Ask someone to name an Indian board game and most people freeze after Chess and Ludo. India invented the game now sold globally as Snakes and Ladders, and it’s currently home to half a dozen studios shipping original tabletop games to a growing international audience. Indian board games didn’t stop existing after Chaupar boards stopped being embroidered on cloth. With this blog, I intend to focus on the studios building original Indian-themed games today.

What Actually Makes Indian Board Games Different

A handful of traits show up again and again across Indian games, old and new. These traits aren’t as central to the Western board game canon. Most traditional Indian games are built for a floor mat or a cloth spread between people, not a table. That keeps them physically communal in a way a boxed Eurogame usually isn’t, since anyone walking past can sit down mid-round without needing a chair.

Many were also designed to be cross-generational by default. A ten-year-old and a grandparent can play at the same table without either side needing a handicap, because the skill ceiling rests on social judgment and reading probability, not memorization. And a surprising number carry an explicit moral or philosophical layer baked into the mechanics, not bolted on as flavor text. Moksha Patam (which evolved into Snakes and Ladders) is the most famous example. Modern Indian studios have picked this habit back up rather than invented it from scratch.

The Modern Indian Board Game Renaissance

What’s happening now isn’t a revival of these old games. It’s a new generation of designers applying the same instincts, community play, cross-generational accessibility, real cultural specificity, to entirely original titles. We’ve written about why this renaissance is happening at all here. This section is about who’s actually building it, and Kheo Games is proud to be one of the studios doing that work.

Indian Studios Building the Board Game Industry

Kheo Games isn’t building this alone, and that’s worth saying plainly. A real category needs more than one publisher in it, and several other Indian studios are shipping genuinely well-regarded games right now.

Mozaic Games, based in Bangalore, has built one of the most varied catalogs in Indian tabletop. Indus 2500BCE is a flip-and-write civilization-builder set in the Harappan world. Players choose a city map, gather resources and artifacts, and race to build the most resilient settlement, while historically-accurate calamity cards periodically strike and damage what you’ve built.

A full solo mode is included. Karigar-e-Taj is a worker-placement game for 1-4 players, set in 1631. You play a Karigar, or artisan, competing with rivals to gather historically authentic building resources and construct the Taj Mahal level by level to win the Emperor’s favor. It successfully crowdfunded over $18,000 on Kickstarter and was featured on Rahdo’s list of top upcoming Kickstarter board games.

Chai Garam, designed by the same Sidhant Chand who designed Boitas, is a considerably lighter, faster game about running a chai stall in a bustling mela. You brew orders correctly, manage a customer queue where skipping the front of the line costs you points, and fend off rival vendors trying to poach your customers.

Zenwood Games, based in Mumbai, leans into a sharper economic and political edge. Tycoon: India 1981 is the studio’s flagship. It’s a heavyweight economic strategy game for 1-4 players, set during India’s industrial liberalization era. Players lead an industrial house, building factories, securing government licenses, and juggling Asset Value, political Influence, and long-term Favor across a shared map of India. It’s a serious piece of design work. It won the 2026 Goblin Magnifico award and the Dice Tower Seal of Excellence, and it currently sits at 7.8 out of 10 across more than 300 ratings on BoardGameGeek, making it one of the highest-rated modern strategy games to come out of India.

Zenwood’s debut title, Parikrama, is a lighter card game about traveling across India’s landscapes, a good entry point before jumping into Tycoon’s heavier systems.

GoIndia Games, also out of Bangalore, has built its identity around historically-grounded epics and genuinely sustainable manufacturing. Bharata 600 BC is, by some measures, the best-selling Indian-designed modern board game to date. It sets 2-8 players in the era of the sixteen Mahajanapadas, the great kingdoms of the ancient Indian subcontinent. Each player leads a Mahajanapada ruler, managing armies, resources, and territory expansion while defending against rivals and natural disasters. The physical production is a big part of its reputation: over 550 components, including 64 handmade artisanal wooden pieces crafted using the traditional Channapatna technique and dyed with natural, non-toxic colors, all manufactured entirely in India.

Their most recent creation, Nayakas, designed by Andy Desa, is also an amazing worker-placement game set after the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire. The gameplay is truly appreciated by many gamers who love the asymmetric nature of the four factions in the game.

Luma World takes a different angle entirely, closer to educational design than pure strategy. Lakshadweep is a two-player tile-placement game where you build out an island archipelago. You add houses, fisheries, hotels, ports, forests, and coral reefs, balancing development against ecological preservation. It’s explicitly aligned with several UN Sustainable Development Goals around sustainable tourism and ocean conservation. It’s also the only Indian board game to date to receive the Dice Tower Seal of Approval, a genuinely respected mark of quality in the international hobby space. Its two-player-only format makes it one of the better entry points on this list if you’re shopping for a couples’ game night rather than a full table.

Shasn, published by Mumbai-based Memesys Culture Lab and designed by Zain Memon, takes the most unlikely theme on this whole list: Indian electoral politics. It’s a strategy game for 3-5 players, with a 2-player mode sold separately. Each player takes on the role of a politician contesting a nine-constituency election. You take a public stand on real ethical and political dilemmas, trade favors with rivals, and try to win over the most voters before the game ends. Shasn grew directly out of a documentary Memesys made on the rise of Delhi politician Arvind Kejriwal, and the game leans hard into that same close-to-real-life energy.

It raised over $339,000 from more than 4,200 backers on Kickstarter in 2019, and it went on to win the Social Impact Award at IndieCade Europe that same year, a respected honor in the indie game world. You can see its full rules and community ratings on BoardGameGeek. It’s one of the sharpest, most adult entries in Indian tabletop right now.

XOtoXO Games, based in Chennai, takes yet another angle: everyday Indian heritage and craft rather than history or politics. Their debut title, Athangudi: Artisans of Chettinad, is a light-strategy tile-laying game for 2-4 players, built around the real, hand-poured cement tiles of Athangudi, a small village in Tamil Nadu’s Chettinad region. In the game, you play a master artisan laying the floor of a grand Chettinad mansion, competing to build the most striking pattern while chasing scoring goals along the way. The real tiles the game is based on take skilled artisans nearly two weeks to make by hand, and the game reproduces that same careful, colorful geometry on the table. 

Kheo Games: Building Modern Games From Indian Soil

Panchayat: the flagship

Panchayat is the pinacle of Kheo Games, and it’s still the clearest expression of the studio’s whole philosophy. The name comes directly from Indian village governance. In traditional Indian villages, a group of five respected elders called the Panch, Sanskrit for “five,” governed local affairs. Panchayat literally means “the rule of the five.” In the game, you take on the role of one of those governing bodies. You turn a barren piece of land into a thriving village, one tile at a time, competing against up to three other players or playing entirely solo.

It’s a light-strategy tile-placement game for 1-4 players, roughly 30 minutes a session. It was designed by Andy Desa, with artwork by Vesley Carrasco. The box carries real strategic texture for its weight class: 72 building tiles, 20 adjacency bonus tiles that reward how you cluster your village, 18 end-game bonus tiles, 12 placement bonus tiles, and 5 dedicated solo objective tiles for anyone playing alone. There’s even a “Zamindar discard” mechanic, named for the landowning officials of Mughal and colonial-era India, that governs how unwanted tiles get cycled out of the game. It’s been reviewed favorably by outlets like Planet Dave, and it remains the game most people mean when they say they’ve played something from Kheo Games.

Boitas: the newest release

Boitas is Kheo Games’s newest title, and its most historically specific one yet. The game is named for the traditional wooden sailing boats used by the Sadhaba, or Sadhava, merchant seafarers of ancient Odisha. These traders braved unpredictable seas to build maritime trade routes connecting Odisha’s coast to Southeast Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, carrying spices, textiles, and precious metals in vessels crafted with real nautical skill.

In the game, designed by Sidhant Chand with art by Janki Bavle, you step into the role of one of those Sadhaba traders. You use your boitas to sail to distant ports, trade for luxury goods, and build prosperity for yourself and your home kingdom. It’s a trick-taking card game for 2-4 players, roughly 30 minutes long, similar in spirit to the trick-taking games already common at Indian family gatherings, but built entirely around this one specific, under-told piece of coastal Indian history. It’s a small game with a genuinely rare theme. Not many tabletop titles anywhere put Kalinga-era maritime trade at the center of the table.

Go Goa and Samachar

Rounding out the lineup, Go Goa is the team’s roll-and-write. It’s a lighter, faster game that tours the state of Goa in around twenty minutes and comfortably supports up to six players, built for the night you want something social rather than heavy. Samachar is a simultaneous-action set-collection card game built around news, opinion, and public narrative, a distinctly modern theme dressed in classic card-game mechanics. Together with Panchayat and Boitas, these four titles span nearly the full range of what “Indian-themed board game” can mean, from ancient trade routes to modern media cycles.

Why Kheo Games Designs India-Themed Games

The honest answer is that we don’t think of a board game as a product first. We think of it as an experience. The experience a game creates depends entirely on what it asks players to imagine together, so the theme isn’t decoration, it’s the actual architecture of the evening. Most of the strategy games that shaped this hobby globally were built around European history, European folklore, and European trade routes. That’s a fine tradition, but it means India’s own equally rich material has mostly sat unused by the people who actually grew up inside it: its village governance structures like the Panchayat, its maritime trade history like the Sadhaba’s boitas, its festivals and folklore.

We’d rather be the ones who use it. Not because foreign themes are wrong, but because nobody tells India’s stories at a game table with the specificity someone who actually grew up here can bring. Every session played is a small chance to hand someone an experience they can’t get from a reskinned Eurogame. That’s the whole bet behind Panchayat, Go Goa, Samachar, and Boitas: build the mechanics with real craft, and let the setting be unmistakably, specifically Indian, rather than generically “exotic”.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the oldest Indian board game? Games in the Pachisi and Chaupar family are among the oldest continuously played Indian board games, with related dice-and-counter evidence from Harappan sites going back thousands of years. Chaturanga, the direct ancestor of chess, is considerably younger but far more globally influential, since it eventually became modern chess.

Is Snakes and Ladders actually from India? Yes. It originated as Moksha Patam, an Indian spiritual teaching game built around virtues, vices, and the path to liberation. It was brought to Victorian England during the colonial period, where it was stripped of its religious symbolism. It was eventually sold worldwide as a children’s game.

What are the best modern Indian board games to try? It depends what you’re after. Panchayat and Karigar-e-Taj suit players who want real strategic depth. Go Goa and Chai Garam are better for a lighter, faster night. Boitas and Bharata 600 BC lean into distinct historical themes. Tycoon: India 1981 is the pick if you want a genuinely heavy, award-winning economic game. Shasn is the one to try if you want something sharper and more political. And Lakshadweep or Athangudi are strong choices if you want something built for two players or a calmer evening.

Where can I buy Indian-designed board games? Kheo Games’ full lineup is available directly at kheogames.com/shop, alongside titles from other studios through their own sites and marketplaces like Amazon India.

Ready to Play One of These Modern Indian Board Games Yourself?

If any of this made you want an Indian-designed game on your own table, start with us. Try Panchayat for the flagship strategic experience that started Kheo Games, Boitas if you want our newest release and one of the more distinctive themes on this list, or Go Goa for a lighter night with a group. Browse the full lineup at kheogames.com/shop. And if you want the deeper history behind all of this, our full history of board games and why this renaissance is happening now are both worth the extra read.

There’s a fourth option, and it’s the one this list is about: board games for couples. Pull up two chairs, put the phones on a shelf, and give each other actual attention for once. It still counts as a date, arguably a better one.

Below are some of the best two-player board games for couples, ranging from ten-minute filler games to genuine strategic showdowns. Some of these are purpose-built for exactly two players; others are bigger games that just happen to shine when it’s only the two of you. We’ve labeled each one so you know what you’re getting. The other thing worth deciding before you pick one: do you want to compete against each other, or team up against the game? That choice changes the whole mood of the evening more than anything else on this list. You can also find a summary at the end of the article if you’re in a hurry to set up your next adventure

1. Pandemic — Best Cooperative Board Game for Couples

Built for: 2–4 players · shines brightest at 2 · 45–60 minutes

If competing against each other isn’t your idea of romantic, Pandemic flips the format entirely. You and your partner become a two-person team of disease specialists, sharing one hand of cards to cure four outbreaks before they spiral out of control. Epidemic cards throw in the occasional shared crisis that forces you to actually talk through a plan instead of just taking turns.

Each player gets a role card with a different special ability, which naturally splits the labor with one of you specializes in treating cities directly while the other focuses on moving supplies or trading cards efficiently. That built-in division of labor is what makes it feel like a real partnership instead of one person carrying the game. Play it during a genuinely stressful week and you’ll notice something: an argument about outbreak strategy feels a lot better than most other arguments.

Good for: couples who’d rather high-five over a shared win than gloat over a solo one. Read more here

2. Jaipur — Quickest Two-Player Trading Game

Built for: exactly 2 players · 10–15 minutes per round

Jaipur casts you both as rival traders buying and selling goods and camels in the markets of old Jaipur, racing to be the wealthier merchant over the best of three rounds. The whole game sits on a small table between you, just a market row of cards and two hands, which keeps it feeling intimate rather than like you’re managing a sprawling board.

The tension is very human: the market is shared and visible, so you can usually see exactly what your partner is going for, and every turn becomes a small negotiation with yourself over whether to block them or chase your own opportunity instead. It rewards reading your partner’s face and hesitations as much as it rewards reading the cards. Ten minutes in, you’re usually arguing over who gets the last camel, and that argument is the whole point.

Good for: a sharp, quick session on a weeknight when you don’t have an hour to spare. Read more here

3. Patchwork — Calmest Two-Player Board Game

Built for: exactly 2 players · 15–30 minutes

Patchwork plays like a slow-motion game of Tetris, with each of you filling your own quilt board using irregular fabric pieces bought with buttons, trying to leave as few empty gaps as possible by the end. Every piece costs a different number of turns as well as buttons, so grabbing a piece now can mean your partner gets three free turns before you move again, which turns timing into its own quiet puzzle.

There’s no direct confrontation here, nothing to block, nothing to steal. You’re each just building your own small, cozy thing at your own pace, occasionally glancing over to see how the other’s quilt is coming along. Because it’s designed specifically for two players rather than scaled down from something bigger, the pacing feels tight in a way few games manage.

Good for: unwinding together rather than competing for bragging rights. Read more here 

4. Azul — Best Two-Player Tile-Laying Game

Built for: 2–4 players · shines brightest at 2 · 30–45 minutes

Azul has you drafting colorful tiles from shared displays each round, arranging them onto your own wall for points while trying to avoid the penalty tiles that pile up if you take more than you can use. It takes a little longer to explain than most games on this list, the scoring has a few layers to it, but once it clicks, the tile-laying itself is genuinely satisfying in a tactile, almost meditative way.

It supports up to four players, but two is where it’s tightest and most personal, since every tile your partner takes is a tile you can’t have. Reading their board to guess what they’re setting up becomes half the game.

Good for: couples who like a bit of tactical bite with their tabletop time. Read more here

5. Codenames Duet — Best Cooperative Word Game for Couples

Built for: exactly 2 players · 15–30 minutes

Codenames Duet rebuilds the popular party game as a genuine two-player cooperative experience, and it suits couples even better than the original party version does. You share one grid of twenty-five words, taking turns giving each other one-word clues to find your shared agents while steering clear of the assassin word, all against a limited, shared pool of turns that keeps the pressure on.

Because you’re both giving and guessing clues throughout the game, it becomes a genuinely intimate exercise in how well you can predict what a single word means inside your partner’s head. That’s a strangely accurate stand-in for how well you actually know each other.

Good for: an easy pre-dinner game, or a lighter close to the evening after something heavier like Azul. Read more here

6. Hive – Best Tactile Game for Couples Who Love Chess

Built for: exactly 2 players · 45+ minutes

If you love a tactile tile placement game, you cannot go wrong with Hive. It’s such an amazing feeling to hold those tiles in your hands. This is even if you do not really enjoy the creatures printed on them.

The amazing part of this game is that you can play it on any flat surface without the need for a table. The game comes with 22 tiles so it’s easy to carry around too. What’s a better alternative for a date night by the beach?

The game feels a lot like chess, as it has very simple rules but the strategy that comes out of the play is very rich. Each piece has its own movement rules and also placement rules that make the game strategic.

Good for: if you love chess, you will love this board-less game. Check it out here

7. Sky Team – Best Recent 2-Player Game

Built for: exactly 2 players · 20 minutes

One of the most recent cooperative modern board games for 2 players, Sky Team took the world by storm. 

You and your partner act with limited communication which makes the game tougher. Together you are a pilot and the co-pilot trying to land the plane in tough situations. You will love this game which brings the feelings of tough flight right to your table. The scenarios get increasingly difficult as you make progress in this game. The game components bring the cockpit to life with its visuals and the layout.

Good for: very replayable game, if you love challenges. Check it out here

Want Something With Real Roots Instead?

If you like the village-building strategy of Pandemic or the tile-laying tension of Azul, it’s worth trying Panchayat from Kheo Games which is a light-strategy tile-placement game where you and your partner build a thriving Indian village together, tile by tile. It’s designed to hold up just as well played as a couple as it does with a full table of four, and it’s a nice change of pace if you’ve already worked through the games above.

Quick Comparison: Best Board Games for Couples

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best board game for two people to play together? It depends on the mood you’re going for. Pandemic and Codenames Duet suit couples who’d rather team up than compete, Jaipur is the fastest pick for a busy weeknight, and Patchwork fits a slower night in with no clock to watch.

Are there cooperative board games couples can play as a team instead of competing? Yes — Pandemic and Codenames Duet both put you on the same side, working from shared information toward one goal instead of trying to beat each other.

What’s the best board game for a first date? Something short and low-stakes works best early on. Jaipur and Codenames Duet both run under thirty minutes, don’t require a rulebook deep-dive, and give you natural conversation starters without the pressure of a longer strategy game.

Do I need to already know strategy games to play these? No. Jaipur, Patchwork, and Codenames Duet are all easy to teach in under five minutes. Azul and Pandemic take a little longer to explain but are still approachable for first-timers — neither requires prior board game experience.

How long do these games take to play? Most run fifteen to sixty minutes. Jaipur and Codenames Duet are on the shorter end; Pandemic and Azul run a bit longer.

Board games have been having a real moment lately, more households are trading screen time for tabletop time than at any point in the last decade  Whichever one you pick from this list, the point isn’t really the game. It’s giving each other your full attention, instead of half-watching a screen someone else wrote.

That’s not a coincidence of good writing. It’s a signal saying board games are back, and the reasons run deeper than a pandemic hobby that stuck around.

What Pop Culture Already Knew

Board games have shown up in film and television for decades, usually as shorthand for something true about the characters using them. Jumanji built its entire premise around what happens when a game refuses to stay contained to the table. The real weight of that story was about what it costs to abandon something real for something easier. Zathura followed the same logic, with two brothers pulled into an experience that started with a choice to play together.

None of these are really stories about board games. They’re stories about people who needed to be in the same room together, and the game was the reason they got there.

The Board Game Renaissance Has Happened Before

This isn’t the first time board games have come back around. Senet, the oldest known board game, was buried with Egyptian nobility as early as 3500 BC. India produced two of the most influential games ever designed: Chaturanga, from around the 4th century, is the direct ancestor of chess, and Pachisi is the ancestor of Ludo, still played across Indian households today. Games have never been a fringe activity, they’ve been central to how people spent time together for millennia.

Historians still split tabletop history into B.C. and A.C. Before and After Catan. Klaus Teuber’s 1995 release was a blockbuster and proved a board game could hold adult attention without taking four hours, opening the door for Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, and the crowdfunding boom that followed where board games raised over $220 million on Kickstarter in 2024 alone. What’s happening now, with Gen Z and with Indian designers building original games, is the newest chapter in a pattern this old.

The Data Behind It

Board games and playing cards as a category were valued at roughly $17.2 billion globally in 2025, per Grand View Research, which credits younger buyers as the segment driving that growth. Sales rose about 20% in 2020 alone (NPD Group data via InsideHook), and the market kept climbing even after lockdowns lifted. In India, board game cafes have opened across Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, and Chennai, per Business Standard’s coverage of India’s board game comeback  which matches what I’ve watched happen at street level, in cafes, at conventions, at play-test tables across the country.

A Kid, Panchayat, and the Moment This Clicked

In 2023, at Meeple Con in Mumbai, I watched a ten-year-old boy sit down to play Panchayat. His parents had stepped away. The other players were adults in their thirties, none of whom he’d met before that afternoon.

He picked up the game fast, and once he was inside it, he was completely inside it. Every time he moved ahead on the score tracker he’d look around at the other players and announce his position. Between his own turns he was watching everyone else reading what they were planning, adjusting his own thinking accordingly. At one point he declared, with complete conviction, that this was better than chess.

Panchayat is set in rural India, a world he probably hadn’t encountered directly growing up in a city. The unfamiliar theme didn’t matter, because the game gave him a structure for interacting with the people across the table, and they responded to his decisions in kind. The theme is a door. The interaction is the room. A well-designed game opens the door.What happens once people are inside belongs to the players.

Why Board Games Succeed Where Social Media Falls Short

Gen Z grew up with apps built for constant, visible feedback on every action, and that expectation travels with them to the table: what loses a younger player isn’t a complex game, it’s dead time, stretches where a decision doesn’t feel like it matters. A ten-year-old can stay locked into a strategically dense game with adults for hours, as long as it keeps delivering those moments.

What those platforms deliver less reliably is depth. The U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory on loneliness and isolation points to the structure, function, and quality of relationships, not just their frequency, as what actually protects wellbeing. A board game offers that structurally: every decision one player makes changes what everyone else has to navigate, the tension is real because the person generating it is watching your face as you decide, and no algorithm is steering the evening toward a predetermined outcome.

What This Means for Kheo Games

A game needs moments distributed throughout that give players something to react to. A theme can be unfamiliar and still land, because the interaction carries more weight than the setting. A table should hold a ten-year-old and a thirty-five-year-old with equal investment in what happens next. Boitas, Samachar, and Panchayat are built with this in mind. The renaissance has happened before, it’s happening again, and the best evenings are still happening around a table.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did the board game renaissance begin?

There have been several waves — India’s Chaturanga and Pachisi centuries ago, the modern hobby wave that traces to Catan’s 1995 release (still marked as B.C./A.C. by hobbyists), and today’s pandemic-accelerated, Gen Z-led wave.

Is the board game industry actually growing, or is this a leftover pandemic trend?

It’s growing past the pandemic bump. Sales rose about 20% in 2020 alone (NPD Group), and the global market has kept climbing since, to roughly $17.2 billion in 2025 (Grand View Research).

Why are young people playing board games again?

They expect the same constant, visible feedback their apps give them — and a well-designed board game delivers exactly that, plus a depth of connection those apps don’t reliably offer.

You Have Been Socialising Not Connecting

Think about the last time you were truly present with another person. Not in the same room while scrolling. Not texting while something played in the background. Actually present. Where you laughed about something that does not exist as a clip, where the conversation could go anywhere, where the room felt like a room. The digital world promised connection. It delivered proximity. Proximity, it turns out, is a very different thing

“We live so much but we experience so little. We see so much but we notice so little.” — Alain de Botton

What Happens When You Are Actually in the Room Together

The clearest difference between board games and most digital entertainment is physical presence. With digital games, you do not have to be in the same room as the people you are playing with. With board games, you have no choice, and that constraint turns out to be the whole point.

When you are sitting across from someone at a table, you can see their face. You can see the moment they realise their plan is not going to work. You can catch someone hesitating over a move and start reading what they are about to do before they do it. You can watch someone try to hide that they are winning. None of this is available through a screen, and none of it is trivial. It is the raw material of actual human connection.

When a group watches something together, they are all oriented toward the same external object. The screen is the subject. The people are the audience. There is no moment where one person’s decision changes the experience of everyone else in the room.

Put those same people around a board game and everything shifts. The subject becomes each other. Every choice one person makes lands directly on the others. Laughter happens because of something a person did, not something a writer scripted. Tension builds because of the person across the table, not a plot point on a screen.

Digital entertainment is something you consume alongside other people. Board games are something you create with them.

The Social Behaviours Nobody Plans For

After running playtests, attending board game conventions, and watching hundreds of people sit down with games for the first time, the thing that still stands out is how quickly strangers become comfortable with each other around a table.

A shared game removes the usual friction of meeting people you do not know. You have a common frame of reference immediately. You have something to react to together. You have wins, losses, and unexpected turns that generate genuine emotion and genuine emotion is what people actually remember about an evening.

The board game community globally tends to be welcoming, and that welcome extends further than most people expect. If you travel to a city you have never been to, find a board game meetup, and walk in, the odds are good that you will be playing within the hour regardless of whether you speak the language. You can sit down with people in Japan who speak very little English and play a game together, and the game handles the rest. Shoutout to the board game cafe in Japan – Pineapple Games. Very few things create that kind of connection as efficiently.

The Things That Only Happen Around a Table

There is a specific set of experiences that almost exclusively happen during games played in person.

Unscripted laughter; when someone makes a spectacularly bad decision or misreads a situation so completely that the whole table collapses. That laughter is shared authorship. Everyone made it happen.

The negotiation; half-sentence looks, real-time reads of whether someone is bluffing, the moment you decide to trust or not trust the person two feet away from you.

The debrief; the conversation that starts the moment someone wins or loses. Why did you do that? I was sure you were bluffing. This conversation, which goes nowhere in particular, is where friendships deepen.

Shared failure; nothing bonds people faster than collectively losing at a cooperative game. It is practice for the real world, disguised as play.

None of these have a digital equivalent. They require the specific friction of being in the same room with no algorithm managing the experience and no content to retreat into when the silence gets interesting.

“You pity the moth confusing the lamp for the moon, yet here you are confusing a screen for the world.”

The Friendships You Do Not Plan to Make

The connections that come out of board gaming tend to outlast the sessions themselves in a way that other entertainment rarely produces.

I know people I first met through playtesting games whom I can now call if I am in their city. Not because we made a plan to stay in touch, but because we spent enough time at tables together that the connection formed without anyone trying to build it. That is what shared games do when they are given enough time. They create the conditions for relationships to develop, and then they get out of the way.

This happens at conventions, at cafes, at home game nights, and at meetups that were supposed to last two hours and run until midnight. The game starts the process. The people finish it.

“Some of the loneliest people have the most friends on social media. Because collecting connections is what you do when you can’t maintain them.” — Gurwinder Bhogal

Why This Matters Now

Screens are better than they have ever been. Content is more abundant and more personalised than at any point in history. None of that is going to change. But abundance of content is not the same as quality of experience, and passive consumption does not produce the specific kind of memory that comes from being in a room with people who are reacting to the same thing you are in real time.

Research on loneliness consistently shows that the frequency of contact is not the same as the depth of it. You can have hundreds of digital exchanges in a day and still feel fundamentally unseen. The restlessness people feel toward screens is a correct identification that something is missing; something humans were built over a very long time to need.

Board games are a complement to digital life. The part of the evening where your phone goes face down and something happens that is genuinely unrepeatable. The story you tell on Monday about what happened on Friday night. The inside reference that a group carries for years. We have also written about the rise of Solo Games. 

The screen will always be there. So will the algorithm, the feed, the notification, the passive content machine waiting to fill any silence you allow it.

A table, a game, and the right people in the room; that is something you have to choose.

At Kheo Games, we design board games for Indian households, family nights, and social gatherings of all sizes. Go Goa and Panchayat are built for exactly the kind of evening described above, games to play with family, friends, and anyone worth spending a good night with.

Choosing a party game to chill out with friends sounds simple until you are standing in front of a shelf of options with six people waiting and no consensus in the room. The right game for one group can completely flatten another, and the difference usually has nothing to do with the quality of the game itself. Board games are one of the easiest ways to bring people together, until you pick the wrong one for the room. The game that had everyone laughing last weekend can completely stall with a different group, and the reason is rarely the game itself. It is the mismatch between what the game demands and what the people at the table actually want from the evening. This guide walks through how to read that gap and close it before you open a single box.

This Guide you are about to read is an attempt from my side (founder of Kheo Games) to help you make the best choice for the Game you should pick for all scenarios.

The Biggest Mistake Hosts Make When Choosing a Board Game: 

The most common mistake is picking the game you want to play rather than the game the group will enjoy.

Heavy game enthusiasts are particularly prone to this. When you have played complex games long enough, your sense of what counts as easy shifts considerably. A game that feels light to an experienced player can feel overwhelming to someone who walked in expecting a fun evening, not a lesson. As a host, your job is to read the room before you reach for the box.

The goal of this guide is to give you a reliable way to make that call, whether you are hosting for the first time or introducing someone to board games who has only ever played Ludo. The right game for your group exists. Knowing how to find the suitable one is the skill worth building.

The 3 Questions to Ask Before Every Game Night

Before anything else, three things determine which game belongs on the table.

• Who is playing and what have they played before?

Experience level is the single most important variable. A group of complete beginners needs a game that teaches itself in under ten minutes. A group of seasoned players will get restless with something too light. The spectrum runs from people who have never touched a modern board game to people who have logged hundreds of hours across dozens of titles, and the right game for each end of that spectrum looks nothing alike.

• How much time does the group actually have?

Some games take thirty minutes just to explain the rules. Others let you finish an entire game in that same window. Be honest about the time available, because a game that runs long does not just inconvenience people; it changes how they feel about board games in general. A shorter, sharper session that ends on a high note does more for the hobby than a marathon that loses half the table by the second hour.

• How many people are playing?

Group size changes everything. Two player games call for something entirely different from six. Smaller groups can support games with more depth and longer turns. Larger groups generally need games with minimal downtime, faster rounds, and rules simple enough that new players do not spend half the session feeling lost.

Understanding Game Types Before You Choose

Most board game selection guides skip straight to recommendations. The more useful thing to understand first is the spectrum of interaction styles, because different people enjoy fundamentally different kinds of engagement.

• Multiplayer Solitaire Games

These are games where everyone is building or progressing toward their own goal with minimal interference from other players. You might compete for shared resources, but you are largely focused on your own side of the table. People who enjoy this style like the social setting without the pressure of constant player conflict. If your group includes people who find direct confrontation uncomfortable, this category tends to work well.

• Cooperative Games

Everyone plays together against the game itself. These work particularly well for mixed-experience groups because stronger players can support newer ones without it feeling patronising. The shared win or loss also tends to create a warmer atmosphere for groups who do not know each other well.

• Party and Light Games

Few rules, fast rounds, usually loud and enjoyable. These are the right choice for large groups, first-time players, and any situation where the game is secondary to the socialising. An experienced gamer who loves heavy strategy might find these too simple, but for most casual gatherings they are the safest and most reliable choice.

Matching the Game to the Situation

• New Players or First Timers

Start with something light. The goal for a first session is not to teach the hobby in full; it is to make sure people want to play again. Games with intuitive rules, short turns, and a satisfying arc within an hour are ideal. Avoid anything where the rule explanation alone takes longer than the first game would for an experienced group.

• A Mixed Group of Experienced and New Players

This is the most common and most challenging situation. The experienced players want something with enough depth to hold their interest; the newer players need something they can engage with before they fully understand it. Cooperative games handle this well because the experienced players can guide without dominating. Gateway games with simple rules and meaningful decisions also work here.

• A Large Group of Six or More

Party games and team games are built for this. Anything with long individual turns becomes painful at this player count. Look for games where everyone stays involved between their turns, either through voting, reacting, or contributing to group decisions.

• A Competitive Group That Knows Each Other Well

This is where higher interaction games earn their place. Take-that mechanics, social deduction, and direct competition land well when the group has enough trust and history to absorb the tension without it becoming personal. The key is that everyone at the table genuinely enjoys this style; one player who does not will change the energy of the whole session.

• A Casual Evening Where Socialising Is the Point

The game here is background, not centrepiece. Light games, party games, and anything with short rounds work best. The game should create conversation and laughter, not demand sustained concentration.

How Indian Social Situations Change the Equation

Most board game guides are written for Western hobby contexts where everyone at the table already owns games and has a sense of what they enjoy. Indian social situations often look different. A family gathering during a festival might include grandparents, children, and adults with wildly different patience for rules. A college hostel game night probably includes one person who owns games and several who have never played anything beyond Ludo. A corporate team outing needs something that works for people who have never met before and may not want to compete directly with colleagues.

In each of these cases, the answer is the same: go lighter than you think you need to, keep the rules explanation short, and pick something where a new player can contribute meaningfully within the first few minutes. The goal of any first game session in a new group is simply to make sure there is a second one.

Choosing the Right Board Game Gets Easier With Practice

The decisions covered in this guide come down to three things every time: who is at the table, how long they have, and what kind of experience they are looking for. Get those three right and the specific game almost picks itself.

Experience level tells you how complex the rules can be. Time available tells you how long the session can run. Group size and mood tell you whether you need something competitive, cooperative, or light. Run through those filters before you open a single box and you will avoid the situations that give board games a bad reputation with casual players: the session that ran too long, the game that lost half the table in the explanation, the evening that ended with someone feeling out of their depth.

At Kheo Games, we design for the actual range of people who sit around actual tables. Go Goa and Panchayat are both built to be picked up quickly and played deeply, whether your group is new to board games or has been playing for years.

The best game you will ever play has only one player. Everything else is just waiting for your turn.

Across living rooms, kitchen tables, and dimly lit bedrooms all over the world, something is shifting in the way people play games. And the industry, for all its noise about esports and multiplayer lobbies and always-online experiences, has barely stopped to think about what it actually means.

People are choosing to play alone on purpose and In growing numbers. And they are not lonely. That distinction matters more than it seems, because for decades the assumption has been that gaming alone is what you do when nobody will play with you, a consolation prize, a fallback. The industry built itself around the opposite belief, that connection is the product and multiplayer is the destination. And yet a 2025 survey of 34,000 players across 22 countries found that 56% prefer single player games. Nobody is talking loudly enough about what this actually means.

The Princess and Her Pegs

“Ultimate outcome of a solved problem is the person who solved it.”

The story starts in 1697, in the court of a French princess.

The exact origin is disputed, but the legend holds that peg solitaire: a board game in which a single player removes pegs one by one until, ideally, only one remains was invented by a French noblewoman confined to solitary imprisonment in the Bastille. She needed something to do with her mind. She had no opponent. So she invented a game that required none.

Whether or not the story is literally true, it is mythologically perfect. Because it captures the original spirit of solo gaming with extraordinary precision: here is a mind, here is a problem, here is the pure, private pleasure of trying to solve it. No audience required. No winner’s podium. No one to impress.

From that single board with holes in it, through card solitaire, crossword puzzles, Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks in the 1980s, through Ambush! in 1983, through the digital revolution and eventually through a global pandemic, the thread runs unbroken. Solo gaming didn’t emerge from loneliness. It was born from something older and quieter: the human need to be alone with a challenge.

What Solo Gaming Actually Gives You

Multiplayer gaming gives you other people. Solo gaming gives you yourself. That sounds obvious but it is not, because what it means in practice is that the two experiences are not competing for the same thing at all.

When you sit down to a multiplayer game the primary variable is other humans. Their decisions, their mistakes, their cooperation, their hostility. The game is a medium for human interaction. Remove the other people and there is nothing left.

• The opponent is the system

• The tension is internal

• The victory, when it comes, belongs entirely to you

• And so, crucially, does the failure

Think of it like the difference between a conversation and a meditation. Both involve attention but one is about exchange and one is about depth. Solo gaming is a form of structured self-encounter, a designed space where you face your own decision-making, your own patience, your own willingness to keep going against a problem that was built to resist you.

A Pattern in Solo Gaming Older Than Any Game

The shape of this has shown up across history in ways that are easy to miss because they do not look like gaming on the surface.

In medieval monasteries, monks practised sacred reading not in groups but alone in silence with a text that demanded their full attention. The goal was not information but transformation, and the difficulty was the point. In the twentieth century crossword puzzles became the first mass market solo activity in the modern sense, printed in newspapers, solved at kitchen tables, entirely private in their satisfactions. Nobody called crossword enthusiasts antisocial. The assumption was simply that some people, sometimes, want the clean pleasure of a problem and a solution with no intermediary.

And then came the 1980s when Choose Your Own Adventure books gave children their first taste of a story where their choices had consequences, where they were not readers but protagonists. Millions of children who grew up making those paper choices became the adults who now sink forty hours into Baldur’s Gate 3 alone or spend a Sunday afternoon with a board game designed specifically for one.

Each era found its own form but the mechanism was always the same: one mind, one system, the private pleasure of real engagement.

How the Pandemic Changed Solo Gaming Forever

It would be tempting to date the rise of solo gaming to 2020 and the lockdowns and the cancelled tabletop nights and the enforced solitude that drove millions of people back to games they had been meaning to play for years. But the pandemic was an accelerant, not the origin. The trend was already building well before anyone had heard of COVID.

Consider the games that were already quietly proving this:

• Mage Knight (2011) — widely considered one of the first genuinely great solo board games, a complex and deeply satisfying puzzle of movement and strategy

• Spirit Island — designed for groups but equally compelling alone

• Terraforming Mars — built for multiplayer, discovered by solo players

• Viticulture — a social game with a solo mode that developed its own following

The community and the hunger existed. The pandemic simply made it visible to everyone else.

And something unexpected happened when it did. People who played alone during the lockdowns did not stop when the world opened back up. The 56% preference number from 2025 is not a pandemic hangover. It is a settled preference. What the lockdowns did was give people permission to discover what they actually wanted, and a significant portion of them found that what they wanted was a particular kind of quiet, focused, self-directed experience that multiplayer games for all their brilliance simply cannot provide.

Why Solo Gaming Makes Sense Right Now

“Just as you travel so that you can miss your home, you socialize so that you can miss yourself.”  — Naval Ravikant

Zoom out far enough and the pattern becomes clear. Solo gaming is rising at exactly the same moment that the loneliness epidemic is dominating headlines, that social media has made us more connected and more performatively social than any generation in history, and that the average person’s attention is pulled across a dozen platforms and group chats before 9am.

A 2024 survey found that 56% of Americans view solitude as crucial for their mental health. Research increasingly separates loneliness, the painful experience of unwanted isolation, from positive solitude, the chosen and restorative experience of being alone with intention. Solo gaming sits squarely in the second category. It is structured solitude. It gives the mind something to hold while it recovers from the relentless sociality of modern life.

We live in an age that has turned human interaction into performance, likes and followers and public wins and viral moments, and in response a growing number of people are choosing experiences that are genuinely unobserved. You cannot go viral playing a solo journaling game at your kitchen table. There is no leaderboard. There is no audience. There is only you, a set of dice, and a story that exists entirely inside your own notebook. That is not a lesser experience. It might be the most honest one left.

Solo Gaming at Kheo Games: What We Learned

We have solo modes in two of our games, Go Goa and Panchayat, and Panchayat is the more interesting story because it surprised even us.

Panchayat started as a multiplayer game where players take on roles of sarpanches from competing villages, building influence and outmaneuvering each other across the table. It is social at its core and works beautifully that way. But our designers entered it into a solo game design contest as an experiment and it performed well enough that we committed to building something genuinely new around it rather than just stripping the multiplayer version down.

What struck us most is that nobody told these players to do this. A game designed for multiplayer developed a genuine solo following entirely through player behaviour, which is about as clear a market signal as you can get. When players adapt your game in a direction you did not fully anticipate, the right response is to follow them there and build it properly.

What Solo Gaming Is Really About

Solo gaming, whether analog or digital, has always been about the same thing. The relationship between a mind and a system designed to challenge it, with no intermediary, no audience, and no external validation required. It began in a prison cell and grew through monasteries and puzzle books and pandemic lockdowns into something that many of the world’s players now prefer.

It rose not because people stopped wanting connection but because the world oversupplied performance and undersupplied depth. It rose because there is a specific hunger, ancient and apparently very widespread, for an experience that is entirely yours:

• One that asks something of you

• One that you can fail at quietly and try again

• One that does not need to be witnessed to be real

The industry sees it as a market preference. Psychologists see it as positive solitude. Historians see it as a tradition stretching back centuries. But the most honest way to put it is probably this: when you sit down to play alone, you are doing something that people across thousands of years have found to be quietly necessary. You are spending time with the one opponent who will always show up, will always be honest with you, and will always make the game genuinely interesting.

Yourself.

]]> https://kheogames.com/the-meteoric-rise-of-solo-gaming/feed/ 1 https://kheogames.com/introduce-kids-to-strategy-games/ Mon, 11 Aug 2025 18:58:37 +0000 https://kheogames.com/?p=1523 During MeepleCon 2023, a young child was playing our game, Panchayat, that we recently published. As the kid was winning, he mentioned that he felt that the game was better than chess. While this was thrilling to hear, we all know that chess is the true strategy game, and Panchayat cannot be compared with it. We knew that this boy was fascinated with the options he had in the game. Strategy games offer something uniquely valuable for children: the chance to slow down, think ahead, make meaningful decisions, and learn through play.

Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or youth group leader, introducing kids to strategy games can be one of the most rewarding activities you do together. The process, however, requires patience, planning, and the right game selection — especially if you want them to enjoy the journey instead of feeling overwhelmed.

In this guide, we’ll explore how to introduce kids to strategy games step-by-step, along with practical tips, recommended starter games, and strategies for keeping the experience engaging.

Understanding What “Strategy Games” Mean for Kids

When adults think of strategy games, they might imagine complex Eurogames like Terraforming Mars or Brass: Birmingham. For kids, the definition needs to be adjusted. A children’s strategy game should:

• Have clear, simple rules they can grasp quickly.
• Provide meaningful choices (not just luck-based outcomes).
• Offer short playtimes (20–45 minutes) to match attention spans.
• Allow visible progress so kids feel a sense of achievement.
• Have vivid themes or components to capture their imagination.

Types of Strategy Games for Kids

• Abstract Strategy – Chess, Connect Four, or simpler modern abstracts like Santorini.
• Light Resource Management – Games where kids gather, trade, or spend resources to achieve goals.
• Pattern-Building / Tile Placement – Simple spatial puzzle games.
• Set Collection with Decisions – Choosing cards or tiles to complete patterns or objectives.

The Benefits of Strategy Games for Children

Introducing kids to strategy games isn’t just about fun — it’s an investment in their development. Far from being “just games,” well-designed strategy board and card games help kids develop cognitive skills, emotional intelligence, and social abilities that will benefit them throughout life.

Cognitive Skills

• Critical Thinking – Evaluating moves, anticipating outcomes.
• Problem-Solving – Finding creative ways around challenges.
• Math & Logic – Counting, probability, sequencing, and planning.

Emotional Skills

• Patience – Waiting for turns, thinking before acting.
• Resilience – Learning to handle losing and trying new strategies.
• Decision Confidence – Trusting their own judgment.

Social Skills

• Communication – Discussing rules, strategies, and moves.
• Negotiation – Trading or making deals in certain games.
• Sportsmanship – Congratulating opponents, accepting results gracefully.

Choosing the Right First Strategy Games for Kids

The biggest mistake adults make is starting with games that are too complex. The right first games:

1. Introduce one or two key mechanics at a time (e.g., set collection, area control).
2. Have low downtime between turns.
3. Use themes relatable to kids — animals, food, space, nature, adventure or fantasy.

Beginner-Friendly Kids Strategy Games

• Animal Upon Animal – Dexterity + light decision-making.
• Carcassonne Junior – Tile placement, territory control, simple scoring.
• Outfoxed! – Deduction game where kids gather clues and narrow down suspects.
• Kingdomino – Draft tiles to build a kingdom; easy to learn, hard to master.
• Ticket to Ride: First Journey – Simple route-building with a global map.

How to Introduce Kids to Strategy Games

Set the Scene

• Choose a quiet, distraction-free space.
• Have snacks and drinks ready (short hunger breaks help attention).
• Keep younger siblings occupied to avoid interruptions.

Pre-Teach Core Concepts

• If the game involves counting resources, play a mini “practice” round.
• For games with turns, roleplay taking turns in a quick 2–3 minute activity.

Use Storytelling

• Kids respond well to stories. Instead of saying: “Place tiles to match colors”, say: “You’re building a magical garden, and you want matching flowers to grow together.”

Teaching Kids the Rules Without Overloading Them

Kids don’t need every rule at once. Use layered teaching:

• Overview – The goal of the game in one sentence.
• Turn Structure – What they can do on their turn.
• Key Decisions – Where they get to choose and why it matters.
• End Condition – How the game ends and how to win.

Tip: Avoid reading the entire rulebook aloud. Demonstrate with pieces instead.

Playing the First Game — Keeping It Fun

Allow Mistakes

Don’t over-correct every wrong move. Let them discover why certain decisions work better.

Celebrate Achievements

Highlight small wins:

• “You blocked my move — great thinking!”
• “That was a smart trade; look at your resources now!”

Short Sessions

End the session before fatigue sets in. Stopping while they’re still excited increases the chance they’ll want to play again.

Progressing to More Complex Strategy Games

Once kids are comfortable, you can introduce:

• Multiple Mechanics – E.g., resource management + tile placement.
• Longer Playtimes – 45–60 minutes.
• Player Interaction – Games where moves affect others more directly.

Intermediate Strategy Games for Kids (12 – 15 years)

• Catan: Family Edition – Trading and settlement building.
• King of Tokyo – Dice strategy with player elimination risk.
• Splendor – Engine-building with gemstone trading.
• Panchayat – Tile placement game based on Indian villages.

Tips for Parents & Educators

Lead by Example – Play enthusiastically yourself.

Mix Familiar with New – Pair one familiar mechanic with a new one.

Respect Their Pace – Some kids take longer to “click” with strategy.

Rotate Games – Avoid burnout on one title by introducing variety.

Avoiding Common Pitfalls

Overexplaining – Kills excitement.

Choosing Games Above Their Age Level – Leads to frustration.

Forcing Play – If they’re not in the mood, save it for another day.

Making Strategy Games a Habit

Turn strategy game nights into a family ritual:

• Weekly Family Game Night – Everyone picks one game.
• Seasonal Tournaments – Small prizes for fun.
• Mix Board Games & Outdoor Strategy Games – Chess in the park, scavenger hunts, etc.

Planting Seeds for Lifelong Learning

Introducing kids to strategy games is more than just a hobby — it’s a gift of lifelong skills. When children learn to think ahead, adapt to challenges, and enjoy a shared experience with others, they’re building habits that will serve them well into adulthood.

Start small, make it fun, and watch their curiosity grow. Just like the young child who enjoyed our game so much at the Board Game Convention, you will find that children can enjoy strategy games to the fullest.

Here is another video that you can see that shows you how and why to introduce children to board games.

Traditional board games may pale in comparison to the glitz and glamour of modern-day entertainments, but they are unforgettable and their simple nature is often taken for granted. The true essence of board games lies not in the game itself, but the time you get to spend with your friends and more so, your family.

Out came traditional board games from the dusty corners of long-forgotten abysses. Games begin with a trip down nostalgia lane, with age-old stories coming to the top, bridging the gap between generations.

Let’s look at a few such examples of ancient Indian Board games and learn how to play them.

Solah Seedhi

Origin
Solah Seedhi was documented in ‘Ancient Ceylon: An Account of the Aborigines and Part of the Early Civilisation (1909)’. The game was listed as Hēwākam Keliya or the War Game.

Solah Seedhi has quite the history. The game was famous and played in Sri Lanka under the name Sixteen Soldiers, in India under the name Cows and Leopards, and it went by the name Sholo Guti in Bangladesh.

Overview

It’s a two-player game and you need an expanded Alquerque board to play. Players are allotted 16 pieces each and the player who captures his opponent’s pieces wins.

1. It’s a turn-based game.

2. Players can move a single piece each turn. They can capture or move, but not both.

3. You can capture pieces by jumping over them according to the board’s pattern and landing on an empty spot.

4. You can capture multiple pieces provided they are properly lined up and capturing is optional.

Chowka Baara

Origin

Chowka Bara is a traditional Indian board game that is quite popular in South India. It is known by many names Katte Mane in Kannada or Astha Chamma in Telugu. There are also references to this game in the Mahabharata.

The game is a member of the Parcheesi family and is called the precursor to Ludo.

Overview

Chowka Baara can be played by 2 to 4 players on a 5×5 board. Each player has 4 coins and the goal is to take all 4 coins to the center of the board.

1. You take turns rolling 4 cowrie shells and start at different points on the board.

2. The cowries determine how many squares you can move. 1-3 mouths up mean you can move that many squares. At any point in the game, you can move any one of your 4 coins.

3. You get a bonus throw if you get 4 mouths up (chauka) after you’ve moved 4 squares. In case no mouths are up(baara), you move 8 squares and roll again.

4. Movement is anti-clockwise on the outer squares and reverses once you’re in the inner squares.

5. If you land on an already occupied square, you have to cut the piece that’s on it at which point the coin will return to its owner’s starting square. It must repeat the journey all over, and you also get an extra turn.

6. You must cut at least one coin to move to the inner squares. You forfeit the round or move one of the three remaining pieces if you’ve not cut any other coins.

7. The coins in the starting squares cannot be cut.

8. You’re out of the game if you throw a chauka or baara three consecutive times.

9. A coin’s journey concludes when it reaches the center and you win when all of your coins are at the center.

Pagade

Origin

Pagade is known by many names such as Chopat, Parcheesi, Sokkattan, etc. However, it’s more popularly known as Pasha, as it is described in the Mahabharata. The name is derived from the Hindi word paccīs, meaning twenty-five, the largest score that can be achieved in the game. In some versions of the game, the largest score is 30.

Overview

The game can be played between 2-4 players each with 4 pawns each and all 4 groups have a different color. Each player has a safe zone, aka the belly.

Two pawns start within the belly while the other two are placed outside, on the same square. The goal of the game is to take your pawns around the board once and enter the belly and finally reach the center (home).

1. It’s sort of similar to Ludo but with slightly different rules. The game has two stick dice (1,3,4,6 dots) and rolled numbers determine how many squares your pawn moves.

2. Suppose you roll a 3, 4. Now you can move two of your pawns, one by 3 and the other by 4. Or you can move one of them by 7.

3. The same rules apply when you roll a doublet. The only added advantage is that you get to move your pair as a whole without breaking them. No extra turns are award, however.

4. You can cut an enemy pawn by landing on it, and the enemy is sent to its belly. If a pair is cut, then they have to be placed in the belly corresponding to the number on each dice. You cannot move pawns unless you reintroduce all cut pawns on the board.

5. Two identical pawns of the same square form a pair. Pawn pairs can either jump over other pairs or cut them. Only a pair can cut a pair.

6. Identical pawns on different squares cannot land on another pair to cut them. Only an already formed pair can cut a pair.

7. You have to cut at least one pawn and go around the board to enter the belly.

8. You win by taking all your pawns to Home.

Conclusion – Traditional Indian Board Games

These are some of the traditional Indian board games that ruled over the country before the internet. Games are supposed to be simple recreational activities. You should not have to look up tutorials to ‘master’ a game. The goal is to have fun, not research.

Get one of these games online if you want to spend some quality time with your family and bond with them. They only cost a few hundred bucks, but what you get in return is priceless. We have also written about the most popular board games in India, if you are looking for some of the newer games.

Before we get started with our list, we would like to explain how we got this data:

We scoured the Internet for the major shopping e-commerce sites, and read the reviews for the games that they sold. In addition, we sent a survey to obtain feedback from gamers in India. We combined the inputs from both the sources and came up with our list of the favorite board games that Indians love to play.

5 Most Popular Board Games in India

1. Monopoly

The classic business tycoon game gave birth to millions of similar counterparts. It is one of the most popular board games of India recently and of all time. In general, 2-4 players can play the game, but more players are always welcome.

Every player begins the game with a limited amount of money. You then roll a dice and buy properties wherever you land. The objective of the game is to become a tycoon and force the remaining players into bankruptcy. The game can go on for a long time. However, not many people play the game by the official rules.

Nearly every household in India has a copy of the game. While the original game is based in England, there are many variants that include Indian cities and states.

Monopoly is a fun and ruthless game for someone who knows what they are doing. The game is a bit complicated since you have to manage your finances as you play along. Nonetheless, kids love this game, and it’s an all-time favorite across all age groups.

Most modern-day board game lovers tend to have a hate-relationship with Monopoly. Most of these emotions are due to the linear nature of the game, and players being subject to the roll of the dice.

2. Chess

Chess is a game that needs no introduction. It is considered among the best board games in India. It’s a classic hit that is played by two players. Chess can be the simplest and the most complicated game at the same time. Even now, after all these years players are discovering new strategies to play the game.

The goal is to capture the enemy king and veteran players use a plethora of moves and strategies to corner their enemy. Each chess piece is bound by rules that dictate how and where it can move over the checkerboard. The game ends when the king has no squares left to move that are not threatened by an enemy.

Chess is a classic battle of wits where two minds clash in mind games and foresight. Experts play another variant named ‘times chess’ which requires them to play moves within a given time. If you love puzzles and strategy, then you’ll love playing chess.

There is a classic argument that Chess is not considered as a board game. But the counter to that is to look at the board on which the game of Chess is played. It is a board game indeed.

3. Ludo

Ludo is yet another classic game that has been around for a long time. You will also find this game in nearly every home. The digital counterpart became quite popular thanks to the pandemic.

Ludo is a game that can be played by 2-4 players. The goal of the game is to liberate all your pieces, go around the board once, and reach home. The first player to house all their four pieces wins the game.

Like chess, Ludo is a classic game, minus the strategy part. It’s a simple game that people of all ages can enjoy with equal fun and enthusiasm.

Similar to Monopoly, most modern board gamers have a hate relationship with Ludo. The lack of strategy bothers many players. However, if you are looking for some good fun, Ludo is very quick to setup and play.

The origins of Ludo can be traced to another game called Pachisi. This game was played during the times of the Mahabharata and some evidence of this historic game is found in the caves of Ellora.

4. Snakes and Ladders

As far as dice games go, ‘Snakes and Ladders’ is also one the most famous board games in India.

In Snakes and Ladders, the board is divided into 100 squares. Some squares are connected by ladders while others by snakes. The game can be played by 2-6 players, with provisions for more with enough tokens. You roll the dice to progress through the board. You ascend to the connecting square by landing at the base of a ladder and descend when you land at the face of a snake.

The simple climbing up and down nature of the game makes it super entertaining and fun to play with others. It’s a simple game, with no skill ceiling whatsoever. Just let the dice roll and move up and down the game board.

5. Risk

Conquer the world with your army and become the top civilization.

The goal of the game is to defeat other players by invading their territories. Although it’s based on dice rolls, there is a decision-making element involved when it comes to army management.

Overall, it’s a nice game and a must-play for strategy lovers.

Conclusion

These are some of the best board games that are available in India. This list includes a number of board games that you can buy and enjoy playing. Hopefully, you can find one that suits your taste.

The games in this list are not consider ‘modern’ board games. They are, however, the ones that have been selling a lot.

We as a publisher of modern board games are looking to add to the list of board games that are available in India.

You can also read more about some of our new games, including Go Goa – Roll & Write.

Before we get started with the list, let’s find out what Roll and Write games are first.

What are Roll & Write Games?

The term “Roll and Write” comes from board games where players took turns rolling dice and wrote down the results in separate sheets. The games have evolved over the years with the rise of various new mechanics.

The core idea of these games remains the same. Players have to fulfill objectives to bag a win. But the game mechanics themselves have changed a lot. From a simple set collection to area capturing, the wide variety of unique ideas provide a sense of pure wonder, unlike any other genre in the gaming world.

Let’s take a look at some of the best roll and write board games, at the time of writing this blog!

Top 5 Best Roll and Write games

Cartographers

Overview

In Cartographers, you step into the shoes of an individual who sets out to explore and map territories for the great Queen Gimanx. However, you’re not alone and will be competing with others for the title of the greatest cartographer in the kingdom.

Objective

The goal is to earn the maximum reputation points by the end of the four seasons. Each player has four edicts they must fulfill and they receive points based on the number of times they are able to fulfill each edict.

Verdict

Cartographers is a fun and easy-to-learn game. It does a great job of combining adventure and action into a neat little bundle. The creators even released a mini-expansion which makes the game even more exciting and challenging than ever before. It’s one of the best roll and write games and is a definite recommendation!

Welcome to…

Overview

Ever planned on becoming an architect? Welcome To.. will make your architecture dreams come to life. The game places you in the 1950s where you can build pools, construct multiple complexes, hire employees, and much more.

Objective

The objective of the game is to be the first to complete public goals such as the total number of temp agencies used, pools built, real estate bought, and much more. Each player has their own scoresheet and the game begins by drawing cards from three different piles, signifying three actions. The player can choose only one action and the game continues until the objectives are met.

Verdict

Welcome to… may not be the easiest game to wrap your heads around on the first try but offers a fun-filled experience. Moreover, the choice of a ‘beginner’ and ‘advanced’ mode is unique and makes it easier for new players to get into the game while allowing veterans to test their limits.

That’s Pretty Clever

Overview

The game is all about dice and is meant for 2 to 4 players. It’s a standard dice-roll point-score game, only, in this case, there are a lot more ways to earn points. Think of this as a Yahtzee on steroids.

Objective

The objective of the game is to score as many points as possible. Each color represents a different way of earning points. Yellow gets points for completing columns, blue and green get points for the number of areas filled, and finally orange and purple for the total number dice value in the rows.

Verdict

That’s Pretty Clever is one of the best roll and write board games out there. It is super easy to learn and offers a lot of game mechanics for a simple dice-throw game. Definitely play when you get the chance.

Railroad Ink

Overview

Railroad Ink is a puzzle roll and write board game that takes place over seven rounds. It involves drawing interconnecting rail lines and you need to plan ahead if you want to beat others.

Objective

The objective of the game is to connect exits to form a long network. You get more points based on the total lines you connect to a single Network, and you get bonus points if your railway is the longest among all the players.

Verdict

Railroad Ink is a simple line connecting game with a unique twist that adds a whole new dynamic. The puzzle game offers a lot more than you think and is well worth your time.

Roll Through the Ages

Overview

Roll through the ages is a turn-based game where two to four players compete to build the best civilization in history.

Objective

The rules are simple. You roll the dice to acquire workers and commodities to build and develop your civilization to victory. The game ends when a player finishes building all monuments or obtains five developments.

Verdict

The game offers lots of details and contrary to the six-page rule book it can be learned easily after playing a few times. It’s a great game for families to enjoy on an evening weekend.

Free Roll and Write Games

Raging Bulls

Overview

The goal of the game is to prevent your bulls from rampaging into one another by drawing fences in between them.

Objective

You start with four sheets with bulls randomly placed all across the fields(sheets). Roll dice to determine the starting and finishing points of your fence and start drawing. Moving to the next field is not allowed until you finish the current one.

Verdict

Deceptively simple, and quite fun to play with a little bit of strategy involved as you have to consider optimal fence positions while factoring in future dice throws.

Reiner Knizia’s Decathlon

Overview

Participate in the Olympics straight from your living room with one of the best free roll and write games.

Objective

The game sheet contains various Olympic events and describes how you can score points in each of them. There are a total of ten events and the winner is decided based on the sum of all the scores they got in each of the games.

Verdict

Simple, refreshing, and intuitive at the same time. The game literally takes seconds to learn and everyone from a kid to a grown-up can enjoy it to its fullest extent.

The Lost Expedition

Overview

You belong to a group of six adventurers who got stranded in the mountains. To survive, you have to explore, discover new areas and survive by hunting for food. If you’re into roleplaying then you can narrate what you did during your turn for additional flavor.

Objective

Roll the dice to check your chances of success of doing daily duties during the 42 turns the game is limited to.

Verdict

One of the best free roll and write games that manage to combine the rich world of an RPG into an ultra-portable game sheet. It’s amazing what you can come up with just a little bit of imagination.

Solo Roll and Write Games

Imperial Settlers

Overview

In the game, you lead one of four major factions with the ultimate goal of building an empire to surpass your enemies.

Objective

The objective of Imperial Settlers is to discover new lands and grow your empire by expanding boundaries, placing new buildings, gathering resources, and strengthening your economy.

Verdict

The game packs a lot of content making it one of the best solo roll and write games in the genre.

Rolling Village

Overview

Players have a Village sheet that they fill by building projects such as houses, forests, squares, and lakes and receive points accordingly.

Objective

The game is divided into two phases, the Building phase, and the Scoring phase. Once you’ve finished constructing the buildings over the village grid the turn ends and you score yourself based on your accomplishments.

Verdict

But for a simple farmland game Rolling Village may seem simple enough, but the game offers a lot of enjoyment when you play it with friends.

Fleet: The Dice Game

Overview

Put lifejackets on because with Fleet: The Dice Game you’re going fishing into the wild seas. In this roll and write game you fish, buy boats, get licenses, and at the end of 10 rounds, the one with the highest points takes the win.

Objective

There are two phases to this game and two sets of dice. During the Boat Phase, you can unlock powers, get a hold on licenses and launch boats to catch fish. The Town phase unlocks a special building known as the wharf that grants several bonuses. You also have the option to catch more fish or sell off of your present haul in the market for bonus actions. The player with the most points across all the activities wins the game.

Verdict

Fleet: The Dice Game is not the simplest solo roll and write game. It also comes with an integrated solo mode which is not frequently seen in such board games. Give Fleet a try, if you’re not repelled by a bit of complexity. You might even surprise yourself.

Conclusion

There will always be another roll and write game around the corner that’s more compelling. But that doesn’t mean you abandon the joys of the ones available in front.

The cost to enjoyment ratio for these games is off the charts. There exists a sense of joy and wonder in leaving aside your gadgets and sitting with your family and friends to experience the wonders of these funny little games.

So, the next time you end up liking a roll and write board title, don’t think, share that joy with others around you. You can let us know in the comments section if you enjoy any game from this list.

If you are interested in a roll & write games that we have published do check Go Goa.