Pachisi originated in India by the 6th century. The earliest evidence of this game in India is the depiction of boards on the caves of Ajanta.
This game was played by the Mughal emperors of India; a notable example being that of Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar.
Variations of the game made it to England during the late 19th century. One which appeared around 1896 under the name of Ludo was then successfully patented.
Nomenclature
In North America, the game is sold under the brand name Parcheesi. Variations of the game are sold under the brand names Sorry!, Aggravation, and Trouble.
In Germany, this game is called "Mensch ärgere dich nicht" which means "Man, don't get irritated", and has equivalent names in Dutch, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian, Czech, Slovak, and Polish, where it is more commonly referred to as Chińczyk ("The Chine(s)e").
In Sweden it is known as "Fia", a name derived from the Latin word fiat which means "so be it!" Common variations on the name are "Fia-spel" (Fia the game) and "Fia med knuff" (Fia with a nudge). In Denmark and Norway though, the game is known as Ludo.
Ludo board
Special areas of the Ludo board are typically coloured bright yellow, green, red, and blue. Each player is assigned a colour and has four tokens of matching colour (originally bone discs but today often made of cardboard or plastic). The board is normally square with a cross-shaped game track, with each arm of the cross consisting of three columns of squares—usually six squares per column. The middle columns usually have five squares coloured, and these represent a player's home column. A sixth coloured square not on the home column is a player's starting square. At the centre of the board is a large finishing square often composed of triangles in the four colours atop the players' home columns – thus forming "arrows" pointing to the finish.
Source: Wikipedia