6 days ago, /u/indiangamesthrowaway asked this question that was never answered. I think it is a great question which is why I'm reposting it.
Here's the text of the original post:
From my research I have found Chaupar and a few others. However, these games appear to be adult/gambling games. I am trying to have a child character in a stage musical play a historically accurate game. So the more visually appealing it is, the better. Thanks!
You'd have to be more specific about which part of India you're asking about, and also the age and gender of the kids.
Couple of games played mostly by boys in India since ancient times include kabaddi and gillidanda. By "ancient times" I mean there are written records going back 2,000 - 2,500 years, and the games are still very popular.
Kabaddi is a team sport, lots of wrestling and grappling involved. It's mostly played by older boys and young men.
Gillidanda is the precursor of games like cricket and baseball. It's played with two sticks - a long one which is used as a bat to hit with, and a short one, which is used as the ball. The short stick is shaped like a spindle, with a fat center and narrow ends. You strike an end with the bat, which spins the spindle into the air. While it's airborne, you hit it again as hard as you can.
The other team has fielders who try to catch it and bring it back, meanwhile the hitter scores by running to markers, like you run across the pitch in cricket or to the plates or bases in baseball.
Like I said, both games have a provenance going back over a couple thousand years in India. They were played in all parts of India, but regional names vary. The names I mentioned are north Indian, from the Hindi belt. You can check the internet for whatever region you're interested in.
For girls' games, there is a version of hopscotch that has a similarly long history (at least in UP and Uttaranchal, going back 2-3 thousand years.