By Avinash Kumar
New Delhi, Jan 19 (UNI) In an era, where people don't have time for their loved ones, Binca Games has come up with its latest game 'Qwicket - a quick cricket card game,' to bring back the concept of 'spending quality time' and love for board games, in this addictive digital world.
Qwicket, a quick game of cricket, can be played under 10 minutes, with just two players. Being a card game, it is perfect to carry along and can be played anywhere and everywhere. Like the real game, it also requires strategy, a good reading of the opponent, quick decision-making and a touch of luck.
Mumbai-based board games firm, Binca Games was founded in 2014 by husband and wife duo, Rubianca and Sahil Wadhwa.
IDEA & START
'Games were always a big part of my childhood, but I never thought it could be a career option, until one day. Still obsessed with playing board games, I was at my friend's house one evening, playing some random board games and the idea struck to me to make something related to it.
'I came back home and kept pondering over the same. That's when I realised that I really wanted to do something related to the board games, so when the idea came to my mind, I thought let's give it a shot,' Rubianca, Co-founder and Creative Head of Binca Games, whose firm offers a diverse mix of word games, bluffing games, drinking games and a cricket card game, told UNI.
'I shared the idea with Sahil and he also seem interested, so we put everything aside and concentrate our time on building this company.We both got highly involved in it, took it forward and made it a career,' she added.
Talking about the introduction of Qwicket, CEO of Binca Games, Sahil said, 'We all know cricket is more than a game in India, it’s a religion and a game created along those lines will get a lot of interest. So, after a lot of thinking, we finally decided to go ahead with it.'
Terming Qwicket a great platform to promote sports, Sahil said, 'Nowadays, what's more important in general is the fact that we should encourage any form of play, which could be outdoor or indoor. Yes, there are kids who prefer playing indoor, some prefer playing outdoor.
'There is time for both sorts of activities, but having said that if you are interested in great things, don't want to step outside and still want to have fun, you can play the card games related to your favourite sports.
'We don't think it will hamper the actual movement of going out and play, in fact, it can help the sports grow. Suppose, if you don't have the time and ability to play the real cricket, you can always play with your parents, friends, mother, grand parents or sister.' he added.
Highlighting the benefits of Qwicket, Sahil mentioned that it's a two-player game and one doesn't need much space and people to play unlike the real cricket game.
He said, 'Qwicket essentially supports time with other human beings, more than anything else, it's about having interaction and fun, You will never see a mother and a sun playing cricket on the road, but u can see them playing together in the house.'
In order to promote Qwicket and make it more popular in the country, Binca Games brought Little Master Sunil Gavaskar on board, who has also bought a stake in the company.
While Gavaskar admitted that in this case he made an 'emotional investment,' he added 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 said.
In fact, it was his grandson, who finalised the name of the recent launch, QWICKET, priced at Rs 149.
When asked how did the cricket legend came on board, Sahil said, 'Having known Mr Gavaskar for a long time, we were in constant touch with him over the years. He loves playing card games naturally, since he comes from a sports background.
'When the idea came to do something related to cricket, there was no second thought to approach him to be part of our process.
'We took the idea to him, 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,' said Sahil.
Binca is also using various means, such as media marketing, on ground events, getting social media influencers and cricketers to talk, in order to promote their new game.
'There is a big market for card games, especially parents and young children, who are looking at something for time pass, the challenge is to make the people aware about the product. We are promoting our card game at various cricket tournaments, corporate tours and have got some good responses from everyone,' Sahil said.
Qwicket is available across India on Amazon and close to 200 stores across major cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai. This is Binca Games' fifth game in the market and adds to an interesting list of other games, including Fletter, Fletter Fuse, WhiteWashers and Spill.
Going ahead, Binca Games targets to double their business and open more outlets in more cities and the husband-wife duo also aims to introduce 10 more games in the next two years and grow its business by 200 per cent.
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