Mission IITMade by the studio
A racing game with a board and cards: the exam years as a race to the Exam Gate. Every card has two halves: STUDY walks your pawn forward, STUNT pulls a prank on a rival.
- 2–6 players
- 8–30 minutes
- Ages 12+
- Not yet played by people
9 hours from brief to print files: 16 versions tested by bots, 43 painted cards and 4 decisions by Kheeladi.
A few lines from Kheeladi.
A short, simple race with action cards: funny, familiar things that happen to exam aspirants or that they play on each other, so players have fun and learn how preparing really works.
For students in or near the JEE years, and the families who lived those years beside them.
Three different games, one chosen.
Each starts from a different way to play, so the choice is real.
One More Chapter
Flip chapters from the shared Syllabus to push your pawn toward the exam gate, and shout "one more chapter!" until a second Distraction of the same kind lands on your desk and burns you out.
Study or Stunt
Every card has two faces: STUDY walks your pawn toward the exam gate, STUNT pulls a prank on a rival ("Sharma aunty asks your rank: a rival steps back 2"), and you can use only one.
Plan Reveal
Everyone secretly picks a plan for the day, all turn them over together, and the cards resolve in order, each one reacting to what the others chose ("Cricket Final: every sprinter stands still").
Rules into code, then bots
The studio changed one thing at a time over 16 versions. 33 of its 35 checks now pass.
- Seats are fair within 4 points.
- A look-ahead bot beats random bots at every count.
- 0 to 3% of decisions are dead.
- 2 players
- 8 min
- 3 players
- 11 min
- 4 players
- 14 min
- 5 players
- 17 min
- 6 players
- 20 min
Estimated from bot games; people take longer.
AI players read the rules
First-timers, a rules-lawyer, a teacher, a student and a parent, in two rounds. Every place the rules could be read two ways was rewritten. Their fun score is a model’s view, not a person’s.
9 readings by Claude and GPT found 13 gaps in the rules, and every one was fixed. The readers scored it 6 out of 10 for fun, and every one would play again.
5 looks, painted. Kheeladi chose one.
OMR sheet on a notice board: an exam answer sheet, photocopied and pinned up.
43 cards from the exam years
Tap a card to see it large.
Pranks 9
- Aunty Asks Your Rank
- Sharma Ji Ka Beta
- Fee Hike Notice
- Surprise Chapter Test
- Relatives Come To Stay
- Wedding Season
- Neighbour's Karaoke Night
- Hostel Mess Special
- Cat On The Notes
Swaps 5
- Topper's Notes
- Photocopy Shop
- Leaked Paper Rumour
- Back-Bench Whispers
- Borrowed Highlighter
Table moments 8
- Holiday Declared
- Study Group
- Hostel Reunion
- Mess Roll Call
- Excuse Court
- Antakshari Break
- Lights Out
- Rank List On The Group Chat
Cramming 4
- All-Nighter
- Coaching Marathon
- Sunday Full Mock
- Lecture At 2x Speed
Rest 4
- Midnight Noodles
- Power Nap
- Revise Chapter 3. Again.
- Error Notebook
Phone 3
- Just One Reel
- One More Episode
- Cricket Final
React 4
- Earphones On
- Fake Phone Call
- Pretend To Be Asleep
- Chai At The Door
Student cards 6
- Student Card
- Student Card
- Student Card
- Student Card
- Student Card
- Student Card
Ready for the printer
CMYK card files with and without crop marks, print-and-play sheets for A4 and Letter, the rulebook as a booklet, and a calibration page to check the printer’s scale.
9 hours, 10 stages, 4 stops for a person.
- 11 Oct, 14:56
Brief
Capture the brief
- 11 Oct, 15:00
Concepts
Diverge, Three concept one-pagers, Kheeladi decides: concept
- 11 Oct, 15:54
Paper design
Rules v0, Cards and components
- 11 Oct, 16:00
Rules as code
Rules as code, Rules test
- 11 Oct, 16:06
Playtests
Bot playtests
- 11 Oct, 17:04
Balance
Balance loop
- 11 Oct, 17:49
AI table read
AI table read, Revise from the table read
- 11 Oct, 18:31
Visual style
Style directions and boards, Kheeladi decides: style, Style guide and anchors, Figma file and templates, Pilot, Kheeladi decides: pilot look
- 11 Oct, 21:54
Production
Art list, Paint, post-process and check every image, Build every component in Figma
- 11 Oct, 23:03
Delivery
Rulebook, documentation and playtest kit, Kheeladi decides: final, Export from Figma and make print files, Hand-off
What only people can tell us.
No human has played it. The fun, the length, and whether people laugh at the jokes are unproven.