If we trace back the history of the game, we'll see that after a few generations, it will seem absolutely different, and that epoch is that of the 1950s cotton rates. The evolution from the real rates transmission from New York to Bombay until nowadays' random three-digit Patti system of Kolkata FF is definitely underestimated. We at fatafatkolkata.net tried to reconstruct the history of this process in order to give you, newbies, an idea of the origins of your favorite game.
Phase 1: Cotton Rate Epoch
Everything in early 1950s was extremely simple: the bets were made on the opening and closing rates of the cotton which were being transmitted directly from the New York Cotton Exchange to the Bombay Cotton Exchange by the means of teleprinters. No charts, no Patti, no Baji concept at all. It was two numbers per day in the morning and in the evening, and these were the betting digits. The game was totally dependent on the real international commodity market, which distinguishes it from all other modern versions of the game.
Phase 2: Matka Pot Improvisation
The year 1961 comes, and the New York Cotton Exchange closes, and the whole Bombay betting network has to reinvent itself. Ratan Khatri, aka Matka King, intervenes and invents something which was later to be named matka: drawing the numbers from the large earthen pot that literally means 'matka' in Hindi. Numbers were being written on small chits, thrown into the pot and one person was picking up the chit and declaring the winning number. Over time the system evolves and becomes more simple: the numbers were being drawn from three playing cards, which was much faster and more credible to the betting community.
Phase 3: Random Number Epoch
The game becomes fully random number oriented in the 1970s and 1980s. The link with the cotton rates is totally lost, and the game is being developed on the basis of three-digit number generation. The player was making the bet on three-digit 'Patti', and the sum of these numbers is becoming the single-digit winning number. This scheme is being used in the modern Kolkata Fatafat. The random number system was more convenient because the organizers were not dependent on the external market or any live events to make the draw and the number of the draws per day increases.
Phase 4: Kolkata Adaption
There was its own betting culture developing in the city of Kolkata through the 60s and 70s, and when the random number version of the game appears in the city, it gets its own adaption too. The most distinctive feature is the speed of the draws. Bombay-style matka was being drawn twice a day, and the Kolkata players demand more frequent rounds. That's why the name 'Fatafat' (fast) and the modern format of 8 daily Bajis with results every 1.5 hours appear. There is no link with the global commodity markets anymore, the rates are being generated internally from the draws of numbers, and everything becomes the Bengali street culture.
Phase 5: Digital Age
We jump to the 2010s, and the game goes online almost overnight. Websites for the results, Telegram channels, WhatsApp groups, mobile-friendly result pages – the whole game ecosystem migrates online. Players don't need to come to the counter to know the results anymore; and fatafatkolkata.net updates the results of each Baji in minutes. The connection with the cotton rates is lost very far in the past already, and there is only the fast, decentralized and internet-powered version of the game that was once being run with teleprinters and earthen pots.
Conclusion
The transition from the Bombay cotton rates to the modern random number version of the game Kolkata Fatafat is indeed a 70+ years-long process of improvisations, localization and adaptation to new technologies. The game survived thanks to the adaptation of each generation to their needs, and this is the true story of the success of this game in Bengal. Remember always that it is just the pure luck-based entertainment.
