Magic: The Gathering is a trading card game in which players build decks from collectible cards and battle with spells and creatures. It was designed by mathematician Richard Garfield, who was inspired by Dungeons & Dragons and an earlier game idea called Five Magics. The breakthrough came when Garfield, hiking near Multnomah Falls in Oregon, imagined the concept as collectible colour-themed cards, so each player could build a customised deck. Wizards of the Coast agreed to publish it, and the game launched in August 1993. It sold out at Gen Con that year and printed over a billion cards by the end of 1994, spawning a whole family of similar games.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.