Nostragamus: A Prophetic Driving Force

NOSTRAGAMUS:

A PROPHETIC DRIVING FORCE

WORDS BY MRINAL GUJARE

Iam sure most of us know who Nostradamus was. But for the benefit of those who don’t, he was a French astrologer, physician and also a reputed ‘seer.’ This well-known persona also wrote a book called Les Prophéties. Channeling his quality of foresight and a play on his name is Nostragamus–a platform which started off as a news site with sports coverage but has now turned into a gaming app. Shortly after turning into a gaming app, Nostragamus introduced us to NostraRummy and rummy lovers around the country have enjoyed getting their hands on it. Gutshot got in touch with co-founder & CMO of Nostragamus, Deepak Venkatramani, to know what he envisages for Nostragamus going forward.

WHAT ASPECTS OF THE REAL-MONEY GAMING INDUSTRY ATTRACTED YOU THE MOST?

Being a real-money gamer myself, I know the first-hand thrill when I make intelligent plays and there are so many tactics that can be used to beat the opposition. It is truly a game of skill and when one has mastered it, it is a visceral experience. The attraction for me is to

deliver that thrill to millions of players in India in a simple and fair way. Few experiences in life match that.

ARE THERE ANY GAMES THAT YOU PERSONALLY PREFER TO PLAY?

I personally love to play Pool Rummy. It is a game of intelligence, doesn’t have the extreme highs and lows of poker and I don’t need to wait for the match schedule to start a game.

WHAT IS THE VISION WITH RESPECT TO NOSTRA RUMMY?

Primarily, the idea is to create a vibrant gaming arena which offers many choices for players in terms of not just skilled games, but also game plays at any time of the day. In addition, we want to deliver this in a fair and entertaining way with no hidden costs.

We also recognize that players just like the game want to get better and we want to help them do that. These principles will help us become one of the top three preferences for players to play rummy in India.

WHAT KIND OF ACTIVITIES DOES NOSTRA RUMMY UNDERTAKE TO INCREASE USER ENGAGEMENT?

We do a variety of things like offering bonuses in a simple way to reduce the risk factor of a hit on the player’s pocket. Our bonuses can be used without any hassles. There is no locked bonus, or bonus released in chunks of 50; you get the bonus and you can start using it immediately without any limit.

We reward gameplays with leaderboards, which give you an additional way to make winnings, even if you have lost individual games. These leaderboards are based around a variety of criteria–hands played, total points generated in a day, number of pure sequences made with more than five cards, etc.

We also incentivize players to start playing every day. Further, we will be live with an in-game store shortly to reward long-term loyalty with cool merchandise and experiences. We aim to disburse INR 1 Crore in leaderboard winnings in April 2021.

WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK ON THE RECENT BANS AND THE NEW GUIDELINES BY NITI AAYOG?

Official regulation is the need of the hour in the real-money gaming industry. This will add trust in the minds of the players with respect to serious operators. This will also stop a host of unfair practices deployed by the non-serious players, whose only objective is to maximize money in the shortest time possible.

The state bans are unfortunate. We hope this heightens the seriousness with which the traditional operators treat the situation and speed up the path towards regulation.

We hope with this interview, the players will look for real-money operators who are providing its users the best in-class experience with respect to the product offering. And not to forget that a unified and fair regulation will put this industry in top gear.