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- After Robot is a game that mimics SA's taxi industry.
- It sheds light on the challenges taxi owners face.
- Players get to pretend to be owners - and try to secure routes before other rival owners do.
- For more stories, visit the Tech and Trends homepage.
After Robot is a board game that mimics the South African taxi industry by allowing four players to assume the role of different taxi bosses, who try to secure a particular route.
It doesn't aim to promote a taxi war, but it sure can get stressful.
The board game was developed by Limpopo-born comedian and video game designer, Tsitsi Chiumya.
Chiumya, born and raised in Lebowakgomo, Limpopo, grew up playing games and wanted to figure out how to use that experience to create his own invention.
"I grew up playing games in the streets of Lebowakgomo," he told News24. "When I started studying game design, I honestly thought I didn't have anything to offer in terms of the knowledge that I had from games in my childhood. I never thought that the games I used to play are as important as Call of Duty, FIFA and all that stuff."
It wasn't until he enrolled for a degree in game design at Wits University that he realised the same strategies and mechanics involved in the games he used to play are the same ones needed to make prominent games that have taken over the world.
To bring to life a game that would relate to his life back then, Chiumya, who was in his third year at the time, used his daily experiences as a taxi commuter to create a game that would resonate with many South Africans.
"I realised that it would actually be better to create a game that somewhat translates to what I'm going through. That's when 'After Robot' came about... I was taking taxis at the time," he said.
According to the 30-year-old comedian, the game opened many doors for him - because it landed him his first job and allowed him to travel to countries that were interested in knowing more about it. It includes Germany, the USA, Belgium, parts of South Africa, and a showcase at an exhibition in Tel Aviv.
How it works
The game requires four players, who take on the role of taxi owners from different fraternities, who each have a goal to get their taxis to certain routes first. The first driver to reach the destination wins.
"How they do it is by using a mechanism that mimics how people count money in a taxi, using dice. Sometimes there's conflict of taxis, roads and there's a way to manage it through the game.
"Sometimes you have to remove someone from a certain route to be able to utilise it," he said.
Although the game can get players worked up, Chiumya said it is in no way meant to perpetuate wars that happen in the local taxi industry.
Instead, it's meant to make players find strategic ways to solve the problem - and to realise just how stressful it can be.
"if you are immersed in that world, you realise the game element of how you need to change your behaviour, depending on the situation.
"I realised that it was a whole different system, so I tried to translate the frustrations that the taxi owners themselves face, in all the strategic ways, in going about the industry - and put it into a game. Some people choose the slick way to deal with the issue, some choose conflict," he said.
Although the game has reached different parts of the world, Chiumya hasn't managed to mass produce it for retail and it is currently not available to purchase anywhere.
His future plan is to ensure that it reaches big local retailers, so South Africans can access it.
