Hampi, a UNESCO world heritage site, is a temple town in Karnataka, known for its narrative ruins, captivating landscapes, unique topography, and the varied experiences it makes possible. This Indian town is rich in  beauty, history, culture, adventure, and stories, making it a favourite among travellers domestically and internationally. It offers a world of novelty each time you visit.

What if we were to tell you that not only can you take a trip down this town right from the comfort of your home? Would you believe it if we showed you a way to re-imagine Hampi in your own dining room with your loved ones? If you are wondering how, here is an interesting idea for you. 

Thanks to Kiran and Sindhu Kulkarni, founders of Tacit Games, the board game ‘Hampi and the Sun Jewel’ allows you to build the landscape of Hampi, tile by tile. As the seeker of the lost Sun Jewel, you take a deep dive into the stories of this ancient city through a game “made for the creative, analytical and the intuitive in you.”

In this game, you will recreate the beautiful landscape of Hampi with roads, villages, farms and ponds which are in the form of 98 exclusively illustrated hexagonal land tiles. Each new tile placed creates an ever-expanding board on which players gather the support of the local people who know the secrets of the land. This is a game of strategy, stories, experiments, emotions, cooperation and connections. The centrepiece of the game is a jewel that is lost for centuries. It is a precious stone of the ‘Sun God’  and it has resurfaced to find its true seeker. The player who makes the most strategic placements of tiles and gains the required support of the locals suiting the condition of the mystery jewel wins the game.

“Legend says that the nature of the sun jewel is to move among people finding its true seeker, telling us – how power is not a constant. In line with that, Each time you play, you create a new Hampi, and there are new strategies. We have tried to create a game that is great fun but at the same time, tries to tell us that It is not really about winning; and that a game is about the stories, about coming together, the overall experience it offers and the thoughts it creates. Also, Understanding our land is not just about its monumental past but about the weave of the physical, anthropological, mystical past and everything connected with it. It also makes one reflect on the traits we need even today to build a cooperative system in the society. And most importantly, it brings together the elders, the children and everyone in the family together,” says Kiran.

Sindhu and Kiran launched the PuzzleDesh in 2015 with their partner Srinivas Bhylahalli to create 10 puzzles based on Indian classics. Five years later, they have started to design and publish board games based on Indian themes and are now bringing a unique experience with the ‘Hampi and the Sun Jewel’ board game. They have taken help from Indian artists with an enquiry towards finding an Indian aesthetic in board games. These products are entirely manufactured in India. They plan to bring out more new games and expansions in the future. 

Tacit Games aims to weave rich stories of our land and work on themes that bring people together, question the status quo, and use art to keep the consumers imaginative & creatively healthy. Through their unique experiential games, Sindhu and Kiran are bringing focus to Indian themes, topography, geography and our way of life and thinking. 

This feature originally appeared in the Soft Power edition of The Plus magazine. Do you have an enterprise that promotes creativity and cultural understanding among children and adolescents? Write to us at namaste@pluskul.com to explore synergies.