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Kartini -From Darkness to lightboardgames box
Kartini infographic

A Game of Education and Revolution 

Educate the new generation of women to light the path to independence.

Looking for a board game about education, women’s rights, and building change under colonial rule? In Kartini: From Darkness to Light, you lead a girls’ school in early 1900s Indonesia, where teaching is a radical act. Recruit students from across the islands, overcome resource limitations, and guide your graduates to become teachers, leaders, and agents of independence.

Inspired by the real-life legacy of R.A. Kartini, the game blends resource management with meaningful social impact. Every turn is a chance to empower, uplift, and defy oppression, using knowledge as your most powerful tool.

Will your school light the way toward freedom?

Why should you purchase Kartini: From Darkness to Light?

Inspired by real history: Based on the life and impact of Indonesian national heroine R.A. Kartini

Education as resistance: Lead a school under colonial rule and empower the next generation

Meaningful resource management: Balance teaching, recruitment, and social development

Build long-term change: Shape your students’ futures and shift the course of a nation

How to play

Game designer: Sherria Ayuandini

Game developer: Robin Spathon Ek

Artist: Anne Isaksson/ Madeleine Fjäll

Complexity: 2.70

Content

How to play?

Sequence of play - Kartini is played over 3 Rounds. Each Round has 3 phases:   

Action phase - In turn order, each player chooses to take 1 of the actions below. The available actions are:

  • Hire a Teacher
  • Recruit Puples
  • Register Students (requires a matching Puple)
  • Gather Books
  • Graduation
  •  Advance on the “From Darkness to Light”- track
  • Pass

When all players have Passed, proceed to the Milestone phase.  

Milestone phase

  • Score this Round’s Milestone

Clean up phase

  1. Adjust your Reputation
  2. Gain Duits based on Endowment level
  3. Refresh the Student and Hero card rows
  4. Refill the Islands with Puples
  5. Return (or Flip in Co-op) any used Donate tokens

Extras

Content

  • Rulebook
  • Progression board
  • Map board
  • Player aid cards
  • School boards
  • Student row stripes
  • Students cards
  • Hired Teacher cards
  • Hero cards
  • Milestone cards (Competitive + Coop milestones
  • Event cards
  • Kartini cards
  • Pupil meeples (wood)
  • Prinicipals (wood)
  • Schools (wood)
  • Trackers
  • Enemy cube
  • 300+ Punchout tokens

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