Chill Day with Board Games: Rethinking Literary Engagement through Play
On Thursday, December 18, 2025, the Department of English and Humanities (DEH) at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) organized a “Chill Day with Board Games” at the DEH Lobby. Held on the final day of the Fall semester before the commencement of final examinations, the event aimed to provide students with a much-needed space for stress relief, relaxation, engagement, and informal learning.
A central highlight of the event was the showcase of two original board games developed by Irene Saha (Batch 233), designed as alternative pedagogical tools for use within literature classrooms. One of these games, TRotAM, was created for the Romantic Poetry course and draws inspiration from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Through its board structure, red and yellow cards, rulebook, and narrative mechanics, the game emphasizes journey-based learning, storytelling, and interpretive decision-making. Rather than focusing solely on correct answers, the game encourages players to engage with literary, philosophical, and critical ideas through discussion and personal interpretation.
The second game, Bookopoly, reimagines literature curricula through a familiar board game format. Authors from different literature courses are placed on the board, each associated with two books, one commonly taught and another intended for extended reading. Its Chance cards reflect the lived experiences of students and readers, making academic challenges both humorous and relatable.
In addition to these games, students also participated in popular board and word games such as Scrabble, Taboo, and Pictionary. Undergraduate and Masters students actively engaged in gameplay, conversations about authors and texts, and collaborative learning. Overall, the Chill Day successfully blended leisure with literary engagement, fostering community interaction while rethinking how literature can be experienced beyond the classroom.
Report by Irene Saha (233013079)
