Gautam Sen Memorial Boardgame Museum
Gautam Sen Memorial Boardgames Museum
The museum hosts a collection of boardgames both ancient and modern, ranging from the oldest ever boardgame, The Royal Game of Ur to current games such as Settlers of Catan and Grizzled. On display are mainly the older games from different parts of the world with a focus on Indian games, of course. You will find games such as Go, Mancala and Senet here as well as a collection of Ganjifa cards and chess sets from all over the world.
The museum is an entirely non-profit and private space and entry is by invitation or prior appointment only. It is still a very small effort and we encourage only those who are really interested in boardgames to visit.
The timings are 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on weekdays and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m on weekends.
There is no charge for visiting the museum.
Here is our new website with details of how you can visit:
https://sites.google.com/view/kolkataboardgamemuseum/home
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We request you not to touch the exhibits and while the museum is also open to children, we encourage supervised visits. Also, the boardgames are not available to play unless you obtain special permission.
Browsing the museum is easy and there are three ways to go about it:
- You could use the museum’s mobile devices to scan the QR codes (on the exhibits for detailed information. We have tried to consult authoritative sources and in most cases the codes will direct you to the Ludii Portal, which is one of the authoritative research sites on boardgames. Where the Ludii website does not have the information, we have referred you to similar academic forums.
- You could also use this index and read the entries following the numbered exhibits.
- If you are feeling chatty and want an adda over a cup of tea, just ask me about an exhibit and I will jog my memory for information and of course, anecdotes.
My new book
So my new book is out. You can get it on the Bloomsbury website: https://www.bloomsbury.com/in/videogames-in-the-indian-subcontinent-9789354356919/
Here's what it is about:
Description
Videogames in the Indian Subcontinent: Development, Culture(s) and Representations explores the gaming culture of one of the most culturally diverse and populous regions of the world-the Indian subcontinent. Building on the author's earlier work on videogame culture in India, this book addresses issues of how discussions of equality and diversity sit within videogame studies, particularly in connection with the subcontinent, thereby presenting pioneering research on the videogame cultures of the region.
Drawing on a series of player and developer interviews and surveys conducted over the last five years, including some recent ones, this book provides a sense of how games have become a part of the culture of the region despite its huge diversity and plurality and opens up avenues for further study through vignettes and snapshots of the diverse gaming culture. It addresses the rapid rise of videogames as an entertainment medium in South Asia and, as such, also tries to better understand the recent controversies connected to gaming in the region In the process, it aims to make a larger connection between the development of videogames and player culture, in the subcontinent and globally, thus opening up channels for collaboration between the industry and academic research, local and global.
Table of Contents
Section One: Development
1 Digital Technology and Videogames in the Indian Subcontinent: An Attempted History
2 The Videogame Industry in the Indian Subcontinent: The Current Scenario
Section Two: Cultures
3 Diverse Subcontinent, Ludic Cultures: The Non-Digital Game Cultures as Context
4 Digital Gaming Cultures in the Indian Subcontinent
Section Three: Representation
5 Representations of the Subcontinent in Videogames Global and Local
6 Absent Discourses in Game Cultures: The Case for Diversity
7 What Wakens the Sleeping Giant?
Bibliography
Appendix One: Timeline
Appendix Two: Survey
Glossary
Ludography
