Kartini: From Darkness to Light (KS Edition)

In Kartini - From Darkness to Light, you manage schools for girls where girls from different islands of Indonesia come to be students. As they graduate, the students become politicians, fighters, patrons or teachers, further advancing education for women and supporting the fight for the nation’s freedom. Strategically manage your duits (money) and books to help as many girls graduate from your school while paying attention to your school’s reputation. After four rounds, signifying four years of compulsory preliminary education in Indonesia, the player with the highest points wins the game.

Kartini - From Darkness to Light celebrates the triumphs of girls’ education. The game takes place in Indonesia in the late 1800 to the early 1900, during the country’s struggle for independence from Dutch colonialism. This was the era where Indonesian young women were stepping up to the plate, leading battles and participating in politics for a free Indonesia.

Realizing that the key to the nation’s eventual liberation lied in education, some of them built schools and advocated for more and more girls to be educated to then participate in the nation’s fight for freedom. Indonesian women’s yearning for education and to take an active role in the public life were encapsulated in a famous series of letters written by Kartini, a Javanese aristocrat, to her Dutch friends. These letters were later published as a book titled ‘From Darkness to Light’ from which the name of this game derived. Kartini’s letters are often credited as one of the cornerstones of Indonesian women emancipation movement and they served as profound inspirations for Indonesia’s fight for independence.

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

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

Dr Sherria Ayuandini (designer Kartini) was a Zenobia Award Finalist in 2021 with the game Kartini - From Darkenss to Light. Listen to her talk about her experience and design of this Award Finalist game design.