Runaway inflation sees Africa’s longest-running board games convention return to Kickstarter in search of funding
Africa’s longest-running board games convention has returned to Kickstarter after two years of self-financing, as soaring inflation in its home country of Nigeria weighs heavily on the event’s finances.
The African Boardgames Convention has grown rapidly over the past seven years, with organisers hoping to draw in 3,000 people for this year’s event – well up from the 750 recorded in 2022 and about 1,000 who attended in November last year.
AB Con raised more than $23,700 through its last Kickstarter campaign in 2021, before becoming self-funding across the last two years – but co-host and crowdfund organiser Oluwafemi Olusanya told BoardGameWire the worsening state of Nigeria’s economy had created a major financial challenge for the event.
Nigeria’s inflation rate reached a 28-year high of more than 34% last week – the 19th month in a row that inflation has risen. Fuel prices tripled overnight last summer, while the country’s currency has been devalued twice since.
AB Con is hoping to raise at least $8,000 on Kickstarter to combat the funding gap this year, with stretch goals including a playtesting event and the return of a two-day event structure which was successfully trialled last year.
Olusanya said, “[Nigeria’s economic troubles have] been ongoing since the past year and we just couldn’t afford to power through this year.
“As an AB Con insider, I have to say AB Con has never been viewed through the lens of profitability and while it’ll be amazing for it to grow to that stage, we also understand that industries take years to properly develop.
“…for the Kickstarter, there are perks designed specifically for corporate sponsorships. We are willing and open to discussions on any support or endeavour that’ll foster improvement and growth in the industry generally. We also accept games donation from publishers and companies too.”
AB Con says that before its launch in 2016 “it was extremely difficult to identify a platform for tabletop game designers, content creators, publishers, manufacturers or hobby enthusiasts in Nigeria”, despite the country’s estimated 200 million population.
Between AB Con’s work and the efforts of Nigerian board game company NIBCARD – which won a Diana Jones Award in 2021 for its role in driving the local tabletop community – the number of known modern board games from Nigerian designers has soared from 10 to more than 90, with the number of designers growing from three to more than 20.
Olusanya said more than 50 games from African designers will feature at this year’s event, including Owonikoko, Fila, No Gree Charade, and Slap It Say It.
He told BoardGameWire, “As a sort of birthplace for modern tabletop games and it’s promotion especially in Nigeria, NIBCARD is quite important.
“But just like NIBCARD, many other organizations have become pivotal in fostering the year round development and promotion of the tabletop games scene. I think it’s beautiful that while NIBCARD was a sort of premier, it’s not been restricted and has continued to grow with inputs from others like Lyndem, Games and Chill, Nzuko games and Centroid Games, to name a few.
“It’s common to hear the saying that ‘one in four Africans is a Nigerian’. With a population comprising over 15% of the total African population, just by sheer numbers the Nigerian market has always in some way or form affected industry growth in Africa, and especially the west African region.
“I view it from the gathering perspective- as the industry gets a foothold and takes proper shape it always extends to neighbouring areas and eventually the whole – just as NIBCARD [did] from one corner in a small town.
“With already established conversations with designers from other countries, I believe it’s a matter of time.”
Links with international industry professionals have included Blood Rage designer Eric Lang and Hasbro’s senior director of inventor relations Tanya Thompson, who participated virtually as guest panelists in 2021, and Tzolk’in and Voyages of Marco Polo designer Daniele Tascini, who attended in 2022.
Olusanya said, “I’ve been involved with AB Con since 2020, though that’s the year the convention couldn’t hold due to the ongoing pandemic. The biggest metric for me since then and up until now is the people who have now picked up tabletop gaming as a hobby.
“There’s a lot to be said about how the average person viewed board games, say, ten years ago compared to now. It’s definitely remarkable that through a platform like AB Con, the ideologies and stereotypes around gaming as a waste of time is being thoroughly dismantled.
“Worthy of note is also the growth in the overall value chain, especially in aspects of design, development, playtesting and hosting of tabletop events.”
Since AB Con’s creation in 2016, it has been joined in the African board game event calendar by Festival Pousse Pions in Yaoundé, Cameroon since 2019, and the African Games Festival in Dakar, Senegal since 2022.
Anyone keen to help support AB Con in financing this year’s event should visit the event’s Kickstarter page here. The campaign runs until August 15.
