Reference

Rules & Settings

Everything the game enforces on the board, and every preference you can change around it — in one place.

How to Play

🎲

Roll and enter. Two dice are rolled each turn. Tokens wait in reserve until you roll exactly a 1 — a "Dhaayam" — which brings one onto the board.

➜

Move around the ring. A token advances along the outer ring by the number rolled — red travels clockwise, green counter-clockwise, meeting in the shared middle stretch.

✂️

Cut to capture. Land exactly on an opposing token to send it back to reserve. Cutting always earns another turn. Diamond-marked safe houses can never be cut.

↻

Keep rolling on 1, 5, 6, 12. Any of those totals grants an extra roll immediately after.

🏠

Bring every token Home. A token needs an exact roll to land on Home — overshooting wastes the move. First to bring all tokens Home wins.

Board Flow

One token's full route, start to finish, in order:

Reserve — every token starts here and needs a roll of 1 to enter play.
Private path (entry) — your own entry lane; only your tokens travel here, so they can't be cut.
Shared path — the common ring both players travel, where tokens from either side can meet and cut each other.
Safety square — a marked tile where a token can never be cut. Only one player can occupy it at a time.
Lock gate — the checkpoint at the end of the ring; you can't cross into your home stretch until you've cut at least one opponent token (with Must cut before home path on).
Danger square — the last cell before Home. Needs an exact 1 to finish — but if the opponent reaches their own danger square first, it gets cut back to reserve.
Home — the finish. Get all your tokens here first to win.

Rule Toggles — Classic vs Custom

New Game Setup's eight switches. Pick Classic to lock them to Dhayam's traditional combination, or Custom to edit each one yourself — Custom starts from the defaults below. Rows shaded gold are where the two presets disagree.

Rule	What it means	Classic	Custom default
Must cut before home path	A token can't cross into its home path until you've cut at least one opponent this game — until then it keeps circling the ring.	ON	ON
Must cut if available	If any of your tokens has a legal cutting move this turn, you're required to play it.	OFF	OFF
Cut grants extra rolldiffers	Landing on and cutting an opponent's token immediately earns you another roll.	OFF	ON
Coin can move after cuttingdiffers	While resolving a bank of saved rolls, a token that just cut can be chosen again for a further move with what's left in the bank.	OFF	ON
Coin can stack on common path	Whether two of your own tokens can share a non-safe tile on the shared ring at once.	ON	ON
Move after each rolldiffers	ON: every roll moves a token right away. OFF: extra-turn rolls are banked while you keep rolling, then resolved together once the sequence ends.	OFF (banked)	ON
Jump & Godiffers	Only matters while rolls are banked. Lets a stuck token combine two or more banked values into one longer move once every single-value option has failed.	ON	OFF
Roll 1 then 5 releases two coinsdiffers	A 1 followed immediately by a 5 releases a second reserve token instead of moving a token already on the board.	ON	OFF

Fixed Rules

Not switches — these apply the same way under both Classic and Custom.

entry roll = 1

A token can only leave reserve on a roll of exactly 1.

extra turn on 1, 5, 6, 12

Any of those totals grants another roll straight after.

safe houses protected

A token on a diamond-marked tile can never be cut.

exact roll for Home

A token must land exactly on Home — an overshoot wastes that roll.

Coins per Player

Set in New Game Setup, independent of the Classic/Custom rule-set choice.

4 — quick games 6 — default 12 — long games

Board Skins

Purely cosmetic — retiles the board and pieces, no effect on any rule. Chosen in New Game Setup, or changed live mid-game from the pause menu.

Default Ruby Emerald Ivory Sapphire

App Settings

Everything in the Settings screen, grouped the way it's grouped there.

Preferences

Sound Effects: Dice, cuts, Home, and other in-game sound effects.
Haptics: Vibration feedback on rolls, moves, and cuts, on supported devices.
Auto-roll dice: Rolls automatically for whichever human seat's turn it is, instead of waiting for a tap on Roll.
Quick undo (2s): A 2-second "Undo" prompt right after your own roll or move — recovers a mis-tap. Works in every mode.
Legal move ring: Pulsing ring highlight on the current mover's legal destination tiles.
Language: English or Tamil (தமிழ்) — applies throughout the app.

General

About Dhayam 1: App tagline and description, plus the support email and website link.

Data

Reset Saved Game: Clears any unfinished in-progress game so the app starts fresh next time. Statistics are kept.

Reduced motion isn't a separate toggle — the app follows your device's own "Reduce Motion" accessibility setting automatically.