Pithu - A Lost Game

Pithu, Lagori or dikori also known as Lingocha, Pithu (Punjabi), Palli Patti (Karimnagar), Pitto (Rajasthan), Pittu (Bengal) or Satoliya (Madhya Pradesh) is a game in India involving a ball and a pile of flat stones, generally played between two teams in a large outdoor area. A member of one team (the seekers) throws a tennis ball at a pile of stones to knock them over. The seekers then try to restore the pile of stones while the opposing team (the hitters) throws the ball at them. If the ball touches a seeker, he is out and his team continues without him. A seeker can always safeguard himself by touching an opposite team member before the ball hits him.

How to play:

1. Divide the players into two teams. Let there be team A and team B.
2. Each player in team A takes their turn in breaking the tower from a certain distance using a tennis ball.
3. A player from team B is assigned to catch the ball after it gets thrown by team A. Rest of team b become fielders.
4. When a player from team A succeeds in knocking over the tower. the team's next aim becomes to rebuild the tower while everyone in team B tries to get all the players out in team A by hitting them with the tennis ball.
5. If team B succeeds in getting the players with the pitu coin in hand out from team A before the tower is rebuilt then they have defended a pittu.
6. But if team B fails to do so then team A gets a pittu and they carry on with their turn in breaking the tower.
7. Once everyone in team A has had their turn the teams swap the roles.
8. After both teams have defended the team with most number of pittu(s) wins

Rules:

• Each player gets three tries for attempting to break the tower. If the player fails to break the tower, next player comes in.
• If a team is successful in getting a pittu, the player which broke the tower gets an additional three tries.
• If a player successfully breaks the tower but a player from the opposite team catches the ball before it hits the ground, then the attacking player is deprived of his remaining tries.
• When a player from defending team picks up a tennis ball they may not move from that position till they have thrown the ball away.
• If all players fail to break the tower, the other team must at-least complete one tower to win the game.