BENGALURU: For Sinchana S, a Class 10 student of Swargarani High School and PU College in Bengaluru, remembering historical dates and rulers was never easy. Instead of relying on conventional flashcards and rote learning, this history enthusiast decided to turn the subject into something she already enjoyed, a game.
The result was ITIHASA, a history-based card game that is now being introduced in government schools in Bengaluru. Sinchana developed the game over eight months, going through nearly six revisions before arriving at the present format. The idea came to her while she was playing Pokémon cards.
“I could remember the names, powers and characteristics of the Pokémon characters because I repeatedly played the game. I wondered why I could not make a similar game using historical rulers,” she said.
Sinchana has long been interested in history. During holidays, she would visit heritage sites such as Hampi, Aihole and Kanchipuram, which deepened her interest in India’s past. However, she found memorising dates difficult. While flashcards could help students revise, she felt they were unlikely to hold their attention for long.
“I thought if I developed a game instead, students would find it interesting because they could study and play at the same time,” she said.
Based on the NCERT history curriculum, ITIHASA currently features 50 rulers of different periods and dynasties, including the Mauryan, Gupta and Mughal empires. Each card has a ruler’s name, period, dynasty, capital, timeline and a short description of his achievements.
The cards also have six attributes used for gameplay, including military power, welfare, impact and administration. Players compare the scores on their cards, with the player having the higher score winning the round and collecting the opponent’s card. The game continues until one player accumulates the most cards.
The journey to the final version was not straightforward. The first prototype had several problems, including small fonts, cards that were difficult to hold and unclear printing. Sinchana tested the game with her cousins and friends and incorporated their feedback into successive versions.
Her cousin, who regularly plays card games, was among the first to provide detailed feedback. He pointed out that the cards were uncomfortable to hold and that the text needed to be larger. Sinchana then redesigned the cards using Canva and worked on improving their size and layout. Creating visual representations of the rulers was another challenge.
Sinchana used AI tools, including Gemini and ChatGPT, to generate images, but the process involved several attempts because the tools sometimes produced historically inappropriate clothing or inconsistent designs for different rulers. After repeated revisions and testing the game with friends, the final set was ready in June.
The first major breakthrough came when Sinchana’s parents presented a set to her school principal. The school subsequently began using the cards during library and free periods. Her history teacher was also supportive and encouraged students to play the game in class.
The initiative later reached the GBA Education Department. Sinchana’s parents approached officials to make the game available beyond private schools. The initiative received support, with 170 card sets subsequently distributed among 36 government high schools under GBA.
For Sinchana, ensuring that students of government schools have access to the game is an important part of the initiative. She does not want ITIHASA to be restricted to students of private schools and hopes to reach at least 1,000 BBMP schools. She is working with Educate, an NGO, for distribution.
Sinchana also began looking at the educational principles behind gamification after developing the game. She spoke to Dr Balaji Kaluri, a PhD scholar from the National University of Singapore, who works in the area of gaming. She learnt about concepts such as active recall and dual coding and realised that repeated gameplay could reinforce information in students’ memory.
Her original objective, however, was simpler: to make students repeatedly encounter historical names, dates and facts in a format they would willingly return to. Sinchana’s interest in creating educational tools extends beyond history. She is now exploring an idea for a game that could teach financial literacy to students between Classes 5 and 10. The project is still in its initial stage and could focus on basic concepts such as saving, spending and investing. Now, with ITIHASA, Sinchana hopes to combine her interest in history, games and education to make classroom learning more engaging. She has also received a trial order from a luxury hotel for 25 game sets, which will be gifted to guests and children to help them learn about Indian history and culture.