In Jakarta, a growing number of burnt-out professionals are ditching therapy apps and gym memberships for something far more nostalgic: the games they played as kids. Every Friday, hundreds of adults gather at the capital’s main stadium to participate in childhood classics, transforming a very adult problem—workplace stress and urban exhaustion—into something that feels like pure play.
The phenomenon centers on the Playing Community, founded in 2024 by 24-year-old office worker Akihiko Akira. What started as his personal escape from work pressure and burnout has become a movement spreading across Java and beyond. The group’s membership now swells to as many as 1,000 people per session, all chasing the same elusive thing: relief. Akira discovered solace in lompat karet, a traditional jumping game using braided elastic bands, and when he posted videos online, the response was immediate. People wanted in.
The games themselves vary in intensity. There’s bentengan, the fort-defending game that leaves players like tech professional Annisa Enggracia Fidel flushed and sweating, and petak jongkok, a high-octane tag variant. But for those who need something gentler, there’s congklak, a counting game with seeds, or bola bekel, akin to jacks. The brilliance here is that there’s something for everyone. What ties them together isn’t just the physical exertion—though Annisa’s right that sweating does release stress—it’s the psychological reset that comes with touching your inner child again.
Jakarta’s rapid urbanization has created the perfect storm of burnout. With over 42 million residents now living in the metropolitan area, the city has become synonymous with grinding traffic, severe air pollution, regular flooding, and almost no green space to decompress. For people like IT developer Imam Hidayat, 27, who stumbled upon a Playing Community session while jogging, these games became an unexpected lifeline. After a single night of bentengan, his stress from corporate banking deadlines simply lifted.
What makes this movement resonate isn’t just nostalgia—though psychologist Ratih Ibrahim notes that playing reconnects adults to the moment “you become human again.” It’s that these gatherings offer what modern life doesn’t: community, movement, and permission to not be productive for an evening. Homemaker and mother of three Intan Permata, 36, captured it perfectly: her inner child returned, her sore muscles disappeared, and suddenly she was happy. Not just content. Happy. In a city of 42 million where isolation and screen time are the default, that’s radical.
The Playing Community asks for nothing—no membership fees, no downloads, no credentials. Just bring water and comfortable clothes. In a world obsessed with optimization and self-improvement, adults sweating through a children’s game might be the most honest form of mental health care yet.
