A sergeant in the Inazawa City Fire Department in Japan has been suspended for one month after forcing his coworkers to play homemade board games while on duty. The department announced the disciplinary action this month following an investigation into behavior that occurred between July 2024 and January 2025.
According to Dexerto, the sergeant created more than 10 games, which were handwritten on blank sheets of paper and based on card and word-chain mechanics. One staff member reportedly participated in these sessions 14 times, totaling 35 hours of gameplay. A fire commander in his 50s who also joined the sessions received a disciplinary reprimand for his involvement.
No money was involved in the games, which ruled out any concerns about gambling. However, the combination of the cover-up and the participation of higher-ranking officials caused a major stir on social media. People on social media shared theories about why this happened, with some speculating that the sergeant was using his coworkers as unwilling playtesters for games he wanted to sell commercially.
The cover-up turned a strange situation into a much more serious one
The situation got significantly worse because of how the sergeant handled the aftermath. He reportedly ordered his colleagues to falsify their duty logs to hide the fact that they were playing games instead of carrying out their responsibilities. When the misconduct was finally reported by a whistleblower in January, the sergeant attempted to coordinate a cover-up with the group.
He later told investigators that he intended the sessions to be a team-building exercise, and he stated he “deeply regrets” his actions. Others online found the whole situation so bizarre that they joked the games must have been genuinely fun if participants were willing to risk their jobs to keep playing.
Japanese fire official suspended for forcing colleagues to play board games while workinghttps://t.co/dP8ahkF0EM
— The Mainichi (Japan Daily News) (@themainichi) April 16, 2026
This is not the first time a DIY project led someone into serious trouble, as strange personal creations have a way of crossing dangerous lines. The situation even led to the creation of a new term on the internet.
A thread on Togetter coined the phrase “board game harassment,” or “bodoha,” to describe the sergeant’s behavior, which captures the unusual nature of the misconduct. Social media users have also been known to react strongly to bizarre homemade food and DIY moments going viral, and this case was no different.
The fact that the sergeant felt the need to organize a cover-up shows he was aware of how inappropriate his behavior was from the start. Abusing authority to force coworkers into personal hobbies during work hours is a serious breach of professional conduct, and the cover-up only added to the consequences.
While the games themselves were just paper and pen, the fallout for the department and the people involved is very real, with multiple staff members facing disciplinary action as a result of the sessions and the subsequent attempt to hide them.
