The Objective of Padarangam is to improve the Telugu vocabulary of students learning Telugu. Just by practicing and playing this game, students will be able to read, write and pronounce better in Telugu. The game is also an excellent tool for students to gauge their current skill level in Telugu writing, as well as demonstrate improvement in a scaled manner through regular practice.

Padarangam Rules by Level

In order to scale the game for a large number of players, Padarangam will be played differently at various Levels of the game. The following rules apply to Padarangam games at various levels:

• Prelims — see below
• Finals: Details will be shared at the appropriate time

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Padarangam Prelims: Rules & Guidelines

At this level of the game, players will play one or more practice rounds for familiarity. Then, players will play against each other in multiple rounds. Players will advance if they write the given word correctly; otherwise, they will be eliminated. International Finalists will be determined based on their position relative to others.

Overview

• In Padarangam, pre-recorded audio of a word will be played using an audio system and contestant needs to write it on the white board. All words will be in Telugu only.
• There will be three Rounds in the game: Green, Orange and Red.
• Green — Simple words. No గుణింతాలు except అం. No ఒత్తులు.
  E.g. కమల, జలజ, సంపద, భయంకరం, మంగళం.
  2 Minutes (120 seconds) time allotted for writing words. No Elimination. Players will continue to the next Level even if they write their given word incorrectly in practice round only.
• Orange — Slightly Complex words. Will have గుణింతాలు & a few ఒత్తులు.
  E.g. అడవి, దేవత, ముద్రణ, పుస్తకము, చంద్రుడు, అంతః పురము.
  1.5 Minutes (90 seconds) time allotted for writing words. Players will be eliminated from the game if they write their word incorrectly.
• Red — Complex words. Unrestricted.
  E.g. అక్కయ్య, బొమ్మరిల్లు, గ్రామలక్ష్మి, శాస్త్రవేత్త, భర్తృహరి, ధృతరాష్ట్రుడు.
  1 Minute (60 seconds) time allotted for writing words. Players will be eliminated from the game if they write their word incorrectly.
• Each Round will have multiple Levels. All words within a particular Level will be of similar degree of difficulty.
• Words in Level 1 will be more difficult than words in Level 2 and so on.
• The Game will be played in Cycle. Each Cycle is identified by the Round and Level. E.g. Green Level 2, Orange Level 5 and so on.
• The process for picking words in a Level is automated. That is, words are played one after the other in random order.

Game Flow

• Players will be called to play in random order.
• During a Player's turn, they will hear a word through the audio system. The objective of the Player is to write the word they hear correctly on the White Board.
• Each Player gets a fixed amount of time to write their word. The allotted time is shown on a screen at the beginning of their turn, and counts down to zero.
• Judges / anchors will prompt the remaining time in the Player's turn as the remaining time gets close to zero.
• A Player's turn ends in one of two ways, whichever happens earlier:
  • Player puts their pen down, indicating that they don't intend to make any further changes to the word as written by them on the White Board.
  • The time remaining is zero.
  No changes are allowed to the word as written by them on the White Board after this point. Whatever remains on the White Board at this point of time will be considered by the Judges.
• During their remaining time, Players can:
  • Write, erase, and re-write as many times as they choose.
  • Ask for the word audio clip to be stopped or started as many times as they choose.
  • Ask for the word audio clip to be changed from male voice to female voice or vice-versa, as many times as they choose.
• After a Player's turn ends, the Judge will determine if the word is written correctly or not. If the word is written correctly, the Player moves to the next Level. Otherwise, the Player is eliminated.
• To encourage beginner players to warm-up and familiarize themselves with the games, there will be 1 Green Round played in each Center. At the discretion of the Center coordinators, additional Green rounds may be held, depending on the situation at the center.

Determining Winners

• At the end of a Cycle, all remaining Players will continue to the next Cycle.
• If there are enough words for ALL remaining players in a particular Level, then the next Cycle will continue in the current Level. Otherwise, the Game advances to the next Level (1,2,3 etc.) and/or the next Round (Green, Orange, Red) and so on.
• If ALL Players in a particular Cycle are eliminated in that Cycle, then ALL those players will play again in the next Cycle. For example, if a Cycle starts with 4 Players, and ALL 4 Players write their word incorrectly, then they will ALL play the next Cycle (that is, no one will be eliminated).
• If only one Player advances to the next Cycle, that Player will be declared Winner.
• If exactly two Players advance to the next Cycle, then the Winner will be determined when one of the write their word incorrectly AND the other writes their word correctly.
• When there are final three participants, we reserve to conduct a sentence round (Brahmastram) that entails each participant is required to write a sentence accurately instead of word.
• The Game will continue in this manner until only 1 Player remains, who will be declared Winner from that Center for that age group.
• After the Winner is determined, the game continues if needed until players are ranked relative to the other players, depending on when they were eliminated from the game.
• Organizers reserve the right to declare Joint Winners after a certain number of Cycles.
• Winner and Runners-up of Padarangam from a particular center will advance to the Internationals ONLY IF they have advanced past Orange Level 5. This is to ensure a minimum standard of competition at the International Finals. Therefore, it is not to be misunderstood that the Winner at a Center will automatically qualify for the International Finals.

Additional Information

• Play the game on the Telugu Maatlaata Padarangam Practice Site to gain experience as well as improve your Telugu writing skills.
• This video provides some tips and guidance to players, parents and teachers on some of the more complex aspects of Telugu pronunciation. (Video links available on the main site.)
• These videos are good samples of how Padarangam is played in the International Finals. (Video links available on the main site.)