A local board game that promotes unity in diversity has been officially launched at Gramedia Central Park in West Jakarta on Sunday.

Named Monas Rush, the card-based game is set in Hewanesia city and requires two to six players to race against each other to climb the National Monument (Monas) and take the gold at the peak. During the race, there are many challenges and rules that will make or break contenders. The winner is the player who gets the gold first and reaches the highest score.

When The Jakarta Post tried to play the strategy-oriented game, it seemed complicated at first but became more and more exciting the longer we played.

(Read also: Creative Smarts: Back to the (playing) board)

“It's fun, though more complicated than playing dominos,” said Rheza, who has been playing board games for more than five years. “The more people playing it, the merrier it will be. However, some of the symbols still confuse me, especially when there are a lot of cards involved.”

Mainly inspired by local traditional game panjat pinang (pole climbing), Monas Rush requires players to work together to reach the top. “Similar to panjat pinang, there's only a single winner, but in order to reach the peak, they need to help each other,” said visual director Timothy Istianto, adding that one player had to help the people above them retrieve the prize at the summit.

Each player in Monas Rush is represented by six characters from different islands in Indonesia: Marco the Sumatran tiger, Bin Bin the Javanese rhino, Gomu the mimicking octopus from North Sulawesi, Elizabeth the orangutan from Kalimantan, Olly the cendrawasih bird from Papua, and Abud the komodo dragon from East Nusa Tenggara. “Our message is, despite all the differences, as long as we work together, we can achieve one purpose,” said lead game designer Boy Dozan.

Created by Timothy, Boy, illustrator William Davis and game designer Nikko Setjoadi, Monas Rush was introduced during the Board Game Challenge last year, using the name “Panjat Jakarta” (Climbing Jakarta). It was named a favorite champion among a total of five winners at the event and is currently available in Gramedia stores throughout Java with a starting price of Rp 180,000 (US$13).

When asked about the upcoming project, the company revealed plans to develop a comedy comic edition available for free on social media, which would further explore the characters in Hewanesia. (kes)

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