BENGALURU: Tackling mighty garudas (eagles), fighting scary crocodiles and beating venomous snakes — this isn’t the course of an online adventure video game but one that can be played on a board. Ishaan PA, an 11-year-old from Bengaluru, has developed a board game ‘Treasures of Thiruvananthapuram’ — a treasure hunt themed around the renowned Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala.
Confined to the four walls of their house during the lockdown, Ishaan’s family started playing board games to kill the boredom, especially ones with a historical context. “For instance, there is one based on Chandragupta Maurya and another on Lord Ram’s brother Bharath,” he said.
‘Will Vault B of Padmanabhaswamy Temple be opened?’ — This was the news article that caught Ishaan’s attention in July 2020. Legend has it that Vault B of the temple is guarded by snakes, and if ever opened, will spell doom for those who do.
He did his research on the temple and its vaults before planning the board game — the crocodiles are vegetarian, there are six vaults, and a few of them are not opened yet. “Intrigued by the story, I decided to create a board game revolving around the temple,” Ishaan, who is a student at Ekya School, told The New Sunday Express.
During the course of the game, players use different modes of transport to reach the temple. The second phase is about opening treasure vaults and winning the treasure card, till the player reaches the destination. The 11-year-old developed the game during the lockdown as an alternative to online games, and to create something that the whole family can participate in.
He drew the rough version on a chart paper and played it for a while. “I took feedback from neighbours and then implemented it in the final game,” he said. On Sundays, he would juggle between studies and creating the game. “I used to play Treasures of Thiruvananthapuram with my father and then kept making changes. We started playing this game every weekend,” he said.
He started sketching and creating the game in July 2020, and sold the first board a year later. “Around 300 boxes were manufactured and we have sold around 80 so far,” said Soumya, Ishaan’s mother, a homemaker. She said his passion for board games and the family’s ritual of playing them every weekend, inspired him to create one.
The four-player family game contains handcrafted wooden pawns from Channapatna. Ishaan’s father had approached a friend whose family is in the profession of making wooden toys. The wooden dice, procured from Ludhiana, has a garuda, snake, and crocodile engraved on it. All this is packed in a cloth bag to ensure that the game is made from eco-friendly products only.
“I came up with this idea to bring families closer and to refrain from online games or social media. The entire process took one year — from the design phase to turning the idea into a reality. I distributed the games to my friends and neighbours to get feedback and everyone enjoyed it. I have plans to develop more games in the future,” Ishaan said.
Sreepriya Unnikrishnan, Head of School, Ekya Schools, JP Nagar, while expressing her encouragement said, “We are happy to celebrate and showcase the talent and achievement of our students as we focus on bringing a holistic approach to learning.”
The game