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Rummy Indian Open Set To Slay The Red Carpet Of Tournament Season

Remember the time when everyone in the family got together to play rummy during festivals or just played it as a regular game with the fam jam over dinner! So, rummy was more than ‘just a game’; it was a crucial element that people bonded over. Emotions run high and low when people win or lose in rummy, but that’s just how it is. This sought-after game has now gradually turned into a lucrative professional career option for many who excelled at it. The twist in the tale came when the game went online. Playing online rummy as a source of fun and frolic turned into a source of income for players who took it up to earn a livelihood. It may not be a conventional choice, but many chose to break the shackles of orthodox living by taking up rummy as a profession.

 Moving on to the tournament’s scene, one can safely say that online rummy operators are leaving no stone unturned to offer the best-in-class experience. The World Rummy Championship with ₹1.25 crore prize pool and winner prize money of ₹50 Lakh was very much fierce as only 150 participants were allowed – only the crème de la crème would fight it out for the world champion’s title. To hit such a marquee event, one must go through the grind – freerolls, daily, weekly and monthly promotions run throughout the year!

What we really want to dig into are the big-ticket championships that are conducted by online rummy brands. A23 Rummy, owned by Head Digital Works Private Limited, are on a mission to provide a seamless gaming experience to its players, promote rummy as a professional game and build a rock-solid community of gamers.

We interviewed Deepak Gullapalli, Founder and CEO, Head Digital Works to know what went into devising a world-class event like the Rummy Indian Open 2021. The event, which is ongoing, offers a colossal prize pool of ₹25 crore for a meagre entry fee of ₹11. RIO kick-started on 22nd May and concludes on 22nd August. The grand finale (grand knockout) has put ₹6 crore on the table, with the first place getting a jaw-dropping sum of ₹1 crore. Let’s look at what went into ideating, planning, executing, and promoting a full-blown state-of-the-art online rummy championship.

Since when was the idea of launching a rummy championship floating? How did you put it down on paper?

We have always been conducting large-scale tournaments each year but wanted to up the ante a bit as the industry was going through a slight lull at that point. That’s when the idea of launching an annual championship came up.

 What were the initial hurdles you thought of while planning the RIO tournament series?

Bringing in something unique as a format and structure over a period was the challenging part. We also needed to ensure ample participation would be there to justify the cost, and that kept us on our toes in the planning phases.

Given the legal status of rummy in various Indian states, was the brand not apprehensive of going full steam?

Not just rummy but all skill gaming is affected by the regulatory changes in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. But given that India is a sizable market, we knew we had to continue to grow and let the judicial outcomes take their own course.How did A23 decide on the prize pool for Rummy Indian Open 2021?

We wanted Rummy Indian Open 2021 to be the largest ever tournament held in the online rummy space and the prize pool number was decided on that basis along with the potential to expand our engagement levels with our users.

 When it comes to participation from players, what was the number you were looking at?

We were looking at engaging over 500K participants.

Once the registrations started for RIO 2021, what were your initial feelings about the response for the event?

 We were pleased overall with the response and the participation levels. The tournament is still ongoing, and the format is such that players can still come and give it a shot, so the numbers are swelling.

Not many large-scale rummy events are held in the country, so do you see this trend changing post the launch of RIO 2021?

We usually set the trends for the market and have already seen other peers launching similar initiatives. This is probably how things will continue in the years ahead.

Newer brands in the RMG industry are launching rummy on their respective platforms, what can be done to have more tournaments/championships in the rummy space?

Typically, stand-alone brands offer the focused group of rummy players what they want. Tournaments are one aspect of that engagement activity and also promotes healthy competition and awareness of the game.

In making sure that RIO 2021 is a success, what are the various aspects that the brand made sure are ticked off?

We wanted to make sure that the concept was unique and that the message also stood out especially during the build-up and launch phases of the tournament. It was also the first time that a tournament concept was built as an asset for a brand to showcase, as opposed to just selling the brand.

What kind of tournament series/events is A23 looking forward to hosting in the future?

Well, one can say accurately that there is no stopping the online rummy players or the firms who want to go bigger and bolder with their offerings. We will continue to run Rummy Indian Open on an annual basis and build it up over the future. The participation in RIO 2021 only points towards the fact that seasoned players and newbies want more of such events; a competitive prize pool only further incentivises players to come out and fight it out on the virtual felts.

Once the legal issues are ironed out, then hopefully we can have more such tournaments as the industry will look to go full steam. Just like we see it in poker, live events are also conducted in rummy. The games are more in the west, but India can take the live rummy route if the mood is set to go big.

We are currently living in a time when live poker is making a return after a sabbatical that was forced down owing to the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent lockdown. If Las Vegas can do it with the World Series of Gin Rummy at the Bally’s and Flamingo, then India can surely take some inspiration and pull its sock up if the dream really is to put ourselves on a global map of real money gaming. 

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