On Bad Days, I Bring Out an Old Board Game. It Helps. - By a Roll the Dice Customer

I don’t know exactly when it started — the heaviness, I mean.
Not the loud kind… the quiet one.
The kind where you are doing everything “right” but something inside feels like it’s running on low battery.

Some people call it burnout.
Some call it depression.
I didn’t call it anything.
I just kept scrolling, working, talking-but-not-really, living-but-not-really.

And then one random Sunday afternoon… a cousin pulled out an old Chowka Bara cloth board from a drawer.

You know that feeling when you smell something from childhood and it hits you?
For me it was the sound of cowrie shells hitting the floor.
Such a small, silly sound.
But it did something.

We sat down on the floor — cross-legged, like we used to — and played.
No agenda. No phones buzzing.
Just people, laughter, and a game that didn’t care about productivity or deadlines or who was “winning at life.”

And somewhere between moves, I felt something I hadn’t felt in months.

Lightness.
Like my brain took a deep breath.

I didn’t think one board game could do that.
But here’s the truth I realised that day:

Traditional games slow you down in a world that keeps pushing you.
They force you to sit with people.
Look at faces, not screens.
Talk. Laugh. Argue. Tease.
Connect.

Not the “Instagram connection.”
The real one.
The messy, warm, human one.

I called my mother the next day.
Asked if she wanted to play Navakankari in the evening.
(She almost fainted, thinking I needed money.)

But we sat down.
She told me stories of how Ajja used to beat everyone at this game.
She smiled in a way I hadn’t seen in a long time.
And I… I felt safe.
Held.
Not by the game, but by the moment.

There’s a strange kind of healing in these old games.
They don’t solve your problems.
They just remind you you’re not alone.

When you’re placing tokens on a board,
when you’re waiting for your turn,
when you laugh because someone did a silly move…

Your mind stops spiraling.
Your body stops bracing.
Your heart stops hiding.

And in that pause — you feel human again.

People say depression is loneliness.
Sometimes even when you’re surrounded by people.
But loneliness doesn’t stand a chance when you have a board game and 2–3 people sitting around it.

Trust me.
I’ve tried both.

If you’re reading this and you’ve been feeling that quiet heaviness…
try picking up a game.
Chowka Bara, Navakankari, Aadu Huli, anything.

Call someone.
Sit down on the floor.
Play without rushing.
Lose.
Win.
Laugh.
Repeat.

It won’t fix everything.
But it might be enough to remind you that you matter.
That you belong somewhere.
That life doesn’t always have to be loud or perfect.
Sometimes it’s just cowrie shells, soft laughter, and one small move after another.

-- A Heavy Patron of Roll the Dice Indian Board games. She wishes to remain anonymous.