You may know present-day India as a country of many people, religions, and miracles. However, the country hides a rich history that shows the impact the Indian sub-continent has had on the modern world. A good example is a fact that, along with ancient Rome and ancient China, ancient India was one of the cradles of gambling.
There are remnants of the influence India had on the gambling industry everywhere today. Some popular games available online and in brick and mortar casinos owe their existence to extinct ancient Indian games. We are not just referring to the invention of the Zero here. There are still some that are fun to play online. Visit Indiagamblers.com to sample some of them.
This post will highlight a few of the most popular online games that originated in the Indian sub-continent.
Teen Patti
Teen Patti is also known as ‘flush’ or ‘flash.’ It is a traditional Indian game similar in many ways to the western games poker and brag. Its name, which means ‘three cards,’ aptly describes what the game is all about: each player attempts to make a perfect combination of three cards.
Teen Patti is a multiplayer card game. It uses traditional gaming cards. Because it does not translate very well to a single-player game to be played online, the Teen Patti game you come across could be a simplified version.
Since this is a game of skill and chance, it has evolved to become a social game enjoyed by lovers of card games and gamblers all over India and the world. It is at par with a range of other Indian games, including Andar Bahar, Jhandi Munda, Passa, and Paplu.
Indian Rummy
There are tens of popular Indian online games, but the Indian Rummy is almost always on top of the list. Also known as ‘Paplu’ in India, the Rummy is a multiplayer card game of between 2 and 6 players. The origins of the original rummy game may be lost in history, but there is evidence that ancient Indians played a version of it for centuries.
The Indian Rummy is a draw-and-discard based game that uses the traditional playing cards. Each player picks a card from the deck and discards it on a pile on the table. The objective of the game is to make a combination of cards in sets or sequences. Players can choose to play the 13 or 21 formats of the game. In either of these formats, the first player to get a combination of 13 or 21 points wins the game.
Andar Bahar
Andar Bahar, also known as Katti, is a 50/50 card game that relies on the player’s luck rather than skill. As with other games in this post, traditional playing cards with Joker cards are used.
The origins of Andar Bahar can be traced to Bangalore, India. The objective of the game is to predict the side on which a selected card will land. The players choose a single card from the deck as the main card. The remaining cards are then shuffled. Players then take turns to predict whether the next card will be similar or dissimilar from the main card. The players make selections by choosing left (andar) or right (bahar).
Final Thoughts
Card games have always been very popular in India. This popularity is what led to most of the games being adopted by modern casinos. The best games have been digitized and made available to the world online. While they have some similarities with other popular card games such as poker and blackjack, these games are unique in many ways. Which of these games will you try today?
