VOGUE PLAY: A sampling of the board games available on the racks. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

From playing naughty love games to buying the Taj Mahal, it?s time to come on board. Board gaming is no longer about Scrabble and Scotland Yard, as out-of-the-box plots are keeping pace with the changing mood of the players, young and not-so-young. So, if the 70-year-old Monopoly has gone Desi, a new love game is ready to steam up the metros.

From young couples to those needing to re-ignite their romance, the latest board game hitting town promises a honeymoon anywhere, anytime. ?Love on Board is a cruise into a romantic world celebrating togetherness,? says Dhananjay Phumbra, who claims to have conceptualised the game.

Love on Board is like any other game based on the Monopoly model, but the directions are anything but run-of-the-mill ? ?roll your tongue behind your partner?s nape, give a back massage and creep into love land??. And the accompaniments range from the regular (play board, pawn, dice) to the romantic (candles, incense sticks) to the raunchy (aroma oil, aphrodisiac).

?It?s a novel concept and the target audience is also not very large. But people who have bought it have liked it,? says Sidharth Pansari of Crossword, the only store in town playing host to Love on Board. ?If the price is reduced (from Rs 2,000), the sales would pick up,? adds Pansari, who has sold 15 Love on Board games in the festive season.

Clearly, innovation is the name of the board game. And the little ones do remain a big target group. ?Board games were losing out due to a lack of variety. Now, it has become mandatory in every household. It enhances the reasoning and analytical faculties of a child and also help in bonding,? says Gautam Jatia of Landmark.

Also, today?s board games can last well into tomorrow. ?Beyblades and Pokemon rule the racks for a year and then disappear. But board games stay favourites for a long time,? says David Daniel Selvaraj, marketing manager, Funskool (India) Limited. Funskool, the largest importer and manufacturer of toys, has recently launched Destination Delhi, based on Monopoly.

But one Monopoly with a real India connection is the Desi Edition, with UK manufacturer Hasbro producing a game for the Asian market, with familiar motifs. So, the four stations on the board are all Indian, with Howrah station thrown in. The playing pieces have changed to tigers, auto-rickshaws and sweets from dogs, cars and irons. And you can, of course, buy the Taj Mahal (not from Bunty and Babli).

Ideated and devised by London-based Indian Gurdip Ahluwalia, Monopoly Desi Edition was launched in the UK on Diwali for ?24.99. It may not be long before it hits Howrah station. ?We could produce it locally and make it available at lower prices or sell imported units at higher rates,? says Selvaraj.