Reclaiming the country’s traditional board games
Repeated lock-downs have triggered the interests of families into traditional games, in consequence which many small players are improvising traditional games with the elements of contemporary designs and algorithms.
The replaybility factor associated with rolling a dice and unexpectedly of probable outcomes is keeping the demand of board games intact. To make the most of the current situation when gaming has become a more intimate affair Many brands are keen to recreate the traditional board games of India.
Dice Toy Labs is one of many brands, started by Phalgun Polepalli and Shwetha Badarinath that have come up with the claims of reviving the country’s board-gaming traditions with a little help from families resigned to staying at home during lockdown.
According to the creators, though game ideas are plentiful, often they would not reach the retail stage, or stay long in the market, we intend to create fresh games set in familiar contexts, thus filling a gaping hole in the market.
In order to materialize a brilliant idea, it takes a skillful designer who can complement with the basic concept and gameplay, an artist to give a definite visual style, a graphic designer for typography, manufacturers and artisans to give shape to boards and pieces, and also a publisher to bring all this together with a focus on investment and sales.
Another such gaming venture run by Cristina Maiorescu, who launched the popular boardgame Bharata 600 and was also the face of the company called GoIndia Games. The game is set in the post-Vedic period, as professed by the brand it portray the era of the 16 Mahajanapadas (Great Kingdoms), it lets players build armies, wage wars, rule civilizations.
After surveying more than ten thousand potential consumers she managed to fix on an algorithm in which multiple play styles like like exploration, combat, collaboration can be incorporated in a single game with option of various complexity level.
According to her the demand shoots up immediately after the each lockdown announcement. Despite being a complex boardgame it commands a niche audience. Cristina has produced 500 units of Bharata 600 BC every month since November 2020, and even had to scale up in January and February. She engaged the artists from Channapatana toy clusters to create the boardgame.
Apart from boargames, a lot of companies mainly based in Hyderabad and Bengaluru have approached artisans with their idea. Some artisan are also selling traditional games based on The Ramayana and The Mahabharata. Old games like chauka bara are also getting popular.
Cover pic by Goindiagames
