Guchhaगुच्चा

The ground

Guchha is played on a flat patch of hard earth. Scratched into it are three things:

• The line, at the near end, where everyone throws from.
• The khopi, a small hole about 8 cm across, a little over half a metre from the line.
• The ghera, a circle about 30 cm across just beyond the khopi, with everyone's marbles in it.

The marbles are glass, all the same size. Each player has one more marble of their own, the shooter, which they flick all game. Dirt is slow, so marbles stop much sooner than on a floor, and a low bank of earth round the patch soaks up most of their speed.

The stake

Every player puts the same number of marbles in the ghera: three each, or five for a longer game. They are scattered inside the circle once everyone has thrown.

This table plays for fun only. Nobody's real marbles change hands.

The throw: who goes first

One at a time, in seat order, each player rolls their shooter from anywhere along the line towards the khopi. You cannot throw from a spot where a marble already lies on the line.

When everyone has thrown, the shooter closest to the khopi plays first, then the next closest, and so on. A shooter that drops into the khopi is closest of all. If two drop in, the one thrown first goes first.

A throw may hit a marble thrown earlier. That marble is measured again where it stops.

Shooters in the khopi are then lifted out and set on its rim, on the ghera side. A shooter that came to rest inside the ghera is moved just outside its line. Then the stake goes into the ghera.

Flicking

On your turn, flick your shooter from wherever it lies. Aim at the marbles in the ghera: a marble is knocked out once it lies wholly outside the line, or if it drops into the khopi.

Knock out at least one marble and you flick again from where your shooter stopped.

A flick that knocks nothing out ends your turn, unless the khopi rule below gives you another, and the next player in the throw order flicks.

Shooters stay where they stop. If someone else's flick knocks your shooter, play it from its new spot. A shooter that drops into the khopi is set on its rim.

The khopi rule

Marbles you knock out are not yours yet. You hold them while your turn goes on.

To keep them, drop your shooter into the khopi. The marbles you hold are then yours for good, and you flick again from the rim of the khopi.

If a flick knocks nothing out and your shooter does not drop in, the marbles you hold go back into the middle of the ghera and your turn ends.

Knock a marble out and drop into the khopi with the same flick, and you keep it at once.

Dropping into the khopi while holding nothing just ends your turn.

The khopi only takes a marble that is rolling gently. A fast one jumps straight over it.

Winning

The game ends when the ghera is empty and nobody is holding marbles. The player who has won the most marbles wins. Players level at the top share the win, and if everyone is level the game is a draw.

To keep a game from going on for ever, time is called after 25 rounds. Then the most marbles wins and any left in the ghera do not count. If nobody has won a marble, it is a draw.

Where these rules come from

Every lane and school ground plays guchha its own way, and no rulebook exists. This table uses what the Nepali sources describe, and makes the choices below where they are silent:

• A ghera with marbles in it, a shallow khopi just outside it, a shooter marble, and dropping the shooter into the khopi to keep the marble you knocked out: the Kathmandu Post's account of guchha. The Himalayan Times and Ling describe the same circle.
• Throwing a shooter to decide who goes first, another flick after you knock one out, and playing until all the marbles are out, with the most marbles winning: Republica's account of kacchi. Republica measures to a line; this table measures to the khopi, as kanche players do across the border in Rajasthan.
• Everyone putting marbles in the circle, and the closest throw to the hole going first: the Udaipur Times on kanche.
• Marbles you hold going back into the ghera when you miss the khopi: the Kathmandu Post says you keep a marble only if your shooter lands in the hole, so this table returns the ones you did not win.
• A shooter in the khopi counting as closest, shooters moved out of the ghera before play, and time being called after 25 rounds: choices made for this table so every game has a clear order and an end.
• No real stakes: several sources say guchha was often played for keeps. This table never takes anyone's marbles.

Marbles each

Three each is a quick game. Five each fills the ghera and makes for a longer one.

Knock out and keep

The simpler game many children play, without the khopi rule: a marble is yours as soon as it leaves the ghera, and you flick again whenever you knock one out. The khopi still matters for the throw, and a shooter that drops in is set on its rim.