How Two Scouts Turned Their Passion into KOZAK Games

The Plast (Ukrainian Scouting Organization) environment often inspires new initiatives and ideas — and sometimes those ideas grow into something much bigger. That’s exactly what happened when two Plast friends, Roman Zadorozhnyy and Petro Samulyak, founded their own board game publishing house — KOZAK Games. Their idea wasn’t just to make games, but to promote intellectual leisure, to help parents spend quality time with their children, and to make good games accessible to everyone. Many of the values Roman and Petro gained in Plast naturally transferred into their business — especially the spirit of helping others. Knowing that Plast is currently raising 10 million hryvnias for organizational development, the founders decided to donate 10% of all pre-order revenue to support the organization.

How did the idea for KOZAK Games begin, and who started it?

I’ve been passionate about board games for about ten years now. When I realized that I was dedicating more time and attention to my hobby than to anything else, I happened to meet an American publisher who made very clever and user-friendly games. We immediately signed a partnership agreement and began working on adapting those games for the Ukrainian audience. Petro — who was once my scout mentee and later joined me in this project — and I were lucky to come from a very supportive environment in Plast. For the first stages of development, we involved other Plast members from our circle of friends. It all started with Ostap Ukrayinets, a brother from our senior scout fraternity Order of the Crusaders, who helped us translate the rules from English. Later we brought in two talented artists, Oleksandr Grekhov and Sofia Muzychka, whose illustrations now adorn KOZAK Games titles.

How large is your team now, and what are your plans for the future?

For now, it’s still mainly just Petro and me at the core. We collaborate with top experts for specific tasks, but we hope to grow to the point where we’ll have permanent artists, an office, and our own warehouse. We also started developing an eco-pack concept — reducing the amount of plastic packaging typically used in games.

Do you still involve Plast members in your projects?

Always — we try to work primarily with friends and acquaintances from the scouting community. For example, one of our two-player abstract games, Art of Spots, which teaches strategic thinking, was illustrated by Stanislav Terletskyi, a Plast member from Ivano-Frankivsk. Right now, we’ve also decided to give one youth scout troop the opportunity to earn money by assembling game sets. It’s a way to teach them responsibility through meaningful work — and it helps us too.

What matters most to you in creating board games?

First and foremost — format and compactness. We love small, convenient games that can be easily taken on trips, fit into a backpack — or even a pocket. We also decided that our games should carry cultural and educational value. In other words, while playing, people should not only have fun but learn something new, enjoy beautiful art, and develop useful skills. For example, our latest game "Духи Лісу"(orig. Cunning Folk) introduces players to Slavic mythology while also developing memory skills. The project was even consulted by Dara Korniy, author of the children’s encyclopedia Magical Creatures of Ukrainian Myth, probably the most comprehensive modern work about ancient Slavic beliefs.

We also introduced our eco-pack set, which includes four games packed in a reusable eco-bag — so people buy the game for the experience, not the box. This reduces plastic waste and makes it much easier to take the games on the go.

Why did you decide to donate 10% of your income to Plast?

When we founded KOZAK Games, we decided from the start that a portion of our income would always support social causes. Plast is the organization that raised us and gave us the values we live by. We believe it’s time to give back.

The goal of raising 10 million hryvnias sounds ambitious — almost unbelievable — but also deeply inspiring. Each of us is a drop in the ocean, but together, we make a sea. Now is the time to unite so that Plast becomes accessible to every child, regardless of whether they come from a wealthy family, a big city, or a small village. So we’ll keep supporting however we can. More information about the games can be found on the KOZAK Games page.

You can also order their games online and become part of their growing community of creative, mindful players.

Original article: HERE

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04 December 2019