India Gets Obsessed With Board Games for Adults

Board games are no longer only for children in India, as more and more grownups are taking interest in them, turning this sort of gaming into popular trend.

Politics of India is one of the adult board games, which is expected to become true hit after Sreekanth Bohra invented it following a meeting of the Bangalore Board Gamers (BBG).

He commented for the Indian gaming news : “Honestly, I wasn’t thinking about elections, but politics was surely on my mind. Geeky Buddha is into electronic projects and mobile apps. A board game may seem out of sync, but is totally in keeping with the resurgence in game nights and ‘play groups’.”

Bangalore

Bohra along with his partner Ritu Choudhary run a tech start-up, which currently in contrast with most software developers, who are turning their attention to making board games into online gambling titles, decided to create board game instead and attempt to fulfill the need for more diversity in this gaming area.

The BBG currently has 1,300 members, who gather together every week and enjoy 10-15 out of the collection of 50 games, presented by the current organizer Ajith Kumar.

The members have the opportunity to pick which games they want to play and do it in groups. There is also a group fund, to which players contribute if they want. The money is used for buying new games and other replacements.

Ajith said for DNA: “The culture of online gaming in India has increased traffic the board gaming way as many are adaptations of online ones and have similar rules.”

Mumbai

As far as Mumbai is concerned, playing board games and even betting real money on them, not necessarily according to Indian gambling laws, goes five years back, when Ajesh Shah and Tarun Durga started the Board Games Bash (BGB). These gatherings grew throughout the years and more and more people enjoy this type of entertainment.

In 2013 Prashant Maheshwari initiated the Mumbai Board Gamers gathering, which has already held over 200 meetings, playing more than 200 games.

He said: “Before marriage, I played a lot of video games, but my wife wouldn’t have enjoyed it. That’s why I started this group. It is free and open to all, but newbies have to apply and are screened before being accepted. We don’t want it become a socializing or dating space.”

National Capital Region

Rashme Hora initiated the Gurgaon Board and Card Gaming group and has already started two franchisees of the Mind Café: “The board gaming culture is almost non-existent in India for several reasons. It is assumed that board games are only for kids.”

Moreover: “This is probably because, unlike other countries, India games do not use board games for educational purposes; even for team building, outdoor sports are looked up to rather than board games. Not realizing the use of board games beyond recreation, most people wouldn’t want to spend INR 2000-3000, the cost of good games. I have also noticed that people here prefer playing in their close-knit groups.”

Board games for adults are becoming more and more popular in India making it into Indian gaming news

• Significant amount of board games’ clubs are started in the big cities

• There is lack of variety of board games for adults

• Entrepreneurs are forced to stock their stores with games ordered online

Despite Hora’s claim that people are not willing to pay for good games, it seems that there is not enough variety of games, therefore people are pressured to look online or buy them abroad when traveling.

Apparently players are not only interested in bet on sports in India, but also want more options to choose from when it comes to board games.

Hora added: “My partner and I realized that good, international board games for adults are not available in India; stores only get new ones for kids. So we stock and sell the latest collection all over India through our website BlahGames.com. Besides individuals, we also supply to Infibeam, Amazon India and Flipkart, and will soon supply to Hamleys and Landmark as well.”