Software engineer couple quits jobs to revive traditional board games

When Tanushri SN became a mother in 2013, she realised there weren’t quality Indian toys and games that could develop cognitive, social and life skills among children. So after 11 years of working as a software engineer in some of India’s top companies, her heart nudged her in a different direction. She decided to document and revive traditional board games that could connect children with Indian heritage.

“After my child’s birth, I began researching Indian games. Since I loved handicrafts and handcrafted jewellery in my free time, I started making board games from whatever was available at home, like fabrics, embroidery threads, etc,” Tanushri tells 30Stades.

She first handmade the mat for Pagade (Pachisi), a strategy game where pieces are moved around a cross-shaped board. The game is mentioned in the Mahabharata and was historically played by royalty. 

Tanushri and her husband, Shashishekhar S, a software engineer, also started visiting ancient temples where Indian board game patterns are etched on the floors and walls. The couple takes these board games from temples to homes through their startup ‘Roll the Dice’. 

“We would speak to local villagers to get the stories and legends behind the games, and their rules,” she says. 

Temples have traditionally been the centre for music, dance and community gatherings. Travellers stayed overnight, and fairs and festivals hosted huge crowds at temples. People played games during their free time between rituals. However, with time, these games were lost. 

Also Read: Meet India's ancient board game hunters

The beginning of revival

Tanushri recreated those game patterns at home using the available materials. By 2016, when her child started going to playschool, people began asking her for handmade games for their children. “That’s when I realised that other parents also wanted interactive quality games and there was a gap waiting to be bridged,” says Tanushri, who has a Master’s in Software Engineering from BITS Pilani.

With a passion for Indian heritage and games, Shashishekhar quit his job with a leading MNC in Bengaluru and joined Tanushri in developing ‘Roll the Dice’ as a co-founder. 

Today, the Mysuru-based enterprise sells 17 artisan-made eco-friendly traditional board games, culture-based games and offers experiential game sets at its centre. 

It clocks Rs 2 lakh in monthly turnover.

Also Read: How Kavade is reviving ancient board games through handmade pieces and public installations

Building the business of traditional games

After realising the demand for games promoting problem-solving skills, strategic thinking, collaboration and teamwork, Tanushri began working with the prototypes of Chaukabara (five-house race game) and Pagade in 2016-17. “I made them at home using fabric, cuttings and hand embroidery. My mother and friend also helped,” she says.

She started commercial production with manufacturing packing materials for the games. “The typical cardboard boxes are not durable. As a result, the game boards and mats are often eaten by rats or caught by fungus or cockroaches. I wanted to ensure the games remained usable and in shape for years. We started with designing tin boxes to store the games. That worked well,” she says.

They expanded the game range to include Adu Huli (Goats and Tigers) -- a strategy board game inspired by hunting practices, which Tanushri had seen on a flagstone within a temple corridor. 

Their board game portfolio includes Chaukabara (five-house race game), Aligulimane (Mancala), Navakankari (Nine Men’s Morris) and others.

Reinventing games

“We are also reinventing games in the cultural space. So we make card-based games on how to make kites for Sankranti. Then there’s a game based on Ganesha, called the ‘race for modaka’. We also have cultural puzzles on Ramayana where the entire Ramayana can be learnt within a month through the puzzles,” Tanushri points out.

They source materials for the games from across India. 

The startup procures Cowrie shells from Kaniyakumari and Daman and Diu, silk fabrics from Gujarat, and embroidery is done in Bengaluru and Coimbatore. The tin boxes for packing are made in Chennai and Puducherry.

The stitching work is done under a tie-up with a garment unit. “We give bulk orders and all our products are eco-friendly and artisan-made,” Tanushri says. 

The couple, being software engineers, developed the website themselves in 2019 and began selling games beginning Dussehra that year. “First, we sold through the websites. The sales were slow during the first six months but picked up with time,” Shashishekhar says.

Now they sell online through Amazon as well. Offline, the games are available at their store in Mysuru apart from retail outlets in Bengaluru, Pune and Udupi. “While visiting exhibitions, we discovered that people were unaware that these are fun games. So in 2022, we set up our experience centre in Mysuru where we invited people to come and experience the games,” he adds. 

People then started understanding games and flocked to the centre to learn more. In 2023, Roll the Dice was selected as a Startup Karnataka Elevate Winner for promoting traditional board games and received a grant that boosted its product range and reach.

(US Anu is a Madurai-based writer. She specialises in stories around human interest, environment and art and culture.)

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