Playing indoors is the new normal. Thanks to the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent 18-hour lockdown, playing outdoor games is strictly prohibited.
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With educational institutions shut and examinations put off, playing indoor games has turned out to be the favourite pastime for many. And this has shot up the sales of equipment pertaining to the indoor games. With the demand soaring, sports dealers are running out of stocks.
Carrom board, chess board, ludo, housie, and trump cards are much sought after. Though the sale of shuttlecocks and racquets too picked up, it is not on the lines of indoor games equipment, say several shopkeepers. And, there are no takers for cricket kits at all, they add.
Dealers who usually sell four or five chess boards per day are selling about 15 now. Similarly, housie sales range between 10 and 20 pieces per day. The sale of racquets is not less than 30 daily, they say.
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The sale of carrom boards has almost doubled to about 10 to 15 pieces a day, said Gautham Reddy and Murali Krishna of Lakshmi Ganapathi Sports Planet. “The sale of indoor games equipment has picked up. But business is as usual as there are no institutional sales (schools and colleges). Prices have been increased by 5%. People are buying housie, ludo, snakes and ladder, and carrom boards,” says D. Srinivas Rao, a shopkeeper at Gandhi Nagar.
“Stocks have almost exhausted, and we are unable to meet the demand. Supplies from Kolkata, Meerut and Jalandhar have either come down, or stopped due to lockdown,” says Thimmaya of General Sports, one of the oldest shops located in the Gandhi Nagar area. The price of a chess board ranges between ₹100 and ₹2,000, while a carrom board is priced anywhere between ₹1,000 and ₹10,000.
“Indoor games have become the popular means of entertainment now. The price doesn’t matter,” says Vijayanand, who has purchased carrom and chess boards for his children.