IIT-Bombay to sell games

After giving the nation its rupee symbol and designing the next car for General Motors India, the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay's, Industrial Design Centre has decided to bring games in the market which you will be able to buy off the shelf.

The premier institute of technology has, for the first time, decided to auction board games created by its students in the market.

It would be selling 10 games created by its students from the Industrial Design Centre and has approached the All India Toy Manufacturers' Association to begin talks with toy makers.

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"There are a number of games designed by our students which are available for commercial exploitation. Some of them have design registration completed, while more recent ones are in process.

"Board games are very much in demand in the Western markets. Unlike digital games, they allow children to interact better and also helps their thinking process.

"This is the reason why chess is still a popular game," said a professor from IIT-Bombay.

The institute will be auctioning 10 of its games.

In the past, the institute has been able to sell nine games to toy manufacturing company, Funskool India.

These games, the institute said, have been sold in the international markets, too.

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Funskool is a joint venture between Indian tyre giant MRF, and US-based Hasbro Inc, a toy and board game company.

Hasbro is a worldwide leader in children's and family leisure time entertainment products and services.

A majority of its products are manufactured in East Asia.

The institute will have a revenue sharing mechanism with the toy manufacturer and students in place, wherein royalty from large companies will have an initial payment of Rs 50,000.

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The payments will start in one year and the rights will return to IIT if the game is not marketed within a year.

"We generally give the students (who create the games) an option of either picking up a part of the royalty or accept cash payment upfront.

"The students usually opt for the latter as they prefer the same.

"For each game sold, we get around Rs 30,000, which the students divide among themselves depending on how many of them worked on the game in a group," added the professor.