Communities can potentially be a factor for an individual to keep undergoing development. This specific instance occurred to Ardiawan Bagus Harisa, an informatics lecturer at Universitas Dian Nuswantoro (Udinus). Initially starting as a hobby and community, Bagus, born in 1992, successfully established a café named Dhadhu Board Game Café.
Dhadhu Board Game Café is located at Timoho Raya St, No. 18, Bulusan, Tembalang Sub-district. In addition to selling food and beverages, the café also offers various board games that customers are allowed to play.
Bagus further explained that his café also sold experiences, namely the sensation of playing board games with friends while waiting for the order to arrive. Moreover, there is a game master instructing the customers to play the game.
“This is what makes our café different from other cafés in Semarang. The waiting time is almost insignificant while playing a board game, allowing the customers to deepen their bonds with each other. Thus, they will not be busied with their own phones,” he explained.
Applying the concept of board games, the café is arguably the first of its kind, at least in Central Java. Currently, there are up to 70 – 100 board games in the café, which primarily consist of international ones. The public enthusiasm toward this café is also incredibly high, with several customers becoming regulars.
Despite having established a café, Bagus still works his regular job as a faculty member in the Computer Science Faculty at Udinus. This is because he still enjoys his activity of sharing knowledge with others. Moreover, informatics is his field of expertise. Through this expertise of his, he could teach his students to become more creative in creating both conventional-based and digital-based board games.
“If we are passionate about playing board games, we should try creating more of them. It is far more challenging and interesting. Moreover, we can also control the movements ourselves. Even though it is difficult, it also serves as proof that we made progress,” he concluded. (Humas Udinus/Ika. Foto: Dok. Pribadi)
