London (UK)/ Kolkata (IN), March 2008 - As custodians of the national currency, all banks are expected to ensure that counterfeit notes presented at any customer outlet are identified and removed from circulation. ICICI Bank, India's second largest, was keen to reduce the amount of counterfeit currency being passed through its counters, but it faced the challenge of training its new cashiers to identify security features and, at the same time, reduce the continual flow of fake bills.


While most cashiers relied on their instincts and a series of checks against security features, a lack of experience, large volumes of cash, and over-dependence on automated counting machines were resulting in a failure to identify all of the counterfeit money at the bank.

ICICI Bank approached Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) to design and develop a Serious Game using its innovative Game-based Learning Objects (GamBLsTM) methodology to communicate the importance of identifying and isolating all counterfeit currency presented at the bank's branches.

According to TIS's Chandra Shekhar Ghildiyal, "TIS's GamBLsTM methodology enables players to learn and practice concepts, allowing a transfer of knowledge to application. An engaging game structure, combined with apposite illustrations and graphics, creates an apt learning environment that has been shown to involve the learners up to four times more than during a classroom-based training session covering the same subject."

In the game, called Cash Detectives, the player takes on the role of an intelligence agent. The player's agency has to track down a terrorist outfit that uses counterfeit currency to finance its agenda. The introduction presents the player with a task that revolves around a generic-but-pressing issue: evoking patriotic fervor among the target audience. The time-bound game builds a sense of urgency and keeps players on the edge of their seats.

While the game is in progress, the player receives a series of messages about changes to the terrorists' mission, and each fake bank note detected takes the player closer to tracking down the terrorists.

Cash Detectives aims to train ICICI Bank staff in the three key identification criteria for counterfeit bills. The game allows players to learn up to fourteen security features of a genuine note, gain knowledge about tools to be used to ascertain their 'genuineness', and gain the experience to detect the absence of one or more of the security features instantly.

"The patriotic storyline helps the bank employees to understand the broader implications of passing counterfeit currency while they learn to identify the visual security features and appreciate the importance of their -˜currency gatekeeper' role", said Chandra Shekhar Ghildiyal, who leads game-based development at TIS.

"The menace of counterfeit currency and its consequences can only be countered through widespread awareness of the available security features and the ability to identify them. While posters at banks, ATM counters, and other strategic locations help spread awareness, a game like Cash Detectives motivates learners with a challenging, yet safe and risk-free environment to continuously practice and perfect their detection skills."