DNP Game Design Competition

In 2025 I am doing one thing I have never done before - organising a boardgame design competition. I am also one of the judges for this competition. Since getting into game design, I have participated in many game design competitions. However this is the first time I am on the organising team. This competition was initiated by local game designer Jon (King & Peasant, Furmation of Rome). In the past several years, there has been another game design competition held in Malaysia - MYBOGADECO (Malaysia Board Game Design Competition). I have participated before. This competition has been held three times. It won't be run this year, and Jon felt that was a shame. He said why not we do it ourselves. I said if he's going to do it, I'll support him. And that's how DNP (Design and Play) game design competition came about. Jon is driving this and doing most of the work. We had in-depth discussions and did planning together. I was mostly the sounding board. We have six judges. In addition to Jon and I, we have Chee Kong (Zodiac Go), Buddhima (My Rain Forest, Chinese Flower Card), Logan (Nasi Lemak), Haireey (Drama Pukul 7, Nak Makan Apa). I can't say that we the local game designers and publishers have big achievements we can boast about. What I can say of all of us is we have been through that journey of designing, playtesting, producing and marketing games. We don't have a lot, but we are willing to share what we have learned with fellow Malaysians who have interest to explore game design. 

Before we decided to do this, I asked Jon what our objective was. We spent some time discussing and agreeing on this. We should not be starting any project when the objective has not been clearly defined. Our objective is to encourage more people to get into game design. I want to discover game design talent. We want Malaysia to produce more games and better games. Game design and publishing in Malaysia is in its infancy. We don't have anything we can be particularly proud of that captures global attention. There is much space for growth. We are organising the competition under the MBD label.

MBD is  Malaysia Boardgame Design. This is a group started only earlier this year. The idea behind it is based to TBD - Taiwan Boardgame Design. It is about game designers working together, helping one another grow and learn, sharing knowledge and resources, and organising activities together. It is a way we coordinate and help one another. At the moment we are only a small informal group. We have not done any official registration. One thing we hope to do is to apply for a government grant to promote Malaysian game designs at the Essen game fair in 2026. 

As Jon and I planned, the two biggest challenges we expected were money and participants. Organising a game design competition in Malaysia is not profitable. There is little publicity to be gained. Any sponsor will just be doing charity work to support local game design. You don't really need a huge sum of money, but when you are giving money away, even with a small sum you'd wonder why you are parting with your money. Is it really worthwhile? Thankfully both the potential sponsors Jon approached were willing to support the competition. So money was settled. Jon and I had mentally prepared ourselves that we might have to fork out some money. The other big challenge is the number of participants. If we only have a handful of participants, we would not be achieving our goal. During the registration period (the month of May), Jon spent some money on Facebook to get the word out. We want people to know about this competition. We the judges also reached out to our respective circles to promote this competition. When registration closed at the end of May, we had 110 participants. This was amazing! It far exceeded my expectations. Earlier on when Jon and I discussed this, I asked if we had fewer than 20, would we still go ahead with it? I said we must set a go-no-go condition. This was the project manager in me talking. 

It is wonderful that we managed to get 110 participants. This also means the judges are going to have a lot of work. In the first stage of the competition participants must submit a rulebook and a short video giving an overview of the game. Every entry will be scored by at least three judges. That means every judge must score at least 55 entries. Eight participants will advance to the second stage (also the final stage). They are required to submit their physical game prototypes, and the judges will sit down to play these games. The deadline for Stage 1 is end of July. In the first half of August we the judges need to complete our scoring, so that the eight finalists will be able to ship their games to us before the end of August. The first half of September will be playtesting and judging of the finalist games. We plan to announce the results on 16 September, Malaysia Day. This is fitting, because the theme for the competition is Malaysia. 

There is a reason we chose Malaysia to be the theme for the competition. The prize for the competition is getting your game published. In case you don't want it, you can convert that to a cash prize of MYR 1000. We wanted to make sure the prize is attractive enough to make people want to spend the effort designing a game. It is motivating to have your game getting published for real. We chose Malaysia as the theme and as a requirement because if we were going to publish the winner, we wanted the game to be something Malaysians are familiar with and would accept easily. Being a publisher means making marketable products that many people want, not art pieces that only a handful of people appreciate. One other criteria for the game design is it must have at most 52 cards. This is to control production cost and manageability, and also a card game is generally simpler and easier to learn than a boardgame. 

After the registration deadline, we set up a WhatsApp group, inviting all participants. We encouraged them to share their ideas, their rulebooks, and to exchange ideas. Several have already shared their rulebooks and also obtained feedback. Writing rulebooks is difficult, more so than most people realise. People often complain when they read rulebooks, because they are impatient. They don't realise how much effort has gone into making the rulebook as easy to read as possible, and complete, and unambiguous. When learning to become a good game designer, engaging with fellow designers and learning from one another are immensely helpful. I hope this little community of game designers will continue to be active after the competition, and we can develop more and more game designers, and better game designs from Malaysia. 

2025 is the first time we are doing the DNP competition. I hope it creates a significant impact that continues to be felt after the competition. I hope this will continue year after year, and help Malaysia find its mark in game design. 

Tranquility

The Game

Tranquility is a cooperative game and an abstract game. It has cards numbered 1 to 80, which needs to be played onto a 6x6 grid. If you manage to fill the grid before the deck runs out, you win. 

Players cannot discuss their hands or communicate in any way. This is supposed to be a silent, zen game. On your turn, you either play a card or discard two cards. At the end of your turn you draw back to your hand limit. The numbers in the grid must go from smallest at the bottom left to highest at the top right. Within each row, the numbers must increase from left to right, and the number range in a row must be higher than the row below it. So effectively this grid is a single 36-space row where numbers must go from low to high. When you play a card, if the adjacent spaces (left and right, including wrapping around to the next row) are empty, you play the card for free. If there is an adjacent number, you must pay a fee in the form of cards being discarded. The fee is the difference between the number played and the adjacent number. So if you play a 23 next to a 24, you must discard 1 card. Cards discarded like this will be lost forever, because there is no reshuffling of the discard pile. 

In addition to the number cards, there are some start cards and some finish cards in the deck. The term start card is misleading. You don't actually have to play it at the start. You just need to make sure you have played one during the game. Else you can't win. Playing a start card requires some thinking. When you do it, you will draw several cards, and you will also be forced to discard several cards. It is a time for difficult decisions. The finish card only needs to be played before you finish. You must make sure you have at least one left, so that you can play it after filling the grid. This is how you win. 

The Play

The card deck is your life points. You must complete your mission before you run out of life points. Conserving cards is important. If you need to make payment all the time, the cards won't last. You also need to be careful not to discard cards which you might need. If there is a space between two numbers, but all the cards that can fit have been discarded, you will lose. It certainly helps to card count. I'm too lazy to do that. I only try to remember some of the important or easy-to-remember numbers. E.g. if I have placed 79 in the second last spot, I will keep in mind not to discard the 80 when I draw it. 

In the early game I try not to play cards next to other cards, to avoid the need to discard cards. You know roughly which number should go where, but this is not exact math. Whether you have placed a number at a good position depends on the card draw. You can only take your best guess and hope things work out. 

The first game I played was a two-player game with Han. We weren't sure about the strategy and fumbled along, figuring things out as we played. Needless to say that game didn't go so well and we lost with two spaces we were unable to fill - this screenshot below. 

Afterwards I tried this as a solo game. Now that I understood the strategy, the game felt pretty easy. I won pretty comfortably. I think the game is easier as a solo game. With two or more players, you don't know what cards your teammates have. I wonder whether the game is too easy as a solo game and doesn't quite work. This screenshot below was taken shortly before I won the solo game. I knew I still had cards smaller than 4, and it was a matter of when I'd draw one. I already had a finish card on standby. 

The Thoughts

This is an abstract game. It is a simple cooperative game. I don't yet have a good grasp of the difficulty of winning. I believe it will be more challenging and also more interesting with more players. I don't think it works as a solo game because it seems to be too easy. But take this with a grain of salt - I have only played it once solo. The game is for 1 to 5 players. BGG says it is best with two. I'm not sure whether it is because I won the solo game easily, I find the game a little dull. It is a light game that casual players can easily ease into, and it's cooperative so if you have non-gamer friends who want to play a peaceful, non-competitive and simple game, this might work. 

Behind the scenes: Dancing Queen

 

The international edition of Dancing Queen is now out, from French publisher Matagot. This year, I am also releasing a Malaysian second edition. It uses the original art from the 2022 first edition. The international edition has different art. Unlike the first edition which was manufactured in Malaysia, this second edition is manufactured in China, with Magicraft. They have been my manufacturing partner since Snow White and the Eleven Dwarfs. There are only minor changes in the second edition. Instead of a custom tuckbox, I now use a standard two-piece box. It is sturdier. The cards won't come pre-sleeved anymore. That was a bit too much work when my interns and I did this sleeving. There will be rules in English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese. I have now added the Chinese name to the cover. The 9 main cards will not have text descriptions for their powers. The song titles remain. However the card powers will be represented using icons, to make the components more language neutral. The text descriptions of the card powers will be on the reference cards. 

Welcome to the Moon, and to New Las Vegas

The Game

Welcome to the Moon is part of a family of games - the Welcome To series. I have not played the first game in the series. This was my first time being introduced to the series. This is a roll-and-write game. Technically you don’t roll, because there are no dice. Instead you draw cards. Every round three pairs of cards are drawn, determining the three options you have. Everyone decides which pair to use and marks their individual player sheets. In this game you compete to launch colony ships to the room. Marking your player sheet translates to preparing your colony ship. Once anyone has enough points to launch, the game ends and you compare points. 

The golden rule in this game as you fill your sheet is the numbers in every row must be in increasing order. For example if you fill a 9 in a particular spot, thereafter any spot to the left must be less than 9, and any spot to the right must be more than 9. The number distribution of the cards is from 1 to 15. The middling numbers occur more frequently, the extreme numbers rarely. In each pair of cards drawn every round, one is a number and the other an icon. The icon tells you which row you can fill the number. You choose from the three pairs and then choose a valid spot on your sheet to fill the number. In case you can’t, you take a penalty (in game terms, an error). As you fill up sections on your sheet, you gain various benefits. Rocket icons increase your readiness to launch, which translates to points. There are some inactive rocket icons. For them to take effect you need to activate them first using an activate icon. There is an icon which lets you fill a spot with an X. Sometimes it is hard to fill spots due to the number restriction. When you fill an X you are not subject to this restriction. Finally there is an error icon which forces your opponents to lose points. Such attack icons in specific sections can only be activated once by the first player to complete the sections. If another player completes the same section afterwards, there is no more attack triggered. 

The icons in the corners of the number cards tell you these are the icons you can expect next round. 

As you gain rockets, you cross them off accordingly on the right. Once you cross out all these rockets, you launch and the game ends. The player who launches scores 150 points for launching, but may lose points from errors (red exclamation mark). Launching doesn't necessarily mean you win. 

You must complete a room (not the whole level) to gain the benefits. For example in the blue row (above), you only need to fill the two leftmost spots to complete that room on the left to gain its benefits. 

The Play

Welcome to the Moon is a fun game of risk assessment and completing sets. You can pursue different goals. How successful you are is somewhat dependent on luck, but your choices do make a difference. You should fill your sheet in a strategic manner to keep your options open as much as possible. You want to position yourself such that no matter what cards get revealed, there is something useful you can do. There is a wild row. Regardless of icon you can always fill a number there. It is an important safety net. You want to maximise points by activating those inactive rockets before you complete their sections. You want to have some X’s ready to fill those difficult spots. There are several tactical considerations to ponder. However there are only three pairs of cards to choose from, so you probably won’t have analysis paralysis. 

Although mostly a solo game, you do have to watch your opponents a little, because of the attack abilities. You don’t want to be at the receiving end too much. It’s nice to see a roll-and-write game have a bit of player interaction. 

The Thoughts

I find the game highly enjoyable. There are many clever little things you can do. It is satisfying to learn to manage risk well and to be able to plan your development well despite the uncertainty. The game is easy to understand and it will work for casual gamers. 

~~~~~

Welcome to New Las Vegas

This is another game in the series. After trying Welcome to the Moon as a two player game, I gave this a go but as a solo game, playing against a bot. There are several common principles, but I find the game quite different. It’s still roll-and-write, but it’s a bit more complex. You still have those three pairs of cards, but instead of choosing a pair, you choose a number from one pair, and then you must choose an icon from another pair. So instead of three options, you have six. 

The things you do in the game are different. It is not only about filling spaces. One thing you need to do is to trace the path for a VIP's limousine. He needs to make a circuit before the game ends, and certain casinos (spots in this game are called casinos) he passes by gives you benefits. If he doesn't complete the trip and return to the airport by game end, you lose points based on how far he is from the airport. 

One way you score points is having consecutive odd or even numbers. You score points based on your longest odd stretch and even stretch. You also score points for completing columns on your sheet. There are several dimensions to juggle. 

Some of the plots are empty, and you need to perform the construction action to build the casino before you can fill any number. 

The scoring sheet looks intimidating, but once each section is explained it's not that complicated. However during play there are multiple aspects to consider and prioritise, so this is a more challenging game than Welcome to the Moon. You can charge up a power (the opening ceremony track along the top) and use it for three special actions (top right). For example one special action lets you treat an icon as wild. This gives you a bit more control, but it also means more to think about on your turn. 

I'd say Welcome to the Moon is more beginner friendly, and for those who like roll-and-write games and want a bit more challenge, then go for Welcome to New Las Vegas. I personally enjoy Welcome to the Moon more. I prefer the simplicity. Welcome to New Las Vegas felt a bit like too much work. Maybe it was because I was expecting a carefree holiday but it was actually a city planner and chauffeur job. 

Dinogenics

The Game

You only need one sentence to describe the game Dinogenics. This is Jurassic Park: The Board Game. 

In terms of game mechanism, this is a worker placement game. You have several workers, and you take turns placing workers on the central game board to perform various actions. Slots are limited, and they are first-come-first-served. Things you get to do include collecting DNA samples, using them to hatch dinosaurs, building fences to make dinosaur pens, and building hotels for visitors. Everyone manages his own little island (i.e. your player board). You build your own theme park, and the more visitors you attract, the more money you'll earn. 

This is the player board. The red meeples are the visitors. Different dinosaur species have different reputation levels. Other aspects of your park can also increase your reputation. The park with higher reputation attracts more visitors. However you also need to make sure you have enough hotel rooms for your visitors. 

This is the T-rex which everyone loves. You need to collect three DNA samples (i.e. cards) to make one. This is indicated by that number at the top right corner. You can buy and sell DNA samples. The T-rex is carnivorous. You need to feed it two goats every round. If you can't, it rampages, destroying fences and buildings, and it may even eat your visitors. Yes, just like in the movie. If visitors get eaten, you will get bad press, and if such scandals are not neutralised by game end, they cost you many points. 

Only when writing this blog post I noticed that the T-rex needs a pen of at least size 3. If it doesn't get enough space, it throws a tantrum. No wonder Tommy (the T-rex I got myself near game end) was so upset. He ate a visitor! When I hatched Tommy I knew there was an upcoming event which would drive him mad. It was mating season and dinosaurs with no mate would become grumpy. However I did not understand why he lost his temper twice. I played on BoardGameArena.com and the system handled the rampaging. Now I realise the second time was due to space. I should not have played with a T-rex. The T stands for trouble! 

Event cards are revealed one round early, so that you have some time to prepare for them. This particular event above makes you lose goats. 

The Play

The game is easy to understand, because everything is designed based on the setting. Everything makes sense. The worker placement mechanism is pretty standard fare, nothing unusual or innovative, but it is practical and it works. You will fight over some spots, and you will need to make compromises. You have to make tough calls like which actions to forgo, knowing your opponents are eyeing those actions. Overall I feel the options are aplenty. You'll generally get to do the most important things you need to do. You don't interfere with your opponents much, but there are some card plays which affect them. The biggest joy in the game is making dinosaurs and running your own dinosaur zoo. 

My dinosaur park was pretty well run. It was in the final round that I slipped and fell pretty badly. I had been breeding herbivores throughout the game, so I didn't need to worry about a supply of goats. Just before the game ended, I decided I should get a T-rex too because Han next door had one. Hey it's a T-rex! It's good reputation. Unfortunately, Tommy wasn't a good boy. He broke the fences (see above), stomped my hotel, and ate my guest. What a scandal! I guess I was true to the original movie. 

Han's park was more peaceful. 

The Thoughts

Although this is a mid-weight strategy game, I would say it is a good gateway game to introduce new players to the hobby, because the theme is attractive and easy to understand. It is fun to run your own dinosaur zoo. In terms of game mechanisms, there is nothing ground-breaking for seasoned gamers, but the game works and it is a pleasure to play. It is immersive and satisfying. Maybe I'm secretly pleased that Tommy ate that annoying Karen of a visitor. 

Boardgames and parenting

On 20 Jun 2025 I did a seminar for SJK(C) Taman Connaught primary school (康乐华小) on boardgames and parenting. It was a 45-minute seminar plus 45 minutes of play time. The attendees were parents only, and they got to experience first-hand modern boardgames. For the hands-on experience part, I invited several of my local game designer friends. I wanted to get them some exposure and to help them sell their games. Unfortunately we were not allowed to do selling at the event, so we could only give out business cards and invite parents who were interested to search for us on the internet. 

They gave us certificates of appreciation

Allen's wife (in black) was one of my helpers. She was a helper in last year's activities too. 

Buddhima is my game designer friend. He is from Specky Studios and they are publishing my game Malaysian Holidays. 

Jon helped take care of this group playing my game Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves when I was busy with something else. Jon is also my game designer friend and he is currently the most active guy organising many activities and meeting many people. 

Chee Kong, designer of Zodiac Go

Qing Ye from Specky Studio

Local games in play - Chinese Flower Card

Local games in play - Furmation of Rome

King of Tokyo Duel

The Game

King of Tokyo is a highly popular game by Richard Garfield, designer of the even more popular Magic: The Gathering. These two are very different games. I have read about King of Tokyo but have not actually tried it. Now I have tried the two-player version. 

King of Tokyo Duel is a kaiju (monster) game. You are the monster. You fight the other monster while rampaging the city. This is a dice game. You roll dice to see what you get to do. You can reroll up to twice, and each time you can decide which dice to reroll and which not to. After rolling, you use your dice to perform actions. 

The different icons on the die faces mean different things. There is an icon for smacking your opponent. If you reduce your opponent's health points to zero, you win. There is an icon for healing. You can recover from your injuries. Two icons are for a tug on war on the game board. You compete to see who is causing more damage to the city and to the (human) army. This is translated to two tracks on the game board. You try to pull the marker to your end of the track. If you manage that with either one of the tracks, you win. Alternatively, if you manage to get both markers to move to about the mid point on your side, you also win. 

The other two icons are lightning bolt and exclamation mark. The bolt is money. You get to buy power cards, some of which are single-use, others give you a permanent ability. Exclamation marks are used for activating your monster's unique ability. The game comes with many different monsters, and every game you can pick a different one to play. They have different health values and unique abilities. 

The shop offers three cards. 

Some power cards come with tiles you can add to the tracks on the game board. They augment the tracks, possibly extending or shortening them, and creating new functions on some of the spaces. 

The Play

This is a simple and quick game. To win, you either knock out your opponent, or cause massive destruction. You are at the mercy of the dice. This is a game with some luck. Collecting lightning bolts to buy power cards is long-term investment. This can be risky if your opponent is going for speed. By the time you build up your abilities, you might be near defeat. So the tempo of the game is something you need to be alert about and respond to. 

Both the blue and red markers are in the lighted region on the right, which means game over. 

The Thoughts

This is a short and speedy game. It is fast and furious. There is some strategy so it is certainly not brainless. At the same time there is a fair bit of luck in the die rolls. The game is so-so for me, because I feel I don't have a lot of control. 

Dancing Queen international edition officially released

21 Jun 2025 is a special day for me, because this is the official launch date of the international edition of Dancing Queen from Matagot. They signed the game about 2 years ago. However they have a huge list of publishing projects to work through, and it really does take about 2 years from signing a game to getting it officially released. Matagot picked up Dancing Queen because they were looking to release a series of pocket games - microgames which use only a small number of cards and can fit in your shirt pocket or jeans pocket. This is the style of games which ButtonShy publishes. 

The game includes two languages, English and French

This is the wallet after removing the paper band.

The back of the wallet. 

When you open the wallet, you see two transparent pockets where you can slot cards in. These two are the French and the English rulebooks. 

Reference cards (English)

The main game components are these nine cards. In this international edition the cards are not divided into boy and girl. They are divided into green and orange types. The card powers are represented by icons and not text. This is to keep the cards language neutral. Text descriptions can be found on the reference cards. The card names, i.e. song names, still remain. 

The seven trophies and the disco ball.

Rulebook

Seeing the Cili Padi Games logo printed next to that of Matagot is a touching moment for me. 

Comparison between the Malaysia first edition (2022) and the international edition (2025). 

The rulebook of the first edition looks very minimalistic in comparison. 

Matagot gave me a few free copies because I am the designer. I took the opportunity to buy a small quantity of stock. The Malaysian second edition of Dancing Queen is coming out soon. I am not sure whether this international edition will become available in Malaysia. If you are in Malaysia and you are interested to get this international edition, contact me privately.