Puluc

Imagining ourselves back before the days of electric lighting, or even gas lights or oil lamps, life becomes very different. When the sun sets, and the twilight is no longer sufficient to work, people come home to eat, and amuse themselves by the light of the fire. For thousands of years, one of their pursuits has been board games.

Puluc, sometimes known as Bul, or Bool-ik, is a board game associated with the Mayans. Although this association is unproven, it was played by the Q'eqchi' people in around 1900, appears to date back to pre-Columbian times. Puluc is well loved by those who learn of it.

The game is a war game, or more specifically, a running fight game: this type of game is a battle played on a 1-dimensional board with dice. It might look like a simple version of backgammon, but the objective is not a race. Instead, each player must capture and kill all of the opponent's pieces, putting the game more in the realm of draughts or chess than backgammon.

This version of Puluc, for the Psion Series 3 pocket computer, brings together a number of different variants of the game. Players can choose from a known variant, or devise their own, by setting a number of individual rules before the game begins.

Play can be between a player and the Psion, or between two human opponents. The Psion can play at three different levels of expertise. The program keeps score, and by saving separate game files, one can keep score of different variants of the game, or of games against a particular friend.

Released 9th March 2026