BENGALURU: As a child, former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar recalls, he often played the card game, Paanch teen do, with his mother, as well as with other players when they travelled by train. “I used to enjoy playing ludo, and snakes and ladders, a lot when I was younger,” says Gavaskar, who has re-ignited that love by playing board games at home with his grandchildren – Vivaan (10) and Reya (14) – whenever time permits. It’s no surprise then, that Gavaskar recently invested (an undisclosed amount) in Binca Games, a board games startup, founded by husband and wife duo, Rubianca and Sahil Wadhwa, in 2014, which recently launched a cricket card game.
While Gavaskar admits that in this case he made an ‘emotional investment’, he adds that he went ahead and did also having “liked the vision of the founders” and their attempt to bring back the joy of board games in India. “I share their vision of creating memories and bonding with loved ones over games. So this association just felt right for me,” Gavaskar says.
In fact, it was his grandson who finalised the name of the recent launch, QWICKET priced at Rs 149, which creative head Rubianca says she was pushing to the backburner for a while. “We finally decided to go ahead with it, because cricket is more than a game in India, it’s a religion. So naturally, any game created along those lines will get a lot of interest. Having known Mr Gavaskar for a long time, we took the idea to him. We played the game with him several times to perfect it as per the rules of cricket. To our surprise, not only did he help us with this game, he decided to invest in our company” says Rubianca, whose firm offers a diverse mix of word games, bluffing games, drinking games and a cricket card game.
She adds, “We were, in fact, sitting around the table, chatting about the game and the possible names for it with Mr Gavaskar and his son, Rohan. We were all suggesting ideas, when Rohan suddenly said, QWICKET, out loud and we all stopped. In that second, we knew we had our name,” says Mumbai-based Rubianca, who considers Bengaluru one of their most important markets.
Rubianca and Sahil quit their ‘real’ jobs’ to start out with an investment of Rs 25-30 lakh. Rubianca worked in advertising as a copywriter for Grey and Mudra as well as for a magazine, Sahil, the CEO of Binca Games, is a partner at a Sri Lankan food chain. He previously used to run a bakery. They say the biggest challenge they face is awareness.
“With the Indian market dominated by age-old games, the hard part has been informing customers about new games and concepts. The market still tends to be price restrictive, so the high production cost makes it difficult for us to create bigger games. We hope that changes soon,” says Sahil.
A game with strategy
A quick card game based on cricket that can be played anywhere and everywhere. Just like the real game of cricket, the winner needs strategy, quick decision-making and a touch of luck. It plays under 10 minutes.
Two-player game with one batsman and one bowler Can be played by those aged seven and above.
How to play
Aim: To score the most runs.
There are two sets of playing cards: 18 Batting cards and 18 Bowling cards. After a coin toss, each player takes either deck of cards accordingly. The game is played in three overs. In each over, players choose six cards to play.
On your turn: Both players play a card face up from their hand simultaneously. The outcome depends on what card has been played by either side.