Senior Product Designer on
MPL Pro — Rummy
MPL Rummy Project cover.
Design Note
My team & I shaped key features that made MPL Rummy the platform's front-runner card game🥇. We crafted Player Profiles to boost trust perception🌱, designed IAP flows that maximize monetization💸, & introduced Daily Login mechanics for sustained engagement🔥. Building Trust, Driving Revenue & Keeping Players Hooked—One Card at a Time.
UX Design
Visual Design
Gaming
Client
Mobile Premier League
Industry
Real Money Gaming
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Primary Responsibilities
1. Product Strategy & Monetization Design: Monetization had to be opt-in and fun without making the game feel like a "pay-to-win" experience.
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2. Thematic & Visual Design:  Led the creative direction, incorporating cultural storytelling into the card pack illustrations.
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3. Tier System: Defined a tiered reward system that balanced player progression, engagement incentives, and monetization goals.
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4. Heuristic & Competitive Analysis: Studied retention mechanics in other real-money and F2P (free-to-play) games, applying learnings tailored to Rummy’s audience.
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5. UX & Interaction Design: Ensured the reward experience was seamless, celebratory, and intuitive, making daily logins feel rewarding, not forced.
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6. Trust: Built trust with KYC verification & win stats
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7. Fair play: Reinforced fairness by showcasing opponent stats & skill-based matchmaking
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8. Engaement: Drove cross-game engagement by showcasing other games played
Challenges
1. Monetization & Growth: Ensuring IAPs Felt Valuable Without Disrupting the core gameplay. Monetization had to be opt-in and fun, without making the game feel like a "pay-to-win" experience.
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2. Player Retention: Driving retention without making Daily Rewards a Grind, encouraging and instilling habitual play within both low-rollers (casual players) and high-stakes competitive players while reinforcing players to stay engaged in the game itself. Explore dynamic daily tasks that encourage diverse gameplay (e.g., trying new formats, competing in leaderboards) instead of repetitive login bonuses
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3. Fairplay Trust Perception: Designing for real-money gaming is challenging when it comes to building trust amongst a large player base with skepticism around bot play & unfair matchmaking leading to churn. Aligning the game integrity standards and ensuring players felt safe to engage in higher-stakes games.
The project has 3 Parts — 👇🏽 Tap to skip to a specific part here
Player Profile
Card Packs - IAPs
Daily Login
Project Impact 📈
16%
growth in player retention within six months of introducing IAPs.
8%
Revenue boost, contributing significantly to the product's monetization strategy
34%
Increased active user base, driven by improved engagement and personalization options.
Player Profile
In real-money gaming, trust is everything. Without a clear sense of who they’re up against, players can feel skeptical about fairness—leading to drop-offs and lower engagement. To address this, we introduced Player Profiles, a trust-building UX feature that made opponents feel more real and verifiable.
Final Player Profile
The design focused on quick-glance credibility—showcasing essential identifiers like verified status, gameplay history, and skill level. I wanted to ensure that players had access to relevant details, while the UI remained clean and non-intrusive. For the platform, it was a retention-driven design decision. A more transparent ecosystem meant higher player confidence, longer session times, and reduced churn. In short, the player profile wasn’t just a feature; it was a trust signal woven into the fabric of the MPL Rummy experience.
• Enhanced Trust & Credibility: The KYC verification badge adds an extra layer of security, reassuring players that they’re engaging with verified users.
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• Engagement Through Achievements: Showcasing win ratio, XP earned, and rummy streak gamifies the experience, encouraging retention and competitive spirit.
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• Cross-Promotion of Other Games: Featuring other games played (Call Break, etc.) subtly encourages users to explore different formats, increasing engagement across MPL’s ecosystem.
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• Personalized Skill Representation: Displaying a favorite format and professional status helps users identify skill levels and find worthy opponents.
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• Visually Hierarchical & Readable: The structured layout with clear icons and categories ensures quick readability without overwhelming the user.
Player Profile States
Only Rummy Players/New Players < X days
Only Rummy Players > X days
KYC Verified - WIn ratio & Favourite Format
PAN Verified - Win ratio & Winnings
KYX Pending - Only Win Ratio
Rummy Players Who Play Other Games
Wireframes & Options
Option 01
Option 02
Option 01
Option 02
Card Pack - IAPs
MPL Rummy, despite its strong user base, lacked customization options and missed out on a key aspects of player agency—the ability to personalize & make the game feel truly theirs. From a business standpoint, this also meant leaving revenue on the table, as competitors were already leveraging in-game assets for monetization.
Card Front & Back Design
Sketches
Refined Sketches by the Illustration Team
The Design Approach: Blending Cultural Relevance with Game Design Principles
Since Indian Rummy has a deeply rooted cultural significance, I designed card packs that resonated with our audience. I conducted a heuristic evaluation of existing competitors, assessing visual clarity, usability, and engagement triggers. A key insight? Players connect more with designs that feel familiar yet premium. From there, I conceptualized a set of cards inspired by India's royal heritage. I referenced the attire and symbolism of kings and queens across different regions (North, South, East, and West), ensuring that the designs were not only visually appealing but also culturally relevant and emotionally engaging.
Final Cards
The Final cards were made in collaboration with the lovely Illustration team at MPL at the time-
Siddant Geedh & Kunal Kirshna
Card Backs
Set Sequence Indicator
Daily Login
Engagement is currency—and the key to keeping players invested is habit formation. To encourage consistent play & ensure players felt rewarded at every touchpoint, we introduced Daily Login Rewards & Daily Tasks.
Goals
• Create a compelling reward structure that appeals to both low-rollers (casual players) and high-stakes competitors.
• Introduce an intrinsic motivation loop—where players log in not just for rewards but for a sense of progression.
• Enhance monetization by strategically offering in-game soft currency (tickets), cash bonuses, and exclusive format perks to drive retention and encourage participation in higher-stakes formats.
Wireframes
Resetting Logic
Components
Daily Login Widgets
Grand Reward & TFR Widgets
DM for Walkthrough
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