The Game Designer Who Changed How I See Board Games: My Interview with Sidhant Chand

I chose to interview Sidhant because I have played so many of his board games and attended one of his board game design workshops in late March this year. I used to wonder how someone could come up with games, and how anybody could arrange so many different components together to form something that worked so smoothly. Like, what do you mean by ‘I throw a die here and pick up a card there, and it sets off this chain of events that’s somehow based on luck but can also be manipulated?’ It felt like a job for a mastermind.

I remember Sidhant’s workshop was part of a collection of workshops with multiple mentors guiding us, but his was on the very first day, and I was so nervous, worrying about how confusing it would be and how much I would be able to comprehend.

Sidhant just popped up and told us that creating a full-blown board game would be hard, very time taking, and require a lot of effort, but it could also be fun and joyous, and that we should have fun with the process. He instantly put me, and I’m sure, a lot of the others who were nervous, at ease with his kind demeanour and chill intro.

Sidhant spent his childhood playing a variety of games, including traditional card games, family games, and video games. Some of his favourites were ‘Age of Empires’ and ‘Age of Mythology’.

“I was always drawn to strategy, systems, history, economy, and storytelling. Modern board games came much later, and they completely changed how I looked at games. I realised a board game could be a serious design object, not just entertainment,” says Sidhant.  

He would play games and wonder how they worked, what made them come together, and how they could be improved; he felt, design began naturally from there.

He realised board games possess the unique capacity to simulate economies, generate social tension, craft compelling narratives, and provoke deep critical thinking, with great fun.

He also recalls wondering why there weren’t more aspiring games by Indian creators and designers.

Building Zenwood Games: Challenges & Breakthroughs

Sidhant says the main issue was the lack of a clear rulebook, so he had to figure out how to make it work in practice from scratch. Things like design, development, manufacturing, logistics, pricing, crowdfunding, retail, and marketing had to be figured out from the ground up.

“Publishing is not just making a good game. It is also production, operations, cash flow, shipping, customer support, and trust-building,” adds Sidhant.

Another main problem was market education, where a lot of people in India still consider board games to be just party or children’s games. Convincing people that board games could be complex, tense, captivating, and intellectually stimulating took a lot of time.

“The only way through was to stay hands-on. Learning everything, making mistakes, speaking to players, speaking to stores, attending conventions, and keep improving!” he explains.

The Craft of Game Development

There are multiple stages to game design; Sidhant’s favourites are the early and middle stages, ideation, systems and development.

He says, “That is where the game is still alive, messy, and full of possibility.”

However, for him, the best moment is when the rough prototype finally comes together, and players have to make meaningful decisions, strategize, and get lost in the fun of the game.

To him, the hardest parts are the production and final polish.

He says production and polishing are less charming, but just as important.  

“At that stage,” explains Sidhant, “every small decision has a cost. Rules, components, layout, pricing, shipping, and communication all become very real.”

Designing with Purpose: A Practical Approach

For Sidhant, working with different publishers, crowdfunding, and helping to publish games, has made his approach to designing new games much more practical.

(Kickstarter is a global rewards-based crowdfunding platform where creators and entrepreneurs raise funds from the public to bring their creative projects and inventions to life.)

He got his fair share of experience in different parts of the game industry when he worked with Kickstarter for his popular game Tycoon, and when he worked with Modern Indian Strategy Board Games – MOZAIC GAMES and DICE TOY LABS (different publishing firms for games) for his first-ever published game. However, he says he made simpler games for his friends and cousins, which was called ‘Chai Garam’.

“When you only design, you can fall in love with clever ideas. But when you publish, manufacture, market, and sell, you realise that clever is not enough,” quips Sidhant.

According to him, a game needs to be teachable, producible, replayable, priceable and marketable, as all these factors play a huge part in how profitable the game will be.

Sidhant further adds, “So now I think about the full life of a game: who it is for, how it will be taught, how it will look on the table, why someone will buy it, and why people will want to play it again.”

For him, the game needs to survive outside of our own playtest table. A playtest is how game designers work out major flaws in their games, what they can change to make it more practical, and what they can add to make it a little more exciting.

Crowdfunding & Global Reach

Tycoon: India 1981 is one of Sidhant’s popular games, which he campaigned for globally on the crowdfunding platform ‘Kickstarter’. His game raised upwards of $30,000 globally. He says that crowdfunding platforms are extremely helpful and important for indie creators, but they don’t work like magic.  

He says, “Crowdfunding is not just putting a page online. It needs preparation, community-building, reviewers, manufacturing quotes, shipping planning, campaign assets, and post-campaign execution.”

Sidhant tells us that for his game Tycoon: India 1981, Kickstarter helped them reach board game players globally and proved that a heavy game on economics could successfully reach an international audience. He further adds, “It is a powerful tool, only if treated seriously.”

Mistakes Beginners Make

Sidhant says a common mistake is having only an idea, rather than a game. “A theme or concept is not enough. You need decisions, tension, rules, and consequences,” he explains.

For Sidhant, another common mistake he sees people make is not playtesting outside of friends and family. Strangers will play your game, misunderstand it, break it, or get bored, and that is where the real feedback starts to come in. He mentions that another huge mistake is not playing games.

“Play as many games, of all varieties, lengths, complexities, especially games that you don’t like to play. The lesson is simple: prototype fast, test honestly, and don’t protect bad ideas just because you love them,” smiles Sidhant.

Learning Through Teaching

When he started taking workshops and teaching board game design, he realised that teaching helped him design his games too; he feels that when you design alone, most of your thinking is instinctive.

But when he started teaching, he realised that you have to explain why something works, which, in turn, sharpens your own process and thinking.

Teaching also reminded him about how people think differently.

He says, ‘Some people begin with story, some with mechanics, some with components, some with chaos. Seeing that helps me understand design better.’

It made him more patient with his early prototypes and with his game design process.

Advice for Aspiring Designers

Firstly, Sidhant recommends playing more and more games, even the ones you don’t like.

He says, “Study why games work. Ask what choices players are making, what emotions the game creates, and why people come back to it. Prototype fast. Ugly prototypes are fine. Beautiful but untested prototypes are usually a waste of time.”

He also advises you to ‘playtest’ (trying out a game before it is launched in the market) seriously, and not take offence at bad feedback on your game, as it is the fastest way to improve. New designers should also learn the business side of things, not just the game design, if you want to publish your game.

“Creativity gets you started. Professionalism keeps you alive,” smiles Sidhant.

The Future of India’s Board Game Industry

When Sidhant started designing board games, the prevailing Indian mindset regarded only Snakes and Ladders, Uno, and Ludo as board games.

Now, India is still early in the board game community, but it is growing; there are more conventions, more designers and more board game communities.

But we still need better playtesting culture, better development, more original games and more knowledge about manufacturing.

“India should not just copy Western hobby gaming. We should learn from global standards, but build games from our own stories, history, culture, politics, economics, and everyday life.’ There is enough material here for world-class games. We just need patience and quality,” reminds Sidhant.

What Lies Ahead for Zenwood Games

Sidhant’s goal is to build Zenwood Games into a serious, more widely recognised modern board game publisher from India.

‘For Tycoon: India 1981, we are working on the Definitive Edition, with refined rules, upgraded components, and more complete solo and reference material.’ He adds, ‘Winning the Goblin Magnifico Award has added both confidence and responsibility.’

(The Goblin Magnifico is an annual Italian board game award presented by ‘La Tana dei Goblin’, one of Italy’s largest gaming communities. Established to recognise high-complexity and strategic board games, the award is curated by an expert jury and designed specifically for experienced gamers)

After Tycoon, He wants to keep making games that are original, thoughtful, and globally relevant.

He says, “Some will be heavy strategy games, some will be smaller and cleaner games, but the core idea remains the same: strong themes, solid mechanisms, and games that deserve to exist. Our larger goal, however, is to help prove that globally recognisable games can come from India.”

Closing thoughts

Game design is much more than just putting together a bunch of basic mechanics and adding a theme; it involves playtesting, artwork, publishing, and so much more that come together to make a good board game.

Sidhant has extensive experience building his own publishing company, designing multiple intricate, wonderful, and enjoyable games, and teaching and learning along the way.

He is an inspiration to many designers, and he hopes to keep the Indian board game industry progressing and growing towards global recognition. Board games help us in more ways than we realise, including improving our problem-solving abilities, as the strategic planning, resource management, and pattern recognition needed to play them help us immensely. Playing board games helps us develop our negotiation skills, in case any trading deals are required, teaches us sportsmanship, and how to bounce back from setbacks, all in an extremely fun way!

My family and I play board games whenever we can; they can be exciting, exhilarating, and a fun way to bond with friends or family. You could try it too.

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