Jeewanu : From a forgotten experiment to a tabletop laboratory

Jeewanu - Board Game

The question “How did life originate on Earth?” has fascinated scientists and philosophers for centuries. As part of a special edition of the Archives Public Lecture Series, this enduring mystery was explored through an extraordinary confluence of ideas, history, and design. The event brought together a reflection by Prof Vidyanand Nanjundiah on the origins of life, an introduction to the scientific history of Jeewanu and contemporary work in Dr. Shashi Thutupalli’s lab, and the launch and walkthrough of archival papers belonging to Dr Krishna Bahadur and S. Ranganayaki, the co-discoverers of Jeewanu.

It was an evening that moved seamlessly between past and present—between speculation and experiment—inviting the audience to reconsider how life-like processes might emerge from non-living matter.

Dr Shashi Thutupalli explaining the Jeewanu experiment at NCBS

The forgotten story of Jeewanu

The story at the heart of the event is as audacious as it is poignant. In a small chemistry lab in Allahabad in the 1950s, Krishna Bahadur and Ranganayaki asked a deceptively simple question: Can particles of life grow out of ordinary, non-living chemicals? They mixed clear solutions of simple molecules—sources of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, and molybdenum—into what appeared to be a lifeless abiotic soup and exposed it to sunlight.

What followed was unexpected. Tiny spheres appeared, grew, and multiplied, filling the liquid with a new microscopic world. Bahadur named them Jeewanu, Sanskrit for “particles of life.” Initially, the results caused a stir. But as others struggled to reproduce the experiments, scepticism grew. Accusations of contamination and methodological flaws followed, and over time, the work was sidelined and largely erased from mainstream scientific narratives.

Decades later, with modern tools such as advanced microscopy and mass spectrometry, scientists returned to this overlooked trail. They found that simple chemical mixtures could indeed self-organise into protocell-like compartments—structures that grow, change shape, and host rich internal chemistry. Whether these entities can be called “alive” remains an open question, but the Jeewanu story has re-emerged as a fertile ground for inquiry, curiosity, and debate.

Turning a scientific question into a shared experience

It was during a playful internal discussion at Tacit—on discovering this remarkable story—that an idea took shape: What if this experiment could be experienced, not just explained? That question led to the design of Jeewanu, a co-operative board game developed in close collaboration with the Jeewanu Lab at NCBS (National Centre for Biological Sciences).

Designed over the course of a year, the game was created through sustained engagement with Dr. Shashi Thutupalli, carefully studying the scientific, historical, and experimental nuances of Jeewanu. The aim was not simplification, but translation—finding a way to simulate the experience of scientific work rather than merely its outcomes.

Inside the game: science as collaboration, uncertainty, and play

In Jeewanu, players step into the roles of scientists in a modern laboratory: principal investigators, collaborators, postdocs, PhD students, interns, technicians, and even an AI robot. Together, they attempt to recreate, test, and extend the original Jeewanu experiments—on the tabletop rather than at the bench.

The game is deliberately co-operative. All players win or lose together, mirroring the collective nature of real scientific research. Players must manage resources, design experiments, respond to constraints, and fend off real-world threats and sly saboteurs that can derail their work. Across four narrative episodes, players:

• Stumble upon the accidental recreation of mysterious blue droplets and crystals,

• Flash back to the time of Bahadur and Ranganayaki, learning how they worked under pressure and doubt,

• Return to the present to identify the conditions that reliably yield Jeewanu, and

• Leap into the future to explore whether more life-like protocells can be deliberately designed.

The mechanics—co-operation, deck collection, and traitor dynamics—were refined through extensive play-testing with lab experts, PhD students, laboratory practice specialists, and experienced gamers. Each iteration helped balance scientific fidelity with engaging gameplay.

A different way of doing science communication

Jeewanu is not a teaching aid in the conventional sense. It is an invitation to think like a scientist—to experience uncertainty, collaboration, failure, persistence, and wonder. By turning a real scientific puzzle into a shared, playful experience, the game opens up new ways of engaging with deep scientific questions, making them accessible without making them trivial.

Tacit is deeply proud to have collaborated with Jeewanu Lab and NCBS on this project. The game was presented as part of the Archives Public Lecture Series event, alongside reflections on the history, revival, and future of Jeewanu, grounding play firmly in scholarship and archival memory.

Availability

Jeewanu is being published in limited numbers. Those interested in owning a copy can leave their phone number and address to register their interest.👉

Click the link to submit your interest and be part of this ongoing scientific story.

At its core, Jeewanu—both the experiment and the game—asks the same enduring question: Where does life begin? And perhaps just as importantly, it reminds us that science itself often begins with curiosity, courage, and the willingness to play with ideas.

Team

Game Design : Aditi Bathija, Kiran Kulkarni

Visual Design : Tanya Kumar, Sindhu Kulkarni

NCBS content team : Nayan Chakraborty, Dr. Shashi Thutapalli