Some games are ageless!

Do you recollect playing Ludo, the game board during your childhood? It usually came along with ‘Snake &Ladder” which was always the more preferred game.

Tapping into this memory, Gametion surely never in its wildest of dreams could have imagined that its online Ludo King could become such a phenomena. This free game is available on Google game and everyone from Bihar to Pondicherry seems to have got hooked to it.

The game has apparently been downloaded around 120 million times and is one of the most popular games on the Mumbai local trains. But more than anywhere else, it is a huge hit in South India, mainly because it is home to around 200 game development companies.  In 2016, Temple Run 2 was among the top games for both iOS and Android in India and today, by June 2017, it has been overtaken by Ludo King, with a reach in terms of app installs in India of over 6% (as compared to Temple Run 2’s 4.5%).

It would be no exaggeration to say that Ludo has been around in India for centuries, a part of our folk lore and mythologies too. It is a version of Ludo or Ludo was derived from it – we saw it in Mahabharata and was also played by Akbar. It has various names – pachisi, chaupar, thayakaram (Tamil Nadu), ashta chamma (Andhra), chauka bara (Karnataka).  Funskool even has a Disney and Star Wars themed Ludo.

Some games are ageless and it fills the heart with a small joy to know that it is keeping up with the changing times, adjusting to new technology, capturing another new generation.