and called Jhanda Burja or Khor Khore in Nepal, and Jhandi Munda in parts of India. A close cousin is the British sailors' dice game Crown and Anchor.
At Dashain the game often draws a crowd at the chautari or on the courtyard floor, with one person acting as host and shaking the dice. Families with young children usually play for points, sweets or matchsticks instead of money.
How to play Langur Burja: the rules, the symbols and the odds · Play Langur Burja online
2. Bagh-Chal (tigers and goats)
Bagh-Chal (बाघचाल, "moving tigers") is Nepal's own strategy board game, often called the national board game. One player has four tigers that capture by jumping; the other has twenty goats that win by trapping every tiger. The board is easy to scratch onto a stone or draw on paper, with pebbles for pieces, which is why it is played in villages, tea shops and family rooms all over the country. It is a quiet two-player game, good for an uncle and a nephew after the tika meal.
How to play Bagh-Chal: rules and winning tips · Play Bagh-Chal online against the computer
3. Card games: Marriage, Call Break, Kitti and Dhumbal
Playing cards (तास, tas) are everywhere at Dashain. Nearly every family has its favourite:
- Marriage: a rummy game played with three decks, where you collect sequences and the "marriage" of a king and queen. It is the long, serious game of the festival.
- Call Break: a four-player trick-taking game where each player calls how many hands they will win, with spades as trumps. Read how to play Call Break, or play Call Break online against the computer.
- Kitti (also called nine cards): each player arranges nine cards into three hands of three and plays them against the others.
- Dhumbal: a quick game where you try to hold the lowest total and call the round when you think you have it.
- Flush (teen patti): three-card hands, popular with older cousins.
Cards are also where most festival betting happens. Gambling is generally illegal in Nepal, and the tradition of small stakes at Dashain is a long-running debate in many households. Every game on this site is played for fun, with no coins or money.
4. Ping: the Dashain swing
A ping (पिङ) is a giant swing built for the festival. Villages raise a linge ping from four tall bamboo poles tied together at the top, with a rope seat hanging from the middle; a rote ping is a turning wheel-like swing. People say everyone should leave the ground at least once during Dashain. Building ping is a community job, and in cities it has become rarer, but many villages still put one up every year.
5. Kite flying (changa)
The clear autumn sky around Dashain fills with kites (चङ्गा, changa). Children and adults fly them from rooftops and fight to cut each other's strings, shouting "changa chet!" when a kite falls free. Kites are one of the surest signs that Dashain has arrived.
6. Kauda: the cowrie-shell game
Kauda (कौडा) is played by throwing a handful of cowrie shells and counting how many land mouth up. It belongs especially to Tihar, when it is played alongside Langur Burja and cards in homes and at street corners. Related cowrie games are played across South Asia, each with its own scoring.
7. Carrom board and Ludo
Not every Dashain game is old. A carrom board on the floor and a Ludo board (or Ludo app) keep the children busy while the adults play cards, and both have become part of the festival in many homes.
Playing Dashain games online
When the family is spread across Kathmandu, Doha, Sydney and Dallas, the board and dice don't always make the trip. That's why we built Dashain Games: the traditional games, free in the browser.
- Langur Burja online: one phone shakes real 3D dice in a bucket and counts the symbols for the whole table.
- Bagh-Chal online: play the tigers or the goats against the computer on easy, medium or hard, or pass the phone to a friend.
Each game opens full screen on a phone and can be added to the home screen like an app. More traditional Nepali games are on the way.