Category: Gaming

Alibaba Group and One97 Communications Limited backed Paytm First Games (earlier known as Gamepind), announced the launch of its first esports tournament ‘Clash Royale’ in partnership with game developer and publisher SuperCell.

As per the platform, the tournament will be played on Paytm First Games mobile app and will be held from April 10 to 12 with about 512 players. The prize pool of the tournament is Rs. 4 Lakh. 

Clash Royale can be played live on Paytm First Games app in 1-on-1 and 2 Vs. 2 formats. The tournament will be organised in an online, single-elimination format.

As per a report by The Hindu Business Line, commenting on the upcoming esports tournament, Sudhanshu Gupta, COO, Paytm First Games, said, “With Clash Royale, we are entering into e-sporting leagues and bringing the best of global mobile gaming for Indian fans. We believe that this will serve as a great stress buster during the lockdown period and will engage gaming enthusiasts. To further add to the excitement around the tournament and make it more popular, we will broadcast the final rounds live on YouTube and Paytm Inbox.”

Paytm First Games had recently also claimed that its platform had witnessed a 200% increase in its user base in India while users look for sources of entertainment amidst the nation-wide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. As per the platform, more than half a million active gamers are spending about 30 to 40 minutes on the platform on a daily basis.

Apart from Paytm First Games, other gaming platforms like Zupee, Pokerbaazi.com, PokerDangal, Games2Win and WinZo have also reported increased traction on their gaming platforms as users are forced to stay home due to the impact of COVID-19.

Paytm First Games has over 200 real-money and free-to-play games such as Rummy, Ludo, Teen Patti, and Fantasy Cricket on its platform. Earlier this year, they released a report called Gamestats 2019, which reported that 45 million users registered on Paytm First Games app in 2019, and the biggest amount won by a single Paytm First Games User in 2019 is Rs.12.59 crores. 

What is Solitaire?

Solitaire is a popular card game played by one player. It is played with a full card of deck. Various versions of the game are available online, and it can be played offline, as well. The classic version of Solitaire is called Klondike and is played with 52 cards. In the following sections we will cover how to play Solitaire game, Types of Solitaire (including how to play spider solitaire), and top 5 websites and apps to play solitaire for free.

Quick Jump to:

• How to play Solitaire game
  • Dealing of cards in Solitaire game
  • How to win the game of solitaire
  • Moves in solitaire game
  • Other Solitaire rules
• Types of Solitaire games
• Top 5 free websites to play Solitaire online
• Top 5 mobile Apps to play online Solitaire

How to play Solitaire game

Dealing of cards in Solitaire game

In Solitaire, seven piles of cards are dealt. In the first round of dealing, the first and the left-most card is dealt face up, the next six are dealt face down.

The second round begins with the second pile receiving a face up card, and the next five receiving face down cards.

The third round of dealing begins with a face-up card on the third pile and face-down cards from fourth deck onwards.

The dealing continues thus, until all the seven decks have one face-up card on top. Basically, the number of cards in each pile increases from left to right.

The remaining 24 cards are placed face-down in a deck separate from the seven cards.

There are four imaginary empty slots above the seven decks. These slots are used to create the foundation piles.

How to win the game of Solitaire

To win the game of solitaire, you have to create foundation piles of each suit. You start the foundation by placing aces of each suit in four separate places/slots above the seven decks. 

You then have to complete each suit by placing consecutive cards on top of the aces, e.g. place 2 of hearts on Ace of hearts, 2 of clubs on Ace of clubs, 3 of clubs on 2 of clubs and so on, until you have each suit completed.

Moves in Solitaire game

To be able to complete the four suits of cards, you have to move some cards around. The cards can move in the game in three ways:

• Moving cards among the seven decks: You can move face-up cards among the seven piles, placing a smaller rank card below a card with one rank higher and with a different color. E.g. you can place 6 of hearts under 7 of clubs.

Note: When a face-up card is moved from a pile, the next face-down card in that pile is flipped to make the next face-up card in that pile

• Moving cards from the seven decks to the foundation piles: As the objective of the game is to complete each foundation pile, you can move cards from the seven decks to place cards in the foundation piles. 
• From the deck: The last way of moving cards is to reveal one card at a time from the deck of leftover 24 cards (In some games, three cards are flipped open from the deck, and the third card can be moved first and then the ones below that). The card that is revealed can be added to the seven piles (below a card of higher rank and different color) or added to the foundation piles, wherever possible. If a card revealed can’t be moved to any place, the next card is revealed on top of it. Once all the deck cards are revealed, the pile of revealed cards is flipped to make a face-down deck again.

Other Solitaire rules

• While moving cards to the seven piles, a card can be placed below a card with one higher rank and a different color only.
• When one of the seven piles becomes empty, only a King card can be placed into the open space first. More consecutive cards can be added below the King when required.
• The top card of a foundation pile can be moved back to one of the seven piles below, if needed.
• If no more moves can be made from the piles of the deck of cards, then the game is lost.

Types of Solitaire games

Here are some types of Solitaire cards games that are available online:

1. Klondike Solitaire

This is the most common form of this game, often known as just Solitaire. This is the version of the game that originally came with Windows. The rules of this game have been explained in the sections above.

2. Spider Solitaire

This is another popular version of solitaire. This game also came with Windows. There are different levels of difficulty in Spider Solitaire. Difficulty of the game rises with a higher number of suits and decks in the game. It is played by one player. 

How to play spider solitaire

Dealing: 

Ten columns of 4 face down cards each are dealt. Four columns on the left get an extra facedown card each. The next six columns get one face-up card each and then the first four columns also get a face-up card each. The remaining cards are kept aside in a face-down deck.

One-suit spider solitaire uses 104 cards of spades and two-suit spider solitaire uses 104 cards including spades and hearts.

Moves:

• Open cards can be moved one below another–a card can be moved below a card with one rank more and any color (ideally move below the same suit card). 
• When no open cards can be moved, pick a card from the closed deck of extra cards. If you don’t want to use a card from the deck, make another deck of face-up cards with it, and open another card from the face-down cards.

Rules:

• When an open card is moved, the face-down card below it is flipped to expose that card.
• When a sequence of descending cards from K-A is completed for one suit, it can be moved to one of the 8 empty foundation slots below the ten columns.
• When all the face-down cards from the side deck are complete, you can flip the open deck of extra cards to make a face-down deck of cards again.

The objective of the game is to fill all the 8 foundation slots with 8 sets of descending same-suit cards from K-A. Here’s a video that explains how you can play spider solitaire.

3. Free Cell

This is another variation of the game that came with Windows 95 and all its versions after that. It was invented in the 80s by Paul Allfile. This game requires one to apply thought and strategise. It starts with a tableau of 52 open cards in 8 piles. Like the classic version of the game, you have to move all the cards in ascending order (Ace to King of the same suit) to the four foundation slots on top right. Here’s a small video on how to play Free cell.

Other types of Solitaire games include Scorpion, Pyramid, Forty Thieves, and Yukon.

Top 5 free websites to play Solitaire online

Here are some popular platforms where you can play different versions of Solitaire online for free:

1. Solitr: This simple online platform offers Solitaire and Spider Solitaire. You do not even need to sign up on this platform to play either of the games. This platform has no sound effects.
2. Google Solitaire: Here’s a game hosted by Google, where you can play easy or hard versions of Solitaire games. You don’t need to sign up on this Google game platform either. The graphics on this platform are simple, yet appealing. The sound effects in the game are almost similar to the original version of the game.
3. World of Solitaire: Here’s another platform that offers 121 versions Solitaire including different types of Klondike or classic solitaire—Turn one, turn three, Double turn one and three, and triple turn one and three. On this website, you can also play Pyramid, Scorpion, Spider, Yukon and other versions of this game. No sign up is required to play the games. There are no sound effects on this platform.
4. CardGames: This is a simple platform that offers solitaire, spider solitaire, Hearts, Free Cell, Spades, and more. No sign in is required to play on this platform. 
5. Solitaire Web App: This platform has 12 versions of solitaire including Klondike Solitaire,, Forty Thieves, FreeCell, Pyramid, Easthaven, and Eight Off.

Top 5 mobile apps to play free online Solitaire

1. Microsoft Solitaire: This app offers online Klondike Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, FreeCell , Tri Peaks, and Pyramid.
2. Solitaire by Mouse Games: This app features a free classic Solitaire card game including Klondike Solitaire Draw 1 card and Klondike Solitaire Draw 3 cards.
3. Solitaire by Brianium Studios:  This app also offers Draw-1 and Draw-3 modes of online Solitaire.
4. Solitaire by MobilityWare: This game offers Classic Klondike & Patience Solitaire for free.
5. Spider Solitaire by MobilityWare: Here’s the Spider solitaire version of the app by MobilityWare.

Read more about card games and gaming in India.

Andar Bahar is a popular casino game in India. It is now available on various online casinos and gaming platforms, as well. It originated in the South Indian city of Bangalore (Bengaluru) many centuries ago but is now popular across India. 

What is Andar Bahar game?

Andar Bahar, also known as Katti, is a betting game played with cards and against a dealer. 

Andar Bahar, when translated in English, literally means ‘In Out’. In the game, however, here’s what Andar and Bahar mean:

• Andar refers to the right side of the dealer (left side for the players sitting opposite the dealer) 
• Bahar refers to the left side of the dealer (right side for the players sitting opposite the dealer)

This casino game is played with one deck of cards and it is a 50/50 game, meaning the chosen outcome by each player in an Andar Bahar game has a 50% chance of winning or losing.

This game involves a dealer, besides players who bet on the game’s outcome. In the following section you will read how to play Andar Bahar and some tricks and tips for playing this game.

Quick jump to any section:

• Indian casinos offering Andar Bahar
• How to Play Andar Bahar (Katti)
• Andar Bahar game tips and tricks
• Is Andar Bahar legal in India?

Online casinos offering Andar Bahar

Here are a few online casinos that offer this card game for free or real money. We have also reviewed various international platforms to include the ones that accept deposits in INR. 

Online Andar Bahar games are either electronic with random number generation or live games. You can pick whichever format you’re comfortable with.

1. Pure casino: Pure Casino gives 100% welcome bonus of up to Rs. 10,000. It has a minimum deposit of Rs. 250. It offers support in Indian languages like Hindi.
2. leovegas.com: LeoVegas.com offers a welcome bonus of up to Rs. 80,000.
3. ShowLion: This platform offers 100% welcome bonus of up to Rs. 10,000.
4. Bodog Casino: Bodog offers a welcome bonus of up to Rs. 50,000.
5. Dafabet: It is an international platform that supports INR deposits, and it offers a welcome bonus of up to Rs. 7000. It features a live casino.
6. JeetWin: It offers a sign-up bonus of Rs. 1000 and 100% deposit bonus of up to Rs. 10,000.
7. sportsbet.io: This platform accepts Bitcoin and EUR deposits. It also offers a bonus in Bitcoin to the amount of mB6 €30.
8. 1XBet: It supports INR and gives 100% welcome bonus of up to Rs. 7500.
9. BetWinner: Offers 100% bonus of up to Euro 300 and has telephone support for India.
10. 22Bet: Supports INR and offers Hindi language support. Ir offers a 100% bonus of up to Rs. 25,000.

How to play Andar Bahar (Katti)

If you want to learn how to play and win Andar Bahar in casinos or on online platforms, then here’s a short guide for you.

Joker

The dealer deals a card face up on the table. This first card is the Joker for the game.

First Bet

The players place the first bet on whether the next joker (a card of the same rank as the first joker) will be dealt on the Andar side (left for player) or Bahar side (right for player) of the joker or middle card.

Dealing of cards

After this, the dealer deals one face-up card each to the bahar (right for player) and andar (left for player) sides of the first card. The first card is dealt to the right side for the players i.e. it is dealt bahar or out.

Final Bet

After one card is dealt on each side of the joker, the players may choose to make a final bet or skip betting. The final bet by a player can be made on the same side as their previous bet or on the opposite side.

Continued dealing of cards

The dealer continues to deal cards on the left and right piles until he deals a card of the same rank as the middle card, also called the joker of the game.

How to win andar bahar game? 

The player who bets on the side of the pile that gets the second joker wins. Winner doubles their chips they had bet on the winning side. Bets placed on the losing side go to the dealer.

The above simple Andar bahar card game rules apply to both offline and online formats of the game.

In some places and platforms, the payout is only 90% on top of the bet, if the winning card or joker falls on the side where the first card was dealt. Hundred percent payout on top of the bet is given when the winning joker falls on the opposite side of where the first card was dealt.

Andar Bahar game tips and tricks

There are some andar bahar winning tricks and tips that help you end your session with either some extra cash in your pocket or minimise your loss.

1. Betting sides: First tip is to place the first and final bets on different sides. This helps minimise your overall loss in a game.
2. Betting amount: To minimise loss, place one bets for double the amount of the other bet. This ensures that you will at least get 2/3rd of your money back if the lower bet side wins. If the higher bet side wins, then you will take 4/3 times of what you put in.

There is not much scope of cheating in Andar Bahar, unless the game is rigged. As the cards are dealt by a dealer, this game is usually as straightforward as it can get. 

These days, online platforms with random number generation (RNG) features make playing Andar bahar game fair and fool proof.

Is Andar Bahar legal in India?

Andar bahar is likely to be classified as a game of  chance as per Indian jurisprudence and hence would fall within the ambit of gambling. It can be played at licensed casinos in Sikkim and Goa in India. For playing this game online in India, it is advised that you check the legality of online gambling laws in your respective state/territory before playing.

For more article on casino games and gambling in India, stay tuned.

UK-based Online betting giant Bet365 took heat after live-streaming cricket matches through its betting app in Pakistan. However, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) later admitted that Bet365 has contractual rights to stream Pakistan Super League (PSL) matches through its global app. 

Bangalore-based agency ITW Consulting Pvt Ltd, an affiliate of Global Sports Commerce, which is the global media partner of PCB, sold the live-streaming rights outside Pakistan to Bet365.

As per a news reports, former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif  said, “I am surprised the PCB was unaware that its global media right partner had sold the international streaming rights onwards to a betting company”. He asked how PCB did not get a hint of things till after 30 matches of the tournament were completed.

Bet365 not only live-streamed the matches in Pakistan, but it also took bets on PSL matches throughout the PSL tournament. Gambling is illegal in Pakistan, and, hence, PCB unawareness of this situation puts the cricket board in a difficult position.

Former Test batsman and ex-head coach and chief selector of Pakistan, Mohsin Khan said, “I can understand the bets were taken only in countries where betting is legal but indirectly even that is not good for the PSL which is a Pakistani brand and where betting is illegal.” He said that this incident reflects poorly on the functioning of PCB.

PCB denied entering into or allowing any of its commercial partners to enter into any contract for betting rights with any entity. “The facts are that the PSL’s live-streaming rights outside Pakistan were granted pursuant to an international tender to an international company for three PSL editions 2019 to 2021. The global media rights partner without following the due approval process, awarded the live-streaming rights to a betting company,” it said, as per news reports.

PCB’s official media marketing right holders Blitz Advertising, earlier said that Season 5 of PSL crossed 8.2 million views in live-streaming of 15 matches, and they aimed to reach 20 million views for the tournament.

Notably, PCB had, last year, signed a broadcast sponsorship deal for PSL T20 2019 tournament with MyTeam11, a Jaipur-based fantasy sports operator. All fantasy sports operators in India had last year taken a conscious decision to withdraw all deals with PSL and stop accepting entry on PSL matches in light of the Pulwama terror attacks. However, most fantasy sports operators resumed their association with PSL again this year.

As people spend more time at home with their families, they look for various ways to entertain themselves. Besides movies, music, and online games, a great way to pass time is to play card games. Here are a few card games that are loved by Indian families:

Rummy

This is a sophisticated yet fun game to play with two-three people. Thirteen cards are distributed to each player. Each player has to make four groups of 3, 3, 3, and 4 cards. At least two groups have to be Lives (consecutive cards, e.g. 4-5-6-7 of same or different suits), and one Life has to be pure (of the same suit, e.g. AKQ of hearts), while the other two groups can be sets of cards of the same rank (e.g. AAA). On their turn, each player can pick a card from the closed or open pile to try to complete their groups. They need to discard a card in the open pile, if they pick a card on their turn. The game continues, till one player completes all four groups. You can read more about how to play Rummy in one of our detailed posts.

Bluff/Challenge

This is one of the most exciting games you can play with a group of people. There is no limit to the number of players in this game. All the cards are equally distributed among all the players. The game starts with the first players throwing a set of cards of similar rank (e.g. four Aces, three Kings, and two tens) in the centre pile. If the next player suspects that the player before them bluffed or lied about their card set, then they can challenge the previous player and call their ‘bluff’. If the suspicion is correct, then the previous player has to pick all the cards from the pile, else the player who called the bluff wrongly has to pick the pile of cards. If there is no suspicion, then the next player can also play a set of cards of the same rank as the previous player in the pile or pass their turn. Once everybody has played all the cards of that rank, the pile of cards in the middle is set aside, and the next round begins with the player next to the player who played the last set of cards. The game continues like this till one player is able to get rid of all their cards to win the game.

Satte pe Satta

This game is preferably played with three to four people. All the cards are distributed equally to all the players. The player who has seven of hearts plays first. In clockwise direction, the next player can play either a seven of any suit or play six or eight of hearts. The player that has a seven of any suit cannot pass their turn. Each suit needs to be completed from Ace to King. The player to finish their cards first wins.

Teen Patti

At home, you can play a friendly version of this game with chips, coins or real money (low stakes). In this game, three cards are distributed to each player. The players have to gauge the strength of the hand of cards to place bets. The first, first two, or all players place a blind bet without seeing their cards. The next player then calls, raises (chaal) or continues to play blind. You can read all about the rules and ranks of card hands in Teen Patti in our detailed article on the game. Have fun playing this exciting game with your family.

We hope you enjoy playing these games with your family at home.

Vernacular e-sport gaming platform Winzo has partnered with Tencent Games India to host PUBG mobile tournament on its platform, enabling users to play PUBG in 10 regional languages of India.

“Tencent India’s trust in WinZO is a testament to our unique vision and our distinctive strategy to develop a Netflix of Gaming. Together, we aspire to bring the best gaming experience to the mobile-first audience of Bharat,” said WinZO co-founder Paavan Nanda.

As people around the country are practicing social distancing due to COVID-19 spread, more and more users are playing online games as a form of entertainment. Saumya Singh Rathore, co-founder, WinZo Games, recently said that game plays on their platform went up in the last week. She also added that they were speaking to PUBG (Tencent Games India) for a tie-up and had expedited the conversation. “We have acquired popular games. We are also putting free games for some people who do not want to pay and play but want a medium to escape,” Rathore added.

“WinZO will be now conducting PUBG mobile’s free-to-enter e-sport tournaments with prizes over Rs 1 crore per month,” WinZO announced in a company statement, as per a report in Outlook.

WinZO game claims that they have deep penetration among users from non-urban regions in India and 90 percent of its users come from tier-II to V cities. About 80 percent of their users play games in their regional languages like Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi and Bhojpuri. WinZo was launched in 2017 as TicTok Games, as Jio created a great infrastructure that got 300 million people from Tier II to V cities on smartphones and internet.

Rathore said that amid recent circumstances, the platform is also receiving organic traffic from Tier-I regions including Delhi and Bangaluru.

The platform has crossed about 20 million app installations in less than a year. WinZO is also said to be processing 200 million micro-transactions per month.

Last year, the platform secured Series A funding of $5 million in a round led by Kalaari Capital and Hike Messenger. In July 2019, WinZo games also announced a $1.5 million fund to promote Indian game developers.

With the coronavirus pandemic impacting all routine activities,, people in India and around the globe are forced to change their lifestyle—practicing social distancing and working from home. This has led to people spending more time online for keeping themselves engaged.

People are looking for various ways to entertain themselves from Netflix to cooking and trying out other activities. In the current circumstances, Indians are spending a lot of time playing online games, which has led to higher traction on such platforms, as per a report in Moneycontrol. Users are also said to be spending more money on online games, as their spending on various outdoor leisure activities is curbed.

In line with the predictions of stalwarts like Mukesh Ambani and Ruchir Sharma, online gaming is showing signs of becoming a big entertainment source for users.

As per Varun Ganjoo, Marketing Director at PokerBaazi.com, their platform has seen 25 per cent increase in traffic and 20 per cent increase in transactions in one week.

Varun Mahna, co-founder of online poker portal PokerDangal concurred with Ganjoo and added that their platform had seen at least a 15% increase in traction post the increased restrictions. 

“We had a user base of 5,000 daily active users, which has now increased to 6000-6500 post the restrictions. Earlier, the average time spent per day on the platform was around two and a half hours which has now increased to somewhere around 4 hours” he added.

“We are seeing around 15 lakh people playing our games daily against 11-12 lakh people earlier,” said Tejas Shah, head of revenue and distribution at Games2Win, as per a report by LiveMint.

Saumya Singh Rathore, co-founder, WinZo Games, said, “On March 14 and 15, our game plays went up by around 3x and this was unusual. Time spent also went up. We generally see four million games played on our platform and this went up to approximately 10 million over the last weekend (March 14-15). We used to have tier II to V phenomenon but suddenly tier I crowd is coming on to the platform, which we were not focusing on, but they are organically coming on to our platform. We are not having any marketing in tier I, but we are seeing huge spike coming from Delhi, Bengaluru markets,” she added.

The recent rise in user traction is encouraging operators to expand their offering. “We were speaking to PUBG and Free Fire for a tie-up with them and we have expedited that conversation. We have acquired popular games. We are also putting free games for some people who do not want to pay and play but want a medium to escape,” said Rathore.

As per Keerti Singh, Hitwicket’s Co-founder and Vice president, growth, demographics of their users are changing, with more working professionals playing the game. They have also seen 10-15% more users on their website. Singh said that users who spent 20-15 minutes per day on their platform earlier are spending up to 40 minutes per day, making them easier to monetize.

Games2Win’s Shah also said that, “this increase in users and engagement has also had a positive impact on revenue for us as more and more companies are looking at ways to reach out to audiences through the digital medium.”

Besides playing online games, various users have also shown interest in learning new gaming skills. Interestingly, Big Stack Poker university saw a 10-15 percent rise in organic users in the last week. “The response rate has gone up. Earlier, it used to be two to three out of 10 who use to respond positively. We see this going up to four to five for every 10 responses. Average individual learning time, which used to be two to three video watch per session, has gone up to five to six video watch per session. Though it is too early to conclude, but it seems people are engaging more, maybe serious players are looking at it as a good time to acquire new skills, while spending most of the time at home,” said Ritesh Tanu, Co-Founder, The Big Stack.

While various online games are booming, fantasy sports platforms are however taking a hit as live sports events worldwide have been cancelled.