02-014 Cowrie Shell

02-014
Cowrie Shell

After talking about the traditional long dice from India, the dayakattai, the next traditional die that I would like to introduce is also from that area. The name is cowrie shell.

No, I was not mistaken. I am really talking about those little seashells you can find in most part of the world, especially in the Indian Ocean. I was also surprised when I found out that people are using cowrie shells as binary dice to play games and also for divination. 

Cowrie Shells

Why using cowrie shells as dice?

History of using cowrie shells as dice can be traced back to ancient India. Such as the traditional Indian board game Pachisi is originally played with cowrie shells. A player's pieces move around the board based upon a throw of six or seven cowrie shells, with the number of shells resting with the aperture upward indicating the number of spaces to move.

The reason of using cowrie shells as dice is probably because of their wide availability. Cowries are common sea shells that can be found easily in most part of India. Their texture is also a reason why they are chosen for game playing. Cowrie shells are tough and not easy to break. A set of cowrie shells can be used for years without wearing. Besides, they are also beautiful to look upon. 

How does it work?

Cowrie shells are used as binary dice for playing traditional Indian board games, such as Pachisi or Chowka bhara. They can also be used to replace the long dice for playing Dayakattai. To play games using cowries, several shells would be thrown simultaneously. The number of shells used in each game varies. Sometimes, it is 4. But normally, 6 or 7 shells will be used. For divination, more than 50 shells will be thrown in a single time.

How to count the value also varies between games. In Pachisi, when played with 6 shells, the number of space a player may move is calculated in this way: 

Cowries facing up	Value	Earns another turn?
0	25	Yes
1	10	Yes
2	2	No
3	3	No
4	4	No
5	5	No
6	6	Yes

When played with 7 shells, it is calculated as such: 

Cowries facing up	Value	Earns another turn?
0	7	Yes
1	10	Yes
2	2	No
3	3	No
4	4	No
5	25	Yes
6	35	Yes
7	14	Yes

However, cowrie shell is not only a component of a board game. The shells themselves can be played as a standalone dice game. The traditional Indian game “40 shells”

General Information

Player	2
Playing Time	30 mins
Age	6+
Year Released	?
Designer	(Public Domain)
Publisher	OrderIQ, God?
Family	Dexterity and coordination, Children’s Game
Score	4.5 (Board Game Geek)

Specifications

Dice size	Snakehead Cowrie Shells at around 1" long
# of dice	7
Faces	2
Details	My cowrie shells are components inside a Pachisi game set. Cowrie shells can be purchased alone.

The game play

Where to buy?

Etsy

I got my set of 7 cowrie shell dice from my Pachisi game set. The set was purchased from amazon.in. My Indian friend who lives in Hongkong bought it for me as amazon.in does not take foreign payment or ship overseas. The Pachisi set was sent to his parents’ home in India. He brought the game back to me after visiting his parents a few months ago.

If you do not have a connection in India, you can buy cowrie shells from Etsy. Several sellers are selling cowrie shells at a reasonable price at around 1 USD each, with free shipment. The shells that came with my Pachisi game set are snakehead cowries in a size at around 1 inch long. I believe these are the traditional shells that are played in Indian villages.

A bit of mathematics

Before finishing this post, I would like to talk about the fairness of using cowrie shells as dice. Cowrie shell is used as a binary dice here. So, what is the difference between throwing a cowrie shell and tossing a coin?

Apparently, one of the difference is their shapes. Cowrie shells are easier to pick up than coins. Using coins to play the “40 shell game” would be a nightmare.

However, the unique shape of cowrie shell also caused them to have a curved probability distribution rather than flat probability as for a coin. A rough study shows that the probability of getting a 0 on cowrie shell die is only around 30%. Depending on the shell, that can get as low as 18.65% and as high as 39.11%. The same study also shows that the larger the shell is, the less likely it is to roll 1. And even between shells of similar size, there is significant variation.

Does that make cowrie shell dice an unfair gaming device? I don’t think so. As long as every players are agreed on playing the game with cowrie shells, then it is still a fair game.

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