Uganda Village Boardgame Convention 2026

Aim

This project brings a range of boardgames to rural children in Uganda for four days, helping develop planning, creative skills and much more

This is our eighth VIllage Boardgame Convention, where rural Ugandan children can come to stay at our School for 4-5 days and play boardgames from morning until night.  You might think that this is about snakes and ladders or ludo, but every year the children surprise us with their enthusiasm and capability to play the most challenging games and we have a library of about 500 for them to choose from.

The children are not taught by adults, but instead we have a team of around 90 of our secondary school students, who learn the games while at our school and then teach the children during the Convention.  Last year around 20 left the school following their A levels, so this year we have found 20 new students, who are already learning boardgames, so they can replace those that graduated last year.  So the Convention not only teaches games to new children, it also teaches teaching skills to our own students, aged 12-18.

This year, we expect once again to bring in 500 children into the school for the Convention this September, taking place within the school holidays.  They stay in our existing dormitories and play games from 9.00am until late every day, with the last night a special prizegiving night with a live band and talent show.  We don't just play board games, there are also active games that we do to use up some energy!

The project is run by UK charity CYEN in partnership with Chrysalis Uganda, a registered NGO, that works with children and youth up to the age of 25.  We support children through our unique school and also through university, if possible.  If you would like to know more about sponsoring someone at our school, please mail me on [email protected].

The Chrysalis Secondary School is a unique school in Uganda that broadens the horizons of students, giving them a chance to participate in a wide variety of clubs while they are at school, from astronomy and Star Trek to traditional dance, music to international cooking, robotics to boardgaming.  We also make our school affordable to rural students, many of whom rely on agriculture for their school fees.  The objective is to make sure that the most disadvantaged rural students can be educated at the highest levels and can develop skills that give them many options in the workplace, when they eventually leave the school.  This is already having an impact on other local schools and  and nearby trading centres.

Since 2017 we have been celebrating boardgames with our annual boardgame convention for children in Uganda.  Chrysalis has been teaching boardgames to children in Uganda since 2009 and then one day, one of our number decided that we ought to spread the games to local children living in villages.  With £500 we put on a small event for about fifty children with some boardgames that had been generously donated by members of a Facebook group and this has grown yearly into a amazing event where we host nearly 500 children, teach them boardgames for four days, run other outdoor activities and teach them how to look after their environment and wildlife.

Every child that takes part could take part in the following activities:

1. Borehole water sampling, utilising microscopes

2. Birdwatching

3. Session on snake safety and anti-venom

4. Perhaps a session from UWA

5. Making wildlife friendship bracelets

6. An art arena project based on jungle creatures

7. Wildlife quiz in the evening

8. A wildlife conservation comic

9. Briquette making

10. Conservation drama

11. Science experiments

12. Maths puzzles and games with Gord! 

We are very lucky this year to have a special guest Gord! from Mathpickle.com.  He is an international Maths teaching expert and also a renowned boardgame designer, known particularly for the bestselling game Santorini.  Gord! will be attending the whole Convention and staying with the school to help inspire students in their maths learning. Above is one of the puzzles we plan to play in the Convention.

Wildlife and Environmental Games

We want to utilise every opportunity we have to help Ugandan children realise the importance of the wildlife they live amongst or in the nearby Murchison Falls Park.  Chrysalis is partnered with IWCN, a US charity that encourages wildlife co-existence, to help children be knowledgeable about and love the wildlife in Omoro District.  The Convention takes place near a place called Bar Jubi, which means Field of Buffaloes.  The buffaloes have since been moved to Murchison Falls, but every so often a buffalo will move through our area,wanting to return to its hostorical home.  We also make a lot of effort to preserve local habitats, encouraging our students to make briquettes rather than always utilise firewood.  Here they are playing Photosynthesis.

Party Games

We discovered that the Ugandan children really love to play party games and one of their favourites is Taboo.  We'll definitely be playing that one this year.

Small and Quick "Filler" Games

The easier games are very important to include in the Convention, as some children that come have never played a board game.  We do avoid the very simplest games, though, like Ludo and Snakes and Ladders, thopugh the kids do like them, as we want the children to enjoy using their intellect during the Convention.  In the photo below Morris is teaching a Cthulhu Card Game.

Worker Placement Games

Chrysalis does not own very many worker placement games and, when we have owned them, games like Stone Age, have been really popular.  It's notable that a few of our games are so popular that the kids take them home with them, so that's how we lose them!  This year I am going to acquire a few worker placement games, so we can bring in a few more.  Here the kids are playing Nusfjord

Roleplaying Games

Chrysalis is one of very few organisations that play roleplaying games anywhere in Africa (possibly the only one outside South Africa) and currently we have two groups playing at the school.  I just acquired some new beginner-friendly modules, that we can use to encourage more children into roleplaying.

Dice Games

Kids love to throw dice and we have a number of dice games in our library, which we bring out all year round.  This one is Dice Throne:

Co-operative Games

Matt Leacock is the king of co-operative games and recently we made a giant-size version of the board, where you could (try to) use children as disease cubes.  We were incorporating this game into our "Animal Experimentation Awareness" Imagination Camp.

Epic Games

I had hoped this year to run a Diplomacy game, as to date the students have never played it and only in the Convention can we find time to play a full game.  We might also try to fit in some other "epic" games, like Twilight Imperium.  Gloria teaching Kemet...

Tournaments

These have been for some the most exciting part of the event, when they can win prizes for playing games.  Usually we play shorter games, but we have a traditional 10-player Dragon and Flagon Tournament every year.  Here they are playing Azul in the tournament.

Computer Games

For the first time, we have had a computer suite available at the school to encourage children to develop their ICT skills.  We already have a fair few co-operative computer games, like DDO and Star Wars the Old Republic.  We've also tried Sunderfolk this year and a game called Stolen Realm.  For most Ugandan children these games are simply not available but we do have improving facilities here and good internet, to enable these coop games.

Indigenous Games

Omweso is the favourite game of Uganda and is played over the whole country.  Every year we run a special tournament which has hundreds of participants, probably more than half of those attending the convention.  We give out omweso sets as prizes for the winners:

Playing Cards

Whist has been part of the last two Conventions and this year I hope to add other card games for people to learn - Bridge, Black Maria, Canasta perhaps.  Packs of cards are quite cheap and easily available in Uganda, so learning a few good card games can really help children develop enthusiasm for card play.

Chess, Draughts and Mindgames

Last year we taught a lot of new children how to play chess, though it  is not our main thing.  Chrysalis, however, is part of MOCHALUNT, the Mind Sports Olympiad and, as we write, the Chrysalis team is leading the competition, which includes dozens of abstract games.

Budget

Food for 500 people for four days - £2000

With this money we can cook some treats as well, like passion fruit juice and popcorn.

Transport for children to come to the event and go home afterwards - £1200

This really is a difficult logistical exercise, as the children come from the remotest of places in Omoro and other districts.  We will also be bringing up a contingent of boardgamers from our centre in Kampala.

T-shirts for 100 youth trainers - £350

These will identify the boardgame trainers, so children can approach as them to teach a game.  Every youth trainer will have a minimum of ten games that they can teach

Prizes - £200

We will be providing prizes for all of the tournaments, including the indigenous game Omweso

Mosquito nets - £250

Our mosquito nets are insufficient to handle the Convention this year, so we are planning to buy more

Medication - £100

The Convention takes place in the middle of the rainy season, so malaria is extremely likely to be prevalent during the four days of the event.  One dose is about £1, including Paracetamol, so we need to buy at least 100 doses.

Games purchase in UK - £400 

I was able to buy about 60 new games at Games Expo this year for the Convention and we are already learning many of them in advance.

Games shipping to Uganda - £1000

We have had a large number of games donated this year for the Convention.

Ebola

There are now a large number of cases of Ebola in Uganda, more than any number in 12 years.  We don't yet have any cases known in Gulu, but it seems very likely they will come.  It is also likely there will be a lockdown for a period of time.  However, if the lockdown comes during or near the time of the Convention, then we will reschedule the event to a later date.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 12th August 2026 at 8:26am