Game talk: Game developers Timothy Istianto (from left), Boy Dozan and William Davis introduce their board game, Monas Rush, in a bookstore in Jakarta.

To his playmates, teacher and self-confessed board game lover Sandi Ginanjar introduced his new “friends”: Marco the tiger, Bin-Bin the rhino, Gomu the octopus, Elizabeth the orangutan, Olly the paradise bird and Abud the Komodo dragon.

The six are characters in a card game named Monas Rush, recently launched in a bookstore in West Jakarta.

“It is very exciting, but it is actually a bit complicated. Strategy is needed. Without it, we cannot reach the top,” said 26-year-old Sandi after playing the game for the first time.  

Monas Rush is a card game for two to six players who compete to help the six animal characters quickly climb the National Monument (Monas) to grab gifts, including gold, which is the biggest prize at the peak, with many challenges to tackle along the race.

Representing the country’s six big islands, the six animal characters were created to show the diversity in Indonesia, home to more than 300 ethnic groups, from the Sabang in Aceh to the Merauke in Papua.

In a city named Hewanesia, gym trainer Marco the Sumatran tiger lives with former wrestler Bin the Javanese rhino, ninja Gomu the octopus from North Sulawesi; cheerleader Elizabeth the orangutan from Kalimantan, policewoman Olly the cendrawasih bird of paradise from Papua and magician Abud the Komodo dragon from East Nusa Tenggara.       

“There is only one winner who can get the gold, but to reach the peak, the players have to team up,” said visual director Timothy Istianto, one of four creators of Monas Rush. The others are illustrator William Davis and game designers Boy Dozan and Nikko Soetjoadi.

The idea for making Monas Rush came from a local traditional game called panjat pinang (pole climbing), usually played during the country’s Independence Day celebrations on Aug. 17.

“Panjat pinang teaches us about the importance of unity because to reach the same goal, we have to team up. Through Monas Rush, we want to deliver the same message,” Timothy said.

Play hard: Bookstore visitors play the Monas Rush board game during its launch in Jakarta.

Climbing the National Monument (Monas) is no less exciting than hunting Pokémon.

For Monas Rush’s creators, togetherness and mutual cooperation matter because according to them, people in Jakarta tend to be more individualistic and they turn a blind eye to its massive problems, such as traffic congestion and floods.  

For example, Timothy said people still dump thrash into the city’s rivers and traffic congestion remains unsolved because they are reluctant to leave their cars and motorcycles at home and use public transportation instead.

They have also raised concern over the rising selfish behavior of motorists on the city’s roads that potentially triggers traffic accidents.

“I see the level of care among people is low now because here in Jakarta, the pressure of life is so high,” said Timothy, who comes from Surabaya in East Java.

As seen in the panjat pinang game, he said working together is an original characteristic of Indonesians his team wants to revive through Monas Rush. “We want to bring panjat pinang into the world of board games. Not everyone can play panjat pinang, right? Women, for example. But in this game, all can play.”

Timothy, William, Boy and Nikko got to know each other when in May 2015, they took part in the first Board Game Challenge (BCG), a competition that aimed to revive board games amid the rapid development of online and digital games.

Held by Kompas daily and Bandung-based game design and consultant company Kummara, the competition produced 24 new prototypes of board games, including Monas Rush, which failed to become the top three but was named the favorite winner.

For Boy, who is also the founder of game developer Joyseed Gametribe, board games have become part of his life because he has played them since he was an elementary school student when Snakes and Ladders was his first game.

“Basically, I love playing. When I was a kid, the games that I knew were Monopoly, Snakes and Ladders, chess and Scrabble,” said Boy, who has created three board games since he was studying visual communications design in Petra University in Surabaya.

He said that board games and digital games, such as Pokémon GO, have different strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, it was not necessary to know which one was better.

“I think Pokémon GO gives us interesting social experiences because we have to go outside to play it,” says Boy, who believes that games contain important values.  

He said In Indonesia, the game board industry has started to grow because new game developers take interest in such games and people warmly welcome their work.

Before Monas Rush, BGC’s winners, namely Waroong Wars and Pagelaran Yogyakarta, were launched last year and they passed with flying colors, according to Kompas marketing general manager Titus Kitot.

“Within three months, the sales of Waroong Wars and Pagelaran Yogyakarta already reached our target,” he said, adding the board games Kompas produced were not merely interesting, but they had to contain educational values.

In the era of digital world, Titus is optimistic about the future of board games because direct interaction among players is one of their strengths, which digital and online games do not have.

Private employee Lestyo Haryanto, who attended the game launch, said he has loved board games since he was little – unlike his nephews who are hooked on digital games they play on their smartphones, ignoring their surroundings and other people in the process.

The 42-year-old bought the game Pagelaran to attract his nephews’ attention at home, but to no avail. “I hope this game (Monas Rush) succeeds.”           

— Photos by A. Kurniawan Ulung

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