Raja Chor Mantri Sipahi

Raja Mantri Chor Sipahi (transl.  King, Minister, thief and soldier) is a type of role-playing game that is a popular pastime in India. It involves four players—each player takes up the role of either the king, Minister, thief or soldier— and the Soldier (Sipahi) has to guess the identity of the thief. Along with other such games, its popularity has decreased in the 21st century.^[1]

The game begins with making 4 chits namely Raja (1000 points), Mantri (800 points), Chor(0 points) and Sipahi (500 points). Each chit is folded-shuffled and distributed among 4 players with each player picking one chit. Players can open their respective chit to find out their character(which shall not be revealed to anybody). The Sipahi then has to identify the ‘Chor’ from the other 2(Mantri and Chor) players whether they are a “chor” or not. If the Sipahi, guesses correctly then the points are retained or else he/she surrenders them to the Chor. If the Sipahi picks the wrong person then the Chor and Sipahi will have to switch points. Several rounds of this game are played before counting the points. The player with the highest score wins the game.^[2]

Variations:

The chits can be King, Soldier, Thief, Minister . The person with the Soldier and Raja chit declares that he is the Soldier/Raja and Soldier has to find the thief from the other 3 players. If more players are to play the game extra chits like Rani “Queen” and “Villager”, are added each with varying points. The King has the highest points followed by the Mantri. Points are awarded to the Soldier or thief based on whether the soldier guesses the identity of the thief correctly.