How to Play Puluc

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Puluc is a two-player racing and capture game played on a linear eleven-space track. Each turn, players toss five flat stick dice, move one of their pieces by the resulting count, and fight for control of every space on the board. When one player's piece lands on an opponent's, it captures the whole stack and marches the prisoners back toward its own end. The blend of pure chance with sharp positional decisions keeps every game tense to the last piece.

The game travels well because the equipment is minimal and the rules click into place after one demonstration game. It is most often brought out as a two-player filler, at family tables, or in classroom settings where traditional games are explored. Play is quick enough for several successive rounds in an evening.

A little history

Puluc is traditionally associated with the Kekchi and Pokonchi Maya of Guatemala, and its origins are unclear beyond that broad cultural attribution. Anthropological records from the mid-twentieth century document it being played in highland Guatemalan communities, and it appears in comparative studies of indigenous Mesoamerican games. How old the game is and whether it pre-dates European contact has not been established with certainty in published scholarship.

Setting up

1. Mark or lay out 11 spaces in a straight line. Number or designate them 1 to 11, or simply agree which end belongs to which player.
2. Each player chooses a colour and takes 5 pieces. Player 1 owns the left end (space 1); Player 2 owns the right end (space 11).
3. All 10 pieces begin off the board, held in their owner's reserve.
4. Decide who goes first by each player making one toss; highest count goes first. Re-toss any tie.

How to play

1. On your turn, toss all five stick dice. Count the number of marked faces showing. If no marked faces show, count the result as 5. Possible results are therefore 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.
2. You must move exactly one piece (or stack) by the number of spaces shown. You may choose any single piece or stack you control.
3. If all your pieces are still in reserve, you must enter a new piece onto your own end space (space 1 for Player 1, space 11 for Player 2) and then continue moving it inward by any remaining count. A roll of 1 places the piece on the end space and it moves no further that turn.
4. Pieces move in one direction only: toward the opponent's end. Player 1 moves from space 1 toward space 11; Player 2 moves from space 11 toward space 1.
5. If your piece or stack lands on a space occupied by one or more opponent pieces, you capture all of them. Place the captured pieces underneath your own piece, forming a single stack. The capturing piece leads the stack.
6. A stack moves and is controlled by the player whose piece is on top. All pieces in the stack travel together and count as one moving unit.
7. If the opponent lands on your stack, they capture your entire stack, including any prisoners you were already carrying. Their piece goes on top; all other pieces go underneath.
8. A piece or stack that reaches or passes the opponent's end space is removed from the board. The owning player's own piece goes back to reserve ready to re-enter. Any captured enemy pieces beneath it are permanently eliminated from the game.
9. Pieces that exit off your own end (moved backward by a capturing opponent) follow the same rule: the capturing player's piece re-enters reserve; the captured pieces are eliminated.
10. You may not voluntarily pass a turn or decline to move. If you have pieces on the board you must move one of them. If you have no pieces on the board you must enter one from reserve.

Winning and scoring

The first player to permanently eliminate all five of the opponent's pieces wins the game. A piece is eliminated only when it exits off either end of the board while held captive beneath an opponent's piece. Pieces returned to a player's own reserve after being the top piece of a stack that exits are not eliminated and may re-enter the board normally. Track your opponent's reserve carefully: once they have no pieces left in reserve and no pieces on the board, the game is over.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns a stack that overshoots the far end of the board. The rule is straightforward: any movement that reaches or passes the opponent's home end triggers the exit. Count only to the end space; do not wrap or bounce back. The leading piece returns to reserve; everything beneath it is eliminated. This applies equally when a capturing player marches a prisoner stack out through their own end.

A second recurring question is whether a player may choose not to enter a new piece from reserve in order to move an existing piece instead. The answer is yes: entering from reserve is a choice, not an obligation, as long as you have at least one piece already on the board. However, if you have no pieces on the board at all, you must enter from reserve regardless of where you would prefer to land. Some informal groups play that a player must always enter from reserve if they have pieces there; agree this point before play begins and apply it consistently throughout the game.

How to win more often

• Prioritise sending stacks all the way off the board rather than chasing new captures mid-track. A captured piece only counts once it is eliminated, so completing the exit is worth more than picking up one more prisoner.
• Keep at least one piece close to your home end. A piece near your starting side can intercept an opponent's stack that is carrying your own prisoners back, recapturing them before they exit.
• Avoid spreading all five pieces across the board at once. Concentrated stacks are harder to eliminate in a single exchange and give you fewer targets for the opponent to pick off one by one.
• Count spaces carefully before each toss. Knowing exactly which rolls would land you on an opponent's piece lets you assess risk before committing to a move.
• When carrying prisoners, move the stack as directly and quickly to the exit as possible. Every additional turn the opponent has to intercept you is a genuine danger, especially if they have multiple pieces in play.

Variations

Shorter Track

Some groups play on a 9-space track rather than 11. This shortens play time noticeably and increases the frequency of captures, since pieces spend less time in open space. The rest of the rules are unchanged. Recommended when playing with younger children or when time is limited.

Three Pieces Per Side

Reducing each player's reserve to three pieces rather than five makes for a faster, sharper game that rewards decisive play over attrition. The game can end in under ten minutes and is well-suited to a best-of-five match format in a single sitting.

Fixed Re-entry Point

In this variant, pieces returned to reserve after leading a stack off the board must re-enter only on the standard first space, regardless of the dice result that turn. The re-entering piece uses the full dice count from the home space rather than being placed first and then moved. This makes the re-entry phase slightly more predictable and reduces debate about partial-move entry rules.

Capture-and-Hold

Instead of eliminating captured pieces on exit, they return to the capturing player's reserve and can re-enter the board as fresh pieces. The game is then won by getting all five of your own pieces off the opponent's end of the board first, rather than by elimination. This variant lengthens play considerably and shifts the balance toward racing rather than combat.

Puluc: frequently asked questions