Ancient Board Games of India (भारत के प्राचीन खेल)

Did you know that the Ludo, the Snakes and Ladders, the Chess, the Backgammon and many other board games played today, trace back their heritage to India?

Games of dice have existed in India since ancient times. The Rig Veda mentions the sad story of the fate of the gambler in a beautiful verse that describes his dilemma and his social condition. The verse beautifully describes the gambler's passion for a game of dice (द्यूतक्रीडा), when he hears the dice roll on the wooden boards as the evenings draw near.

Games have been an integral part of our education and recreation. A very rich and mature catalogue of games must have existed to engage with a people of such deep insight and spiritual awareness. The following are a list of some of the games that possibly belong to the "Vedic Period" or are it's derivatives

1. Jnana Sopanam (ज्ञानसोपानम्) - Buddhi Yoga (बुद्धियोगम्)
2. Golokdham (गोलोकधाम) - KhojoGo
3. Chaturanga (चतुरङ्ग)
4. Chaupar (चौपड़)

How to buy these?

Khol Khel has recreated Buddhi Yoga on wooden boards in a few formats. They can be purchased from their website linked here

Are they available on Apps for mobile devices?

Buddhi Yoga is a free to download and an ad-free app which is available on both the iOS App and the Android Play stores. The app connects to a "content framework" that enables collaboration and community engagement through blog posts and associated comments, relevant to each cell on the game board.