Sunita's Stock Match

A morning card game that tells Sunita which items on her shelves are about to turn, so she sells them instead of throwing them.

Who this is for

Sunita Kamble runs Kamble Kirana on a lane in Ichalkaranji, a shop the width of two doors, with a small fridge for curd, paneer and milk packets and four shelves of biscuits, namkeen and masala. She opens at seven. The moment that matters is ten to seven, when the shutter is half up and the tea is boiling and she is sitting on the step with nothing to do for six minutes.

How the job is done today

There is no system. The bread man takes back what did not sell, so bread is safe. Everything else Sunita finds out about the hard way, usually when a customer turns a packet over at the counter and reads the date aloud to her. Then she takes it back, says something about the company, and drops it in the sack behind the rice tin. Twice last month it was paneer, which hurts more than biscuits. She does check the fridge when she remembers, but she remembers on the days that are already slow.

The screens, in order

1. My Shelves — A one-time sit-down where Sunita tells the app what she actually keeps, roughly when each lot came in, and how long that kind of thing normally lasts in her shop.
2. Morning Round — The game itself, where item cards come one at a time and she sorts each into sell today, move to the front, or still fine.
3. Today's Push — The short list that falls out of the round, with a suggested price cut, so she knows what to keep near the counter and mention to whoever walks in.
4. Evening Tick — Three taps at closing to say what went, which is where the points actually come from.
5. Sunday Page — One page showing what she cleared in time this week and what still went into the sack, so the game has a memory.

What it keeps track of

• What I stock — the item, a picture, where it sits in the shop, how long it normally keeps, whether the supplier takes it back
• Lots that came in — which item, how many, which day it arrived, from whom
• Morning rounds — which day, which cards came up, what she chose for each
• Today's push — the item, the price cut she picked, and whether it sold by closing

The one decision that matters

Does the round run on a clock or not. A countdown makes it feel like a real game, and a fast tapping round is easier to make addictive. But Sunita reads slowly, in Marathi and English both, and her mother-in-law minds the shop some afternoons. A clock would turn the one useful part, actually looking at the card and thinking about the fridge, into a thing to rush past. So no clock anywhere. The round is a fixed ten cards and it waits. To keep it a game and not a chore, points come from the evening tick, from things having sold, not from how fast she sorted. That way a slow careful player scores higher than a fast careless one, which is also true in the shop.

What to leave out of the first version

Leave out counting stock. No barcode scanning, no quantity on hand, no adjusting numbers when something sells. The moment she has to tell it she has fourteen packets of Marie and now thirteen, it stops being six minutes on the step and becomes accounting, and she will stop. Approximate arrival dates on the lots she cares about are enough to make the cards useful.

How you would know it worked

A month in, Sunita opens it before anything reminds her, while the tea is still on. And the sack behind the rice tin has curd and paneer in it less often than it used to.

Build it

Paste this in and let it run.

I run a kirana store and I want a small game to play every morning while my tea boils. First let me tell it once what I keep on my shelves with a photo for each, things like curd, paneer, milk packets, bread, biscuits, namkeen and masala, and roughly when the last lot came in and how many days that thing usually keeps. Then every morning show me about ten item cards, one at a time, big picture and big name, and I put each one into sell today, move to the front, or still fine. Please no timer at all, I read slowly and my mother-in-law also plays it. At the end give me one short list of what to push with a suggested price cut, and at closing let me tick what actually sold in three taps. Give me points for things that sold in time, not for tapping fast. On Sunday show me one page of what I saved this week.