Kraftz’s board games: A fun way to enjoy time off screen
The long-lasting and connective nature of board games make them a conscious investment. As the county is witnessing repeated bouts of lock down, board games can always save us from boredom, especially on rainy days
For 80s and 90s kids, board games were a marvelous invention. Most of them can recall board-game related memories.
From ancient, classic board games such as Chess to more modern staples such as Scrabble and Monopoly, board games have remained a great way to keep busy and connect with friends and family members. The best part about board games is that you cannot play them alone.
But now children can play board games on their smartphones and computers. Moreover, they do not need any partner to play the games with them.
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With so many mind-blowing gaming options like smartphone games, computer games, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, playing board games may sound very boring.
However, Tasliman Azam and Abdullah Salman, the owners of Kraftz - an online page that started by selling interesting stickers, adult colouring books and games - wanted to bring back the old charm of playing board games and enjoying quality time with friends and family.
The duo created some amazing and innovative board games which will definitely grab the attention of this generation.
Architecture student Tasliman Azam started Kraftz in 2014 with a few of his friends, and they took the online page professionally in 2016. Azam and his fiancé continued to run Kraftz alone from 2018 when his other friends became engaged in their careers.
He wanted to take this innovative business seriously as a career because, for him, stickers and board games are the memories from his childhood he loves to cherish and that is why keeping them alive for today's generation is very important for him.
"No matter how old the kids are, you cannot get them off screen. TV, smartphones and computers have so many interesting things to offer; how can you blame them?" Azam said.
He added, "When I was a child, I used to get excited about stickers and board games. But now, we spend so much time on screen and we can't get over the vibrant and colourful virtual world. So the old school board games don't attract us. This is why I invented some board games, with which the 'Netflix and chill' generation can relate."
The main idea behind Kraftz is to introduce ways to escape from the screen. This is why Azam introduced everything old school but with an innovative twist.
Abdullah Salman, the co-owner of Kraftz, said, "I joined Kraftz in 2020 when the pandemic started. Tasliman came up with some amazing board game ideas, which I knew would be a hit because people had plenty of time at home and parents were looking for options to keep their children away from the screen. And though the page started its journey long ago, the business actually took off during the pandemic."
"Though Tasliman takes care of the creative process and I look after the managerial process of the business, we make all the business decisions together. We have a perfect partnership, which is very important for a growing business like Kraftz," Salman added.
Kraftz started with thematic board games such as "Hogwarts Snake and Ladder" and "F.R.I.E.N.D.S Race to Central Perk" and eventually added more innovative games like "The Upside Down" and "Innocent Until Proven Guilty". All of their board games cost between Tk600 to Tk1,300.
Recently they launched their new game "Make Me Tea." The games are not only innovative but also very beautiful to look at, with wonderful packaging.
According to Kraftz's owners, the pandemic is one of the reasons for the success of their business, although it has had a negative impact everywhere.
From having only two members, Kraftz now is a family of 11 and it has its own workshop where the board games are produced.
Alongside Kraftz, Azam and Salman started two other ventures - The Online Pack (TOP) and Cube.
TOP specializes in packaging solutions while Cube is a retail-level packaging solution platform.
All of the products and services from Kraftz, TOP and Cube are available on www.kraosbangladesh.com and Facebook pages.
Board games are an item that we buy once and it stays in our families for years, sometimes even decades.
The long-lasting and connective nature of board games make them a conscious investment. As the county is witnessing bouts of lock down, board games can always save us from boredom, especially on rainy days.
They are a fantastic way to connect with our closest people while having a laugh over a fun little competition.
To help you choose the ideal board game from Kraftz, The Business Standard has taken the responsibility of testing and reviewing the interesting games. What must be mentioned is that all the games are very different from each other and designed to satisfy people with specific characteristics.
Hogwarts Snake and Ladder
This board game is just like a basic snake and ladder game but with a Harry Potter twist. It is one of the most sold board games from Kraftz.
The big, colorful board with the characters from Harry Potter is something every Potterhead will definitely love to collect.
You can choose either from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin or Harry, Ron and Hermione to play the game.
Just like a regular snake and ladder, you roll on the dice and move ahead.
Instead of a ladder, you may sometimes get a Broom, Patronus which will help you go up, and Serpent and Dragons which will pull you down.
Dumbledore and Snape will help you while Voldemort will take you all the way down to the beginning.
Two to seven people can play this game and it costs Tk700. This is not only a fun game to play but also a beautiful item to collect.
F.R.I.E.N.D.S Race to Central Perk
This game is a combination of Ludo and Monopoly. You can play as the characters from the F.R.I.E.N.D.S. series and roll the dice to move ahead. You can eat up your opponent just like Ludo and there is a point bank called "The Bong Bank" from which you can collect points from time to time and buy advantages with.
On the way there are traps and you can get rid of them by trading points in the Bong Bank.
A leader has to be chosen who will take care of the bank. At least three to six people need to play this game and it costs Tk1,300.
This is also a fun game to play and definitely a collectible item for F.R.I.E.N.D.S fans.
Innocent Until Proven Guilty
Remember the popular Bangladeshi game "Chor, police, dakat"? Innocent Until Proven Guilty is the upgraded version of this game and the most popular board game by Kraftz.
Four to six people can play this game and the players are divided into three categories - police, civilian and burglar.
Each person is assigned a specific characteristic with which they have to stick to till the end of the game so that it gets hard for the police to catch the burglar.
Players have to hide both their category and character. For a twist, every player will be provided with health conics which can be gained or lost with each roll of the dice.
The player dies if they run out of health coins. Once dead, they can reveal their identity.
This game is not only very interactive but also very complicated. You have to go through the rules at least 10 times to understand properly.
Innocent Until Proven Guilty is priced at only Tk600.
Make Me Tea
This game is designed for tea addicts.
Make Me Tea is the recent addition of Kraftz, but they sent us a sample before it was released and we tried it out. Our verdict is that it is one of the games we enjoyed playing the most.
It is a two-player game that takes little time to play than any other board game. This game is simply about deciding who will make the tea.
There are water, milk, sugar and tea leaves coins which you can gain or lose with each roll of the dice. The player who will collect all the ingredients for making a cup of tea will win the game and the loser has to make the tea.
Among all the board games, Make Me Tea is the game I would personally love to play the most. It is easy and fun, and the one game people will actually play during their free time.
Since this board game is yet to be released, the price will soon be revealed on Kraftz's Facebook page.
