Kabaddi Raid

Kabaddi Raid — how to play and tips

Kabaddi is one of India's oldest team sports, played in villages, schools and, today, in packed stadiums under the bright lights of professional leagues. This game turns its most exciting moment, the raid, into a quick challenge for your thumb. You are the raider. Your mission is to cross into the opponents' half, touch as many defenders as you can, and come back safely to your own side, all on a single breath.

How to play

• Move: touch and drag anywhere on the court to run. A virtual joystick appears under your finger. On a keyboard, use the arrow keys or WASD.

• Chant: the moment you cross the midline you must keep saying “kabaddi, kabaddi”. In the game, that means holding the round KABADDI button with your other thumb, or holding the space bar. If you let go for more than a heartbeat, you are out.

• Breath: the breath bar drains while you are in the enemy half. When it is empty, you are out. It refills quickly when you return to your own side.

• Touch: a defender who has just lunged at you becomes tired and turns green. Reach a green defender and you score a touch.

• Return: cross back over the midline to bank your points. Three or more touches in a single raid is a Super Raid worth two bonus points.

Reading the defenders

Every defender follows a pattern. First they sway near their post. When you come close, a defender flashes yellow with an exclamation mark, which is the warning. A moment later they dive towards you in dark red. If they reach you during the dive, you are out. If you step aside, the defender overshoots and becomes tired, which is your chance. After a short rest they return to their post. Learning to wait, sidestep and strike is the whole game, and it is how real raiders think.

A little about real kabaddi

Real kabaddi is played by two teams of seven. The raider enters the opponents' half, tries to touch one or more defenders and returns to the home half without being tackled, all while chanting continuously and without taking another breath. It tests lung capacity, balance and courage as much as strength. In the traditional village game and in the modern pro leagues, the same simple idea makes matches thrilling to watch. Our game is a simplified single-raider version with its own rules and graphics, created for fun, and it is not affiliated with any league or team.

Scoring and strategy

You get eight raids. In each one the defenders become a little faster and more eager. A safe return with no touch scores nothing, so you need some courage. A raid that ends with you out also scores nothing, which makes greed risky. A good plan is to enter, bait one defender into a dive, sidestep, touch them while they are tired, and then retreat while your breath is still healthy. Staying close to the midline gives you an escape route. Remember that you can also lose points by waiting too long, since the breath bar never stops. Finish with 18 or more points to be a Pro Raider, and 28 or more to earn the title of Pro Kabaddi Star. Share your score with friends and challenge them to beat it.

The game saves your best total on your own device. It works on phones and desktops, needs no download and is free to play.