oluwadanie1:
A chartered accountant, Leke Adesanya, has designed two family- friendly card games to foster physical interaction among pupils and improve the quality if indoor entertainment.

During a visit to The PUNCH on Wednesday, Adesanya, said “Giants and Jungle” could be played by any child from age six.

According to him, the educational games appeal to children, teenagers and adults.

“For instance, ‘Jungle’ is themed after wildlife and has proved to be a favourite among adults while ‘Giants’, which focuses on history and current affairs, is being adopted as a learning aid by some schools. Parents would also be happy that their children are being entertained with games that have educational attributes,’’ he said.

Adesanya said the desire to invent the games came early this year, when his wife, Yemi, mooted the idea of creating a unique and academically rewarding game for pupils.

“We wanted something different from ‘Ludo’ as well as ‘Snake and Ladders’. We always felt we could create our own entertainment. There has never been a game like this and it is not a Nigerian version of another game. Prior to now, what you have is a book of biographies of 200 people

“If we were to inspire young people to appreciate history, why not make a game out of it? I want my children to spend more time learning and interacting with each other which is better than watching television,’’ he said.

Adesanya also referred to local and international studies, which linked a sedentary life arising from pupils spending many hours watching television to cardiovascular disease, obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

In creating ‘Giants’, the couple made a list of 200 people who have made remarkable contributions in the history of the world. Some of the characters include Thomas Sankara, Mahatma Gandhi, King Sunny Ade and Ahmadu Bello. Among others are Michael Faraday, Bola Ige, Efunroye Tinubu, and Wole Soyinka.

A pack of ‘Giants’, he said, contained 52 cards and a pair of dice. He added, “Pupils learn the history of these giants of history from a brief portrait at the back of each card. For ‘Jungle’, the concept is to introduce players to the food chain of animals in an African jungle. Some of the animals included in the card games are antelope, caracal and the Mongoose, an animal reputed to kill snakes of different sizes but nearing extinction.”

Highlighting some of the challenges he encountered during production and how he surmounted them, Adesanya noted that he had to print the card, the box and its jacket in three different countries.

“The cost of printing the initial sample was expensive. It was not printed in Nigeria because if you ask the printers for a different size from what they are used to, you may not get it. It was learning process however,’’ he said.