Afief Yona Ramadhana

I loved playing chess when I was a kid. I had a chess set and often take it to my grandma’s house, which had a pretty big front yard. I’d sit there, waiting to see if any of my friends playing outside so I could invite them to join me in a chess game. Back then, video games and mobile phones weren’t popular, so kids spent a lot of time playing outside, which was a lot of fun.

As I grew older and moved to the city, I learned that chess is considered a board game. The same goes for Monopoly and Ludo, which I also used to play a lot. Now that I have a daughter, I feel it’s my responsibility to introduce her to some board games, so she doesn’t only know games on Nintendo Switch and iPad.

Earlier this year, I took her to a board game cafe nearby. That’s when I realized there are so many other board games beyond just Chess, Ludo, and Monopoly, and they’re fun too. Most of the games there are for older kids and adults, but there were still plenty of games for kids, and they were a lot of fun.

To my surprise, she loved it. Sometimes she even ask when we’ll go back to play board games again, and I often take her. We’ve also visited other board game spots together a few times and bought some to play at home almost every day.

And it didn’t stop there. Playing board games with my daughter was so enjoyable that I started exploring more advanced games. It led me to invite some friends to join in. Now, we’ve almost made it a regular thing to play board games together.