These Thai Students Invented An Award-Winning Board Game To Tackle Teen Pregnancy

The five-member from St Mary's School in Udon Thani province, Thailand created the board game in response to troubling social media posts that had praised teenagers who got pregnant prematurely, reported The Nation.

Their innovative board game received the "Empathic Communication Award" at the recent HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Cup in the Thammasat-Banpu Innovative Learning Programme, where secondary school students compete to conceive board games aimed at helping society.

"We wanted to deter teen pregnancies by clarifying the difficulties that arise when you get pregnant before you're really ready," one of the young inventors, Pakawadee Panil, told The Nation.

Players are given cards with actions such as "contraception" or "counselling" which are to be played based on the situation.

Choosing the "right card" boosts life-experience points, but the "wrong card" leaves the player pregnant and facing various challenges.

"Talking about sex can be difficult, but this game makes it easier to discuss," Pakawadee said.

The teacher, Jutti Jantana, is also an adviser to the team. He said the students started developing the game in August 2017.

"I must admit it was quite difficult to discuss sex openly with the girls. In fact there were some words I didn't want to use at all at first, but I had to because the team needed information to create a game that would be useful," Jutti told The Nation.

By using 'Fortune Condom' in his sex-ed classes, he has noticed that other students are feeling inspired to develop their own games.

"I really hope this game reaches a wider audience so that more people get educated about the risks and impacts of teen pregnancy," he added.