- Set-up
- About 5 min
- Reading
- Some
The quick verdict
Full verdict ↓Great for Children of 6 to 12 learning India's states and capitals for school: naming a capital from memory earns an extra move
Think twice if You need a map that matches today's India: the copies we could see still show Jammu & Kashmir as one state and no Ladakh
How we rate it
Learning curve. Spin, drive, buy or sell: each turn is simple, and the extra rules (the seller's re-spin, naming capitals, breakdowns) are easy to pick up after a round. It is lighter than Business, close to Monopoly Junior on our scale.
Luck & skill. The Travel dial decides how far you go and the Money dial decides prices, so luck runs the game. Your choices are which product to chase, when to make a buyer re-spin, and whether to chase a broken-down truck's cargo.
Interaction. You buy from each other, sellers can force a re-spin, and you can grab a stuck rival's cargo, but there's no direct attacking.
Set-up. The first time, fit the arrows and pegs onto the two dials on the box insert. After that, set-up is dealing out the play money, drawing three state cards each to place product discs, and drawing a starting state for each truck: about 5 minutes.
Reading. State, union territory and chance cards carry English text, and the game rewards knowing capitals. An adult can read cards aloud for younger players.
Learning curve: 1 = UNO or Connect 4; 3 = Catan; 5 = a heavy strategy game. These describe the experience, not an overall score.
Is Game of the States right for you?
Great if
- Children of 6 to 12 learning India's states and capitals for school: naming a capital from memory earns an extra move
- Family evenings with grandparents who love quizzing children on where Jaipur or Shillong is
- Children who enjoy Business-style money handling: buying, selling, haggling over a second spin and making change
- School holidays, when the state cards can also be used on their own as a quiz for any number of players
Skip it if
- You need a map that matches today's India: the copies we could see still show Jammu & Kashmir as one state and no Ladakh
- Older children want real strategy: a spinner decides how far you drive and what you earn
- Nobody at the table can read English cards aloud for younger players
How Game of the States plays
Set-up: each player takes a truck (red, blue, green or yellow) and three product discs of the same colour. One person is the Broker/Banker, who looks after the bank's money and buys delivered goods. Everyone starts with 50,000 in play money, in eight 5,000 notes and ten 1,000 notes, and the bank can write cheques in pencil if notes run out. Each player draws three state cards and puts a product disc on each of those states (a union territory card is put back and redrawn). A fourth card shows where your truck starts.
- Time to teach: about 10 minutes.
- Reading and language: The board, the state and union territory cards and the chance cards are in English. Each state card lists the capital, population, area, places of interest and products, and one rule asks you to name a state's capital from memory. Children who are still learning to read can play with an adult reading the cards aloud, and the table talk can be in Hindi or any language.
How to play Funskool GAME OF THE STATES boardgame in Hindi · Trish Air
Choose a video · Watch right here
If this creator doesn’t allow embedded playback, watch on YouTube ↗.
A turn, step by step
- 1Drive
Pick an opponent's product to go after, spin the Travel dial and drive that many states, crossing only into neighbouring states.
- 2Buy
On arrival, choose one of that state's products and spin the Money dial for its price. The seller may make you spin once more, and that price stands.
- 3Deliver
The seller draws your delivery state; name its capital to move a step at once. Sell the product to the Banker there for another spin of the Money dial.
- 4Win
When every product disc has been bought and sold, the player with the most money wins.
The full explanation: how a game of Game of the States goes
On your turn, choose an opponent's product disc to go after, spin the Travel dial and drive that many states towards it. You may move in any direction, even diagonally, as long as each state touches the last one, and you stop when you arrive even if you have moves left. Andaman & Nicobar can only be reached from Tamil Nadu, and Lakshadweep only from Kerala.
When you reach the state, pick one of its products from the pictures on the board and that state's card, then spin the Money dial for the price. If the seller doesn't like the figure, they can make you spin again, and the second price stands. Load the disc into your truck. The seller then draws a state card that becomes your delivery state; name its capital without looking at the board and you move one state straight away. At the delivery state you sell to the Banker for a spin of the Money dial (you may spin once more, but must take the second figure).
The Travel dial can also land on Break Down, Flat Tyre or Out of Diesel, which ends your turn with your truck on its side. While you're stuck, a rival who reaches your state can take your cargo by paying you a flat 2,000. Border Check sends you to the chance cards. Once all the opponents' discs are gone, you can collect your own disc for free and deliver it, and each player pays you 2,000. When every disc has been bought and sold, the player with the most money wins.
Tips: keep the state cards handy and read out a fact or two as you travel, since that's where most of the learning happens. For a quicker game, or for more children than trucks, the rules suggest a State Quiz: one person asks questions from the cards, such as which state Jaipur belongs to, and whoever collects the most cards wins.
What's in the box
- 1Gameboard
map of India with the states and union territories, product pictures on each state and a dotted sea route to the islands - 29State cards
each lists the capital, population, area, places of interest and products - 6Union territory cards
- 10Chance cards
drawn when the Travel dial lands on Border Check - 4Delivery trucks
red, blue, green and yellow - 16Product discs
four in each truck colour; each player uses three - –Play money
5,000 and 1,000 notes - 20Cheques
for when the notes run out; fill in the amount in pencil - 2Spinner dials
the Travel dial and the Money dial, printed on the box insert - 2Spinner arrows
- 2Pegs
fix the arrows to the dials
Box: 1.02 kg. Handy to know for gifting and travel.
This list comes from the contents panel on Funskool's own photo of the box back (item 9571000), which also prints the full rules; the card details come from a December 2020 Hindi how-to video of the same box. That box is dated May 2015 and carries '© 2008 Funskool (India) Ltd'. You fit the arrows and pegs onto the two dials on the box insert before the first game. Without the play-money notes, the parts add up to 92, the figure the listing gives.
Where to buy
How to make sure you get a genuine copyEditions and the details worth checking.
What reviewers and players say
We found no independent review of Funskool's Indian edition. What exists is a detailed Hindi how-to video of the box and reviews of the American Game of the States. The Toy Insider praised the US edition in 2017 for teaching states and capitals through buying and selling, and for doubling as a card quiz. Funskool's version keeps that idea with India's states, capitals and products. The catch is the map: the copies we could see date from before 2019, and a spinner decides most of what happens.
What people love
- Children learn where states are, their capitals and what they produce while playing, not from a textbook
- Buying, selling and counting play money keeps younger children interested
- The state cards double as a quiz game for any number of players
Common complaints
- The map and cards in the copies we could see predate 2019: Jammu & Kashmir is one state and there's no Ladakh
- Spinners decide how far you move and what you're paid, so older children may find it repetitive
Based on 4 reviews and discussions
- Reference How to play Funskool GAME OF THE STATES boardgame in Hindi (Trish Air, December 2020) · YouTube - Trish Air
- Review Game of the States review (Stephanie Grassullo, March 2017) · The Toy Insider
- Reference Game of the States product page and box photos (Funskool, undated) · Funskool
- Reference Game of the States, 1987 US edition (catalogue record) · Osher Map Library
Summarised in our own words from the sources above. We don't use Amazon reviews or ratings.
More like Game of the States
Which game is the best fit?
Our picks if Game of the States isn't quite right.
Swipe to compare every game
| Compare the games.The details that make a difference. |
YOU’RE VIEWING
Game of the States
|
ANOTHER WAY TO PLAY
Business
|
ANOTHER WAY TO PLAY
Country Games
|
ANOTHER WAY TO PLAY
Ticket to Ride: First Journey
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Why consider it | This game Truck goods across India and learn every state and capital | A different fit India's favourite money game: spin or roll, buy and collect, with cities instead of states | A different fit Two quick Funskool card races about countries, capitals and continents | A different fit Another journey across a map for children from 6, with a little more planning |
| Players | 2–4 | 2–4 | 2–5 | 2–4 |
| Best with | 3-4 | 3-4 | 3-5 | 2-4 |
| Play time | 30–60 min | 1–2.5 hrs | 5–15 min | 15–30 min |
| Age | 6+ | 8+ | 7+ | 6+ |
| Rules | Easy | Medium | Easy | Easy |
| Indian edition | Available | Available | Available | Imported |
| On this page | Explore Business | Explore Country Games | Explore Ticket to Ride: First Journey |
More from Funskool
Another way into their collection.
Strike 4
Drop discs, block your rival and line up four first
Match & Move Memory
Remember where each picture hides and race your piece home
Snakes and Ladders
Climb the ladders, dodge the snakes, first to 100 wins
Chess
The two-player battle of wits that began in India as chaturanga
Housie (Tambola)
Strike off called numbers and shout first for lines and Full House
More roll-and-move games
Different games. A familiar kind of fun.
Monopoly
Roll, buy property, collect rent, and bankrupt everyone else
Monopoly Travel World Tour
Buy world destinations, stamp your travel goals, first to four wins
Monopoly Deluxe Edition
Classic Monopoly with wooden houses, ten tokens and a banker's tray
Monopoly Grab and Go
Buy, build and bankrupt on a small board that packs away
Business
India's own property game: buy cities, collect rent, build hotels
Also playable with two
For game nights with two players.
Monopoly Junior
Monopoly for little ones: one die, simple rules, half an hour
Monopoly Junior: Peppa Pig Edition
Monopoly Junior with Pig family tokens and places from Peppa's world
Snakes and Ladders
Climb the ladders, dodge the snakes, first to 100 wins
Kabaddi
Raid, tag and tackle in a two-player board game of kabaddi
Brass: Birmingham
Build canals, railways and industries across Industrial Revolution England
Questions people ask about Game of the States
Does Funskool's Game of the States show the new union territories like Ladakh?
Probably not. Funskool's own photo of the box back, dated May 2015, lists 29 state cards and 6 union territory cards, and in a December 2020 how-to video Jammu & Kashmir is still drawn as a state card. India has had 28 states and 8 union territories since January 2020, after Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh became union territories and Dadra and Nagar Haveli merged with Daman and Diu. We couldn't confirm whether Funskool's current print has been updated.
How do you play Game of the States?
Each player drives a truck around a map of India. You go to a state where an opponent has a product disc, buy one of that state's products for a spin of the Money dial, then deliver it to a state drawn from the cards and sell it to the bank. When all the products have been bought and sold, the richest player wins.
What age is Game of the States suitable for?
Funskool says 6 and up, for 2 to 4 players. Children of 6 or 7 can spin, drive and count money with a little help, while children of 8 to 12 get the most out of the capitals and state facts on the cards. The box contains small parts, so keep it away from children under 3.
Is Game of the States made in India?
Funskool gives India as the country of origin on its product page and names Funskool India Ltd, Chennai, as the manufacturer. It is Funskool's own game, not an imported one.
Can you play Game of the States as a quiz?
Yes. The rules include a State Quiz variant for any number of players: one person reads questions from the state cards, such as which state Jaipur belongs to, and a correct answer wins the card. Whoever collects the most cards wins.
Game facts
- Publisher
- Funskool
- In India
- Funskool (India) Ltd, Chennai, which makes and sells it
- Players
- 2–4
- Language
- Some English – The board, the state and union territory cards and the chance cards are in English. Each state card lists the capital, population, area, places of interest and products, and one rule asks you to name a state's capital from memory. Children who are still learning to read can play with an adult reading the cards aloud, and the table talk can be in Hindi or any language.
- Box size and weight
- 1.02 kg
Sources & photo creditsThe references behind this guide.
Facts on this page come from the publisher, the Indian maker or distributor, and the sources below. Photos are credited under each one.
- Funskool - Game of the States product page (item 9571000)
- How to play Funskool GAME OF THE STATES boardgame in Hindi (Trish Air, YouTube, December 2020)
- The Toy Insider - Game of the States review (US edition, March 2017)
- Osher Map Library - Game of the States (1987 US edition record)
- FirstCry - Funskool Game of the States