Written by: Idorenyin Akpabio
I grew up playing a few of the very popular boardgames available at the time: Monopoly, Scrabble, Ludo, Snakes & Ladders, etc. Later on when electronic games and video games took the center stage, boardgames were relegated to the back of the line.
Boardgames became very rare commodities in many homes (including ours), and in some, they were totally non existent.
But there’s this nostalgic feeling of warmth and human interaction in boardgames that video games lack; that feeling that makes you want to go back to the era where boardgames reigned supreme; thank God that feeling never died.
Arguably, it’s claimed that the boardgame market is currently bigger than the worldwide cereals market, and it’s growing. According to Bloomberg, the boardgame industry will grow to about $30 Billion by 2026
This is good news.
Although they’re still very huge markets in their own rights, we know that the American, European and Asian markets are currently saturated with boardgames. That leaves one major untapped, virgin market – Africa. Africa’s population of approximately 1.2 billion is a vast Blue Ocean. Unfortunately, everyone else seems to know this except Africans. Boardgames of different shapes and sizes, diverse colours and hues, with varying mechanics and objectives, fill our mall and supermarket shelves, but very few of those boardgames are Nigerian boardgames. There’s room for improvement.
Things are gradually changing for good.
To help change this narrative, AIDEEOLOGY GAMES was born and has already published its first game called INTERSTATE BOARDGAME. We birthed Aideeology Games with the vision to conceptualize, develop and produce fun, educative and very affordable made-in-Nigeria boardgames for the education and recreation of kids and adults alike. Our guiding principle is that our games must be fun, interactive, and must help players learn something about Nigeria or Africa.
Our flagship product, Interstate Boardgame, is a multi-player boardgame that engages and challenges the players’ general knowledge of the 36 States of Nigeria, in areas like History, Geography, Current Affairs, Sports, Security, Education etc.
I came up with the idea of Interstate when I realized that my young nephew didn’t enjoy learning Geography in school. I then tried to come up with something that would make learning about Nigeria more fun for him. What emerged after a few iterations over time became Interstate.
In less than a year since its release, Interstate is well accepted, and is already doing very well in the market. It is the first made-in-Nigeria boardgame to be sold in all Shoprite Stores nationwide (more retail chains coming soon). Interstate is very popular amongst kids and teenagers because it enhances co-learning, bonding, interaction and co-operation. Little wonder why a lot of schools across the country have adopted Interstate as a valuable learning tool for their students. Interesting to note, it is the only game these students are allowed to play in the classroom.
Apart from Interstate, Aideeology Games has many more boardgames and cardgames which are at different stages of development, and will be introduced to the market very soon. Worthy of mention is INTERSTATE AFRICA which will be released in December. With Interstate Africa, you get the same feeling of Interstate Nigeria on a continental level.
Thankfully, the Nigerian boardgame industry is growing. Nowadays, more made-in-Nigeria games are springing up. Nigeria and Africa-centric boardgames are being created. This is very encouraging, but a lot more needs to be done. I have to say, the African Boardgames Convention (AB Con) is a step in the right direction, because it will help throw more light on the industry and its potentials.
Interstate Boardgames will be on display at this year’s African Boardgames Convention (AB Con 2021) in December. Myself and Team #Aideeology will be there live in Abuja to welcome you and show you how it’s played. Be warned though, it’s very easy to catch on, but it’s hard to let go. 😉
See you at AB Con.
You can get a copy of Interstate, or pre-order our other games here:
flutterwave.com/store/aideeologygames
Aideeology Games is open to partnerships that will help maximize the abundant opportunities in the Nigerian and African markets, and we can be contacted via:
IG & FB: @aideeologygames
Phone: +234-8080800006
Email: aideejackson@gmail.com
