We are proud and deeply honored to share that Kartini: From Darkness to Light has won the Lizzie Magie Award at the Rennes en Jeux Festival**.

This recognition is especially meaningful to us, as it affirms something we strongly believe in:
Board games can be powerful cultural works.

They can tell overlooked histories.
They can amplify marginalized voices.
They can engage with society in ways that go far beyond entertainment.

A Game About Education, Resistance, and Collaboration

Designed by Sherria Ayuandini, Kartini: From Darkness to Light portrays the development of higher education for women in late 19th-century Indonesia. Players establish schools across the archipelago, recruit professors, educate students, and navigate financial limitations and colonial oppression.

The game is competitive, yet it allows collaboration to emerge through the exchange of knowledge and students between islands. It highlights women’s education as both a path to emancipation and a deeply political act within existing power structures.

By centering only women in its historical narrative, Kartini makes visible stories that have too often been marginalized. It also honors a culture long overlooked in global historical gaming.

The game pays tribute to Kartini (1879–1904), a pioneering figure in Indonesian women’s education, whose legacy continues to inspire movements for equality and access to knowledge.

A Word from Our CEO

*“We are deeply honored to receive the 2026 Lizzie Magie Award for Kartini: From Darkness to Light. This recognition means a great deal to us, as it affirms our belief that board games can be powerful cultural works, capable of telling overlooked histories, amplifying marginalized voices, and engaging with society beyond entertainment alone.

We are especially proud to publish a game that highlights women’s education, collaboration, and resistance, inspired by Kartini’s legacy and brought to life by Sherria Ayuandini’s thoughtful design.

Thank you to the jury and the Rennes en Jeux Festival for recognizing this work and for celebrating board games as meaningful cultural expressions.”*
/Besime Uyanik, CEO, Ion Game Design

Why This Award Matters

The Lizzie Magie Award celebrates games that push the medium forward, games that use design as a vehicle for commentary, reflection, and cultural storytelling.

For us at Ion Game Design, this award is not only a celebration of one title. It is a validation of our broader mission:
To publish games that challenge, educate, and inspire.

We are grateful to the jury, to the festival, to Sherria, and to the players and backers who believed in this project from the beginning.

This victory belongs to all of you.