Karwa Chauth Chand Tambola Tickets

Karwa chauth chand tambola is a picture housie for the Karwa Chauth get-together: a chand (moon), a pooja thali, a karwa, a sargi plate and mehendi fill the ticket, and six prizes from Sargi Five to the Chauth Celebration full house. The page has the free pack, an online game, a prize ladder, a planner for 10 to 40 guests and a daytime run sheet.

A game for the long wait for the moon

On Karwa Chauth, married women keep a fast from sunrise until the moon rises, and the last hour of that wait always feels the longest. Everyone is dressed, the thali is ready, and someone keeps stepping out to check the sky. Karwa Chauth tambola gives that hour a happy focus.

Each ticket has a notched frame, the title Karwa Chauth, and a medallion that says Chand Raat (the night of the moon). The five picture sections follow the day from dawn to moonrise:

• Chand: the crescent moon everyone is waiting for.
• Pooja Thali: the decorated plate with diya, sindoor, rice and the channi (sieve) used to look at the moon.
• Karwa: the earthen pot that gives the festival its name.
• Sargi: a bowl standing for sargi, the pre-dawn meal a mother-in-law traditionally gives before the fast begins.
• Mehendi: hands decorated with henna the night before.

Three numbers sit in each section, 15 per ticket. Print in sets of six and each number from 1 to 90 shows up once in the set, so prizes are shared fairly around the circle.

Ready-to-print Karwa Chauth Chand Tambola pack

12 different picture tickets (2 on each A4 page) with a caller sheet, a prize sheet and a rules page. Print it as it is, or press Create your tambola ticket above for more tickets and your own party name.

Download the free PDF

What each prize asks for

The prizes are named after parts of the day, which makes them easy to remember.

• Sargi Five: any 5 numbers, marked first.
• Chand Ka Intezaar: the Chand and Pooja Thali sections together, all 6 numbers. The name means “waiting for the moon”, which is exactly what the room is doing.
• Karwa Prize: the three numbers in the Karwa section.
• Sargi Treat: the three numbers in the Sargi section.
• Solah Shringar: the three numbers in the Mehendi section. Solah shringar refers to the sixteen traditional adornments of a married woman.
• Chauth Celebration Full House: all 15 numbers.

How to host Karwa Chauth tambola

Many women gather in the afternoon or early evening for the Karwa Chauth katha (the story of the fast) and the puja, passing their thalis around the circle. After that, there is often a gap of an hour or two before moonrise. That is the perfect slot for tambola.

Timing around moonrise

Look up the expected moonrise time for your city, then plan to start the game about 90 minutes before it. Award the smaller prizes early. If the moon shows up before the Full House, pause the game, finish the rituals, break the fast together and come back to the last prize over dinner.

Dress code

Red and maroon are the classic colors, often with the bridal lehenga or a wedding saree brought out again. A theme of “wear your wedding outfit” makes for great group photos. Add a small prize for the most beautiful mehendi, judged while the numbers are being called.

Seating and markers

Seat the ladies in a circle on a durrie or sofas, just like the thali-passing circle. Use small items that suit the day as markers: cardamom pods, dried rice grains in a bowl, or bindis stuck straight onto the ticket.

Gift ideas that suit a fasting day

Remember that the players are fasting, so avoid prizes that tempt them to eat early. Gifts work better:

• Sargi Five: a set of glass bangles.
• Chand Ka Intezaar: a decorated channi or a small brass diya.
• Karwa Prize: a painted karwa or a pretty kalash.
• Sargi Treat: a box of dry fruits or mathri to enjoy after the fast.
• Solah Shringar: a bindi and sindoor box or a lipstick.
• Full House: a silk saree, a jewelry box, or a gift voucher.

Play Karwa Chauth tambola online

Friends in other cities can join too. Open a live game and send the link, and each woman plays on her phone while waiting for moonrise. The game calls and voices the numbers by itself, ticks them off on every ticket, and sends each claim to the host screen to be checked. Show the TV view with its QR code on the television for the women playing in the room.

A twist for couples: the moonrise round

Once the fast is broken and the husbands have joined the party, play one last round with couples sharing a ticket. The wife marks the numbers and the husband has to shout “Bingo” for any claim. If he misses a win she spotted, the prize moves on. It is silly and loud, and everyone is cheerful after the first meal of the day.

Printing tips: color tickets look rich next to red outfits and gold thalis. Print 4 per page if you are hosting a big society function, or 2 per page if the room lighting is dim. Keep the caller sheet and rules page on a clipboard so the host never loses her place.

Planning more festive evenings? The Teej Ki Bahaar tambola tickets suit the monsoon kitty, and the Couple Goals tambola is great for that couples round. Our classic Karwa Chauth tambola page has more games for the day, and all illustrated sets are in the theme tambola collection. To read about the festival’s customs, Wikipedia’s Karva Chauth article covers the sargi, the karwa and the moon sighting through a sieve.

Karwa chauth party ideas: why this theme works

Karwa Chauth is observed by many married women, who fast from dawn until the moon rises, and the day is often spent with friends and neighbors who gather for mehendi, songs and stories. A quiet game suits a fasting day because it does not need food or much energy, and the group can play it while waiting for the evening puja.

The five pictures are the day’s symbols: the chand, the pooja thali, the karwa (the clay pot), the sargi (the pre-dawn meal) and mehendi. The caller can name prizes after the moment they refer to, and the game ends before the moon rises so that nobody misses the evening ritual.

Here is how karwa chauth party ideas fits a Karwa Chauth gathering: the pictures need no explanation, the prizes give the host lines to announce, and the whole game fits comfortably around the other events of the day.

How to play karwa chauth chand tambola step by step

The rules of karwa chauth chand tambola are the rules of ordinary tambola, with pictures instead of rows. Here is the whole game in six steps, using the prize names printed on the sheet:

1. Hand out the tickets. Give each player one ticket and read the prize list aloud, starting with Sargi Five and ending with Chauth Celebration Full House.
2. Call the numbers. The host calls numbers from 1 to 90 in random order, or lets the online game call them.
3. Mark your pictures. Each player strikes off the numbers on their ticket, and each picture holds three of them.
4. Claim a prize. The first player to complete a pattern shouts the prize name, such as “Chand Ka Intezaar!”, before the next number is called.
5. Check the claim. The host reads the numbers back against the caller sheet. A wrong claim loses that ticket the prize.
6. Finish with the full house. The game ends when a player marks all fifteen numbers and wins Chauth Celebration Full House.

New players learn karwa chauth chand tambola in about two minutes, because the pictures show them what to look for. If the group has never played tambola, our guide on how to play tambola explains the classic version.

Karwa chauth chand tambola: the prize ladder in numbers

Every prize in karwa chauth chand tambola needs a different number of marked numbers, so the prizes arrive in a predictable order. We simulated 3,000 games with 24 tickets, which is 4 sets of six, and recorded the call on which each prize was first completed. The table shows the median, with the middle half of games alongside:

With 24 tickets the first five arrives on about call 13, and the full house on about call 73, so the whole ladder runs over 60 calls, or about 10 minutes at 10 seconds a call. A one-picture prize arrives around call 29, and a two-picture prize around call 51, so most of the excitement happens in the middle of the game. When you plan karwa chauth chand tambola, announce the prizes in the order they are likely to be won, and keep the biggest for last.

Karwa chauth tambola: how many to print and how long a game lasts

This planner answers the question behind karwa chauth tambola: how many to print and how long the game lasts. For a Karwa Chauth gathering, the right number of tickets depends on how many guests want to play. This planner rounds up to whole sets of six and uses the same simulation as above for each size of group. One ticket for each player is the usual choice, and you can print a few spares for latecomers:

For 10 guests, print 12 tickets (2 sets of six) and expect the full house around call 76, which is about 12.7 minutes of calling. For 40 guests you need 48 tickets and the full house arrives around call 70.

The bigger the group, the earlier each prize is won, because more tickets are in play: the first five comes on call 14 with 10 guests but on call 11 with 40. That is why karwa chauth chand tambola stays quick even at a large Karwa Chauth gathering, and why it suits a short slot in the program.

What one ticket looks like during karwa chauth chand tambola

A ticket holds 15 of the 90 numbers, which is one sixth of them, so on average it has one sixth of the numbers called so far marked. By call 30 a typical ticket has 5 of its 15 numbers marked:

That is the average ticket, though. With 24 tickets in play, the best ticket reaches five marked numbers on call 13, and the best ticket completes all fifteen on call 73, long before an average ticket does. This gap between the average and the best ticket explains why the prizes in karwa chauth chand tambola are won so much earlier than the table above suggests.

Karwa chauth games: a ready-made run sheet

Here is how karwa chauth games runs on the day. Here is a run sheet for karwa chauth chand tambola that fits 90 minutes. The times are suggestions; stretch the snack break or shorten a round to suit your Karwa Chauth gathering.

The tambola rounds take 45 of the 90 minutes, which leaves room for food, photos and conversation. If you only have half the time, play one round and keep karwa chauth chand tambola for the full house, since the biggest prize makes the best ending.

Prize ideas for karwa chauth chand tambola: a gift for every pattern

Match the gift to the pattern: small gifts for the quick prizes and the best gift for the full house. These ideas fit a Karwa Chauth gathering:

Decor and dress ideas to go with the prizes:

• A pooja thali with diyas as the centerpiece
• Red and gold dupattas and bangles
• A mehendi corner
• A paper moon hanging near the prize table

Keep the prizes simple, wrap them in the theme colors and put them on a table where everyone can see them before the first call. A prize table in view keeps interest high all through karwa chauth chand tambola.

Three twists to try with karwa chauth chand tambola

A small twist makes the game feel planned. Pick one, or use all three across the rounds of karwa chauth chand tambola, and karwa chauth chand tambola stays quick whichever you choose.

Moon guess

Guests guess the time of moonrise, and the closest guess wins a small prize.

Solah shringar

The winner of Solah Shringar names the sixteen adornments or as many as she can.

Story round

Between prizes, a senior lady tells one story linked to the day.

If you like karwa chauth chand tambola, you may also enjoy Diwali Dhamaka Tambola, Rang Barse Holi Tambola, Teej Ki Bahaar Tambola, or browse the whole theme tambola collection.