Playing Method

Set boundaries for the playing field. Draw a circle in the centre in which the seven stones are stacked on top of one another, with the smallest on the top to make a lagori (stack).

1. The striker team is called breakers, and the fielding team is known as defenders. A coin is tossed to choose which team will play the breakers’ role first.
2. After the selection, the stones are stacked to form the lagori. Any of the defenders can do this. The discs are stacked to provide maximum stability and resistance to soft hits by a ball.
3. One of the defenders takes a position behind the stone stack at a distance of about 4 ft. to catch the ball thrown by the striker. To catch the ball from any direction, other players will take positions by scattering around the lagori.
4. All the breakers will take their position behind the crease line in the breakers’ part of the field.
5. One of the breakers, generally the one considered the best at aiming, starts the game by attempting to strike the lagori with a ball-throw from the crease line. 
6. If the lagori is not disrupted and any defender catches the ball after the first bounce, then the striker will be declared out, and the next player of the breakers comes on the strike.
7. If the lagori is not disrupted and the defenders do not catch the ball, then the striker will get two more chances to knock over the stack. After three failed trials, that striker’s turn is over, and the next player from the breakers will play.
8. The breakers get nine chances in total—three chances each from three players—to break the lagori.
9. After the lagori is broken, the defending players catch the ball and aim at the breakers to hit them below their knees or on their back.
10. At the same time, the breakers gather near the lagori and try to quickly restack the discs. They must stay alert to scatter rapidly because the defenders keep throwing the ball at them. The striker and rebuilders coordinate while dodging the ball thrown at them. This task is not easy because a member of the defending team stands near the lagori, waiting to get the ball from a teammate.
11. After restacking the lagori, the breakers trace a circle around it three times with their fingers and then shout ‘lagori’. Thus, they get one point and also the chance to hit the stack again.
12. However, if the defenders succeed in hitting any breaker before they rebuild and should lagori, then the breaker team is out. The ball will then go to the defenders, and in the next game, they will be the breakers.
13. When the defenders get the ball to hit the breakers, they must not run with the ball. Instead, the player with the ball must throw it either directly at the breakers or to a teammate who has better chances of aiming at the breakers.
14. When the ball changes hands, the defenders play as the breakers.

Scoring

1. If breakers can rearrange the discs before getting tagged out, they get one point and the next turn to play as breakers.
2. If the defenders hit any of the breakers before restacking the lagori, the breakers would be The defenders get to play as breakers next. Defenders do not score any points for this.
3. The team that scores seven points first will be the winner.

Rules

1. If a striker cannot knock down the stack, then he or she is given two more chances—a total of three strikes. After three failed strikes, the ball goes to another team member.
2. If the breakers cannot knock down the lagori in nine tries, then the defenders get one point and will now get a turn to be the breakers.
3. In any of the three tries, if the striker’s ball does not disrupt the stack and is caught by an opponent after one bounce (a tip) behind the lagori, then the striker is out.
4. Players from the defending team cannot run with a ball in their hand. The ball should not remain in the player’s hands for more than 3 seconds. They have to keep passing the ball to their teammates who can tag breakers conveniently.

Position, Tasks and Techniques

Key Skills Required

The players have to aim, throw, catch and run. These activities require skills in hand-eye coordination. Defenders must be swift to dodge a ball, and breakers should have steady hands and concentration to pile the discs quickly.

Individuals with no specific training but a reasonable fitness level that allows them to run a little and aim the players with a ball-throw can play this game. Children from ages six to eighteen years are most likely to be interested. The uniqueness of this game is that all the roles are situational and not fixed.

Caution

• To avoid injuries, do not use a hard ball like a tennis ball.
• Defenders should stand at an appropriate distance from the stack to save themselves from a direct hit while the striker targets the stack.

kills Developed

Lagori focuses on improving aiming precision, observation and swiftness simultaneously, and enhances the ability to concentrate. It also enables physical exercises of running, catching and throwing. In addition, it helps develop teamwork and inculcates team spirit.

This fast-paced game has no role of a captain; no player has a fixed role. Everyone is involved at all times, and every player gets an opportunity to play, where they perform according to their abilities of decision-making , swiftness, and deception.

Life Lessons from Lagori

1. Leadership and coordination: This game helps develop leadership and on-the-fly coordination of an unorganised group.
2. Lessons for re-adjustment: The game starts when the stone stack is destroyed and reassembled quickly. Players learn to rebuild when things fail or go wrong.
3. Teamwork for winning: The performance of each member of the team determines win or loss. Strong players can overcome the weak performance of a single member in a match to achieve victory. That is, teamwork proves to be the basis of success in work.
4. Optimising the use of resources: Each team member brings a unique set of capabilities, and the outcome is achieved by utilising each person’s contributions.

Current State

All over India, people know lagori as a fun street game, but even then, the game’s popularity is declining. We rarely find groups of children deciding to play at the spur of the moment.

Lagori is, however, now recognised as a team sport, and it is increasingly being played at international and national tournaments as organised events.

In India, official matches are organised by the Amateur Lagori Federation of India (ALFI), a national-level body set up to promote the sport. It has about 300,000 players at the school level and over 500 match officials within the country. State lagori federations affiliated with ALFI are there in 24 states.

The International Lagori Federation, founded in 2010, has 17 countries as its members. The first championship was held in Bhutan in June 2013, in which 9 countries participated.

Variations    

Originally played on grassy or sandy open fields, the game has now evolved to indoor facilities. The randomly picked flat stones used to form a lagori have been replaced by nine specially made circular fibre discs.

Following are the few rules added by the International Lagori Federation:

1. Each team must consist of 12 players. However, only 6 players get on the field to play for every inning.
2. Each inning lasts for 3 minutes, and a 30-second break is given after each set.
3. The match has three sets, and the team that scores the maximum points in total is declared the winner.
4. No player is allowed to run with the ball. They have to throw it at the breakers or pass it to their teammates.
5. Once the lagori is broken, the nine discs have to be rearranged in the same order.

Glossary

Lagori                   The stack of seven flat discs—nine for international competitions.

Breakers              The toss-winning team, which will get the first chance to strike the lagori.

Defenders           The team which will field to tag the breakers.

Striker                  The breaker who is striking the lagori at the given moment.

Breaking              To disrupt the stack of discs with a throw of the ball.