This is a submission for the World's Largest Hackathon Writing Challenge: After the Hack.
Of all the hackathons I’ve jumped into, Toycathon’21 remains the one that changed how I build forever. Organized by the Government of India to boost Made in India toys and games, Toycathon challenged us to think differently — and celebrate our roots through play.
We didn’t settle for just one idea — we pitched two, and to our surprise, both were shortlisted for the finals. Twice the excitement, twice the workload!
The first idea was 5-in-1 Memory Builder — a set of simple yet powerful games designed for dementia patients and anyone wanting to sharpen their muscle memory. We wanted families — kids, adults, and seniors — to play together, rebuild memories, and train their brains every day through fun, interactive exercises.
- Early concepts for our 5-in-1 Memory Builder: designed to sharpen muscle memory through colorful tile games, card matches, and word games — fun for families, helpful for dementia care.
While Memory Builder was designed for health and bonding, our second idea — RamG — tapped into cultural storytelling. We wanted kids to live the Ramayana not just by watching or reading, but by playing it one chapter at a time. Every level continued the story: solve a puzzle, match characters, watch scenes come alive, and unlock Sanskrit shlokas explained in Hindi. It was our way of blending gaming with ancient wisdom.
For RamG, we built an Android prototype using Flutter and Firebase. The first level turned iconic Ramayana scenes into jigsaw puzzles. The next matched characters with their names. We even added short animated videos and a final section where players could hear Sanskrit verses with easy explanations — learning through play.
- Snapshots from RamG: puzzles, character matches, Sanskrit shlokas — turning the Ramayana into a fun, playable story.
My role spanned app development, market research, and competitor analysis — figuring out what exists, what’s missing, and how we could stand apart. We found there were hardly any games combining cultural epics, interactive chapters, and authentic shlokas. That became our USP.
In the end, RamG won us Toycathon’21. Our college printed posters celebrating our win, but the real prize was bigger:
I learned how to build quickly under pressure, how to blend design, tech, and culture into something meaningful, and how to present an idea so that anyone — even a non-gamer — could see its value. I also learned the power of teamwork, the importance of validating an idea before building, and how the right story can make even complex ideas feel simple and relatable.
These lessons still guide every project I take on — solving real problems, blending fresh ideas with bold execution, and always asking: What if we made this fun?
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