Now you too can rival James Bond, at least when it comes to sending and receiving secret spy codes. Funskool, in collaboration with IIT B, has launched a board game that replicates the World World War 2 theme. Called Agent Nos, it also allows players to develop codes used by intelligence agencies during the war.
"Agent Nos revolves around coding and decoding, which was extensively used by spies during World War 2. We have developed it for a board game as it helps increase one’s analytical and logical skills," says R Jeswant, spokesperson for Funskool.
To play, each player is given a word to encode. The encoded word is informed to the other players, who have to decode it. Coding is based on a series of alphanumeric values assigned to each letter. The players, upon encoding or decoding, progress to visit various prominent places such as the school, bank, castle, café and so on. The first person to reach the Spy Headquarters wins.
The game has been designed at the Industrial Design Centre of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT B). Jeswant says, "One of the course electives is game design, where students come up with new concepts and develop it into board games."
To take the designs further, Funskool entered into agreement with IIT B to market strategic boardgames conceived by the students. Jeswant says, "The concepts are generated by the students and showcased to Funskool for further evaluation. Based on the product’s viability, Funskool commercially launches the product." Currently Funskool has nine similar games under its IIT banner. Royalty is paid to IIT on the basis of sales. Two more games, Bi-Pass and BrickBurst, will also be launched shortly.
Agent Nos is priced at Rs 499 and is available at all major stores including Landmark, Shoppers Stop and LifeStyle.
{{/usCountry}}Agent Nos is priced at Rs 499 and is available at all major stores including Landmark, Shoppers Stop and LifeStyle.
{{/usCountry}}