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Different fictional cultures will have different things that they do, for all of the various reasons that people do things. They all need to raise children, grow or hunt for food, build shelters, teach people stuff, do things for entertainment, travel, and so on. Think about anything that humans do, and then translate that into a similar activity for a fantastic culture, but throw in a bit of a twist.
Dwarves brew beer, but they brew it from fungus. Elves build houses, but under the roots of giant trees. Members of an alien species teach their children, but they do it by plugging them into a shared virtual reality for a few years. Just give all the different cultures slightly different ways of doing things, and your world will feel exotic and unusual.
Commentary by memnarch (who has not seen the movie)
Oh, Finn was just.... not on screen yet. A bit disappointing, but I guess that does make the most sense in retrospect. The other people in the room might wonder where you're going and think that's suspicious. Time enough for spy things later perhaps.
And wait, that's a holographic game? I suppose I never really thought about it, but it would have to be a holographic game for the figures to be able to move around like they did in Episode IV. The table itself seems a bit small to have the projectors it would need; maybe those are in the seats? Either way, these little figures are definitely see-through unlike Snoke's image was, but the atmosphere here is much more well lit and the table provides nice contrast as well.
Commentary by Keybounce (who has not seen the movie)
So... this game is used for teaching moral lessons? It's not just some strange chess-like future game?
For that matter, is this projector capable of playing any other games? Such a large game console, easily the size of an R2 unit, there must be something else it can play, right?
So what lessons does this game teach? Keep whacking at something until it goes down? Why does there only seem to be one unit on side 2, and if that unit can be "trivially" defeated by the first unit on side 1, what sort of lesson is this teaching? That the universe will take you down if you don't have allies to back you up?
Childish? Perhaps this is just the lesson of the playground. Bullies with a peer group can take down solo individuals.
Transcript
Yanni: Good job, kid. Thanks for patching up Chewie.
Finn: You’re welcome.
GM: Finn leans on a button and the holographic game board springs to life.
Finn: What’s this?
Chewbacca: Dejarik. A game that Wookiees use to teach moral lessons to our children. Or other childish beings.
BB-8: Neat.
[SFX]: Whack! {the Kintan Strider smacks the Mantellian Savrip on the head with a stone-headed club}
[SFX]: Whack! {and again, the Savrip collapses}
Finn: That’s a pretty harsh lesson.
[SFX]: Whack! {the Savrip struggles to raise its head and the Strider smashes it again}
Chewbacca: Some beings are very childish.