Bangkok International Game Festival (BIGF) 2026

28 - 30 Aug 2026 was the Bangkok International Game Festival (BIGF) in Thailand. This was my third time exhibiting in Thailand. I first exhibited at the Thailand Boardgame Show (TBS) in 2024, and I went to TBS too in 2025. This year I wanted to try the other main boardgame event in Bangkok. Choon Ean of LUMA was at BIGF last year, and she helped me sell my games. Sales was great. So I was curious to experience BIGF myself. 

This little Malaysian flag is something new to my exhibition procedures. I will be bringing this every time I exhibit overseas. Well, maybe I can do this when in Malaysia too, to let people know I am showcasing local games. 

My new Pilgrim Poker bunting was in use for the first time. I love it. 

There were only two Malaysian exhibitors, Jon and I. The venue was TK Park (Thailand Knowledge Park) in the centralwOrld shopping mall. This giant rubber ducky was right outside the mall. This was a blow-up children's playground. 

Six Seven is a game from Hong Kong, published by Capstone (HK). This is a climbing / shedding game. One unique aspect is it has cards numbered 67. That's the highest numbered card. It's very powerful when played as a single card or in multiples of the same value, but it is not adjacent to any other number so it cannot be part of any runs (straight or straight flush). There are only a few combo types - singles, multiples, straights and straight flushes. 

When you win a sequence, you place one of your winning cards before you. It will score 1 point. You may also a token of the matching colour if you have the most in that colour (you win ties). These tokens are worth 1 point each. 

The game is played over three rounds. Each round you must play until all but one player has played all cards. The first two to do so score points, and the last takes a penalty. From the second round onwards, since there will be some cards placed before players which don't get shuffled back into the deck, the deck composition will be different. Some cards have mandatory special powers, like the 6 above which forces you to take a card from another player. 

If you like climbing games, this is worth checking out. I'm not from the 67 generation so that joke is not effective on me, but I know that people will sit down to play just because the game is called Six Seven. 

This is a deduction game from Korea which has been licensed to be published in Japan. The name in English is Prisoner's Night.

You're all in jail. Every player gets a crime card, which is what you are in for. However one of the players is secretly an undercover cop who hasn't committed any crime. To win the game as a regular prisoner, you must find the cop. If you catch the wrong guy, the cop wins. This card above was what I got - drunk driving. 

Question cards are drawn, and all players secretly play a yes or no answer based on their crimes. For example one question is whether the crime needs to be meticulously planned. In my case of drunk driving, my answer was no. Up to five questions might be revealed. If anyone has answered yes three times, the questioning ends early. All players' crime cards are shuffled and an extra crime is added. They cards are then all laid out, and players now discuss and must decide who they think is the undercover cop. You can tell others which crime is yours, and why you have given your answers that way. If you can explain it well, the others will believe you. If you are the cop, you initially do not know which crime belongs to who, and which is the new crime. You have been answering the questions blindly, and somehow you need to be able to convince others you are a criminal too. 

In the game we played, Kimkun was the cop and he won easily. The answers he had given happened to match the new crime perfectly. He kept quiet during the early discussion so that others would speak more and give away more information. Most of us were sure the cop was another player due to his answers being iffy. We were wrong.

Ping was my assistant for Friday. She has not exhibited before but she's a gamer. She was a great help. Her favourite games are tile laying games like Cascadia. 

My booth was in a side room and not in the main open area. Mercenary Squad was one of the games displayed at my room. It looks great!

I taught Ping how to demo Pilgrim Poker.

We made sure the Malaysian flag was visible in this photo.

The event was very international. We had exhibitors from Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Korea, Japan, and Indonesia. 

Lionwake is from Taiwan and the art is fantastic. You might think the lion looks weird, but this is because it is based on the lions in the traditional Chinese lion dance. I love the idea. 

Dragonarium is from the same booth.

Food Alley is from both Indonesia and Germany. This is designed by Simon Schmieder who is German, and he lives in Indonesia.

Food Alley contains three different games using most of the same components.

ButaBabel is from Japan, and this edition I played is from Taiwan (Homosapiens Lab). This is a simple and frantic real-time game. 

There are only three types of cards - rock, paper and scissors. Everyone has a hand of three, and also one stack of cards (starting with one card) before them. Once the game starts, you can play cards to any stack, whether your own or those of other players, as long as you follow the rock-paper-scissors rule. E.g. you can only play a rock on a scissors. Everything happens in real time. After you play a card, you draw a new one. The game is played until the draw decks are exhausted. Then the player with the highest stack wins. The twist is you are disqualified if your stack is 3 or more higher than the next highest stack. So this is not only about building the highest stack. You want to make sure you are not too far from the next guy. So you may want to help the next guy. Or if you are in second place, push the leader so far ahead that he gets disqualified. In our game, I had 14 and I was second highest. The highest had 17, and he was immediately disqualified. The one after me had 13, so I was safe, and I won. In the frenzy during play, I find it impossible to keep track of everything accurately, so you probably have to guess. However I can also imagine people who are more experienced with the game playing more carefully, and playing it slower so they can keep count. 

Knock Knock Out is also from Homosapiens Lab of Taiwan. Everyone has some hand cards. There is also a row of cards at the centre. Your goal is to have seven different monsters, formed using a combination of your hand cards and the central row. On your turn you can reveal cards from the deck to add it to the central row. Whenever you reveal a card, you execute its power. You can reveal as many cards as you want on your turn. However if you reveal a card that duplicates with another in the central row, you are forced to take both into your hand. That's not necessarily a good thing, because if you get seven cards in hand without achieving the objective, you automatically lose. 

Some of the monsters in the game

Pilgrim Poker in play

My assistant for Saturday and Sunday was Chris (Apiwat). He has been my assistant every time I exhibited in Bangkok. 

A six player game (max) of Pilgrim Poker

The crowd and the retail sales at the event was not as good as I had hoped for. Some other exhibitors who were there last year mentioned that it was indeed weaker than last year. Still, it was good to have made some new connections. There were many familiar faces, but also several publishers and designers I had not met before. 

Although retail sales was not great, I did manage to do good B2B sales. Several retailers were interested in buying my games in bulk. Wisebox from Thailand bought many copies. They bought many copies when we were in Manila for the Asian Board Games Festival Philippines (ABGF PH), and I am thrilled to learn that they had sold all those games I supplied to them just three months ago. I am happy that my games are doing well in Thailand. 

What I am most excited about now is that I am in discussions with two potential publishing partners to have Pilgrim Poker localised in other countries. They tried my game and they enjoyed it. They think the game has good potential. This is the best kind of outcome I can hope for when exhibiting at overseas game fairs. We are still in early stages of discussion. Well technically we have not started discussing. I only have an expression of interest. However I am hopeful that Pilgrim Poker can find overseas publishers and reach a wider audience outside of Malaysia. 

My old friend Teck Kang and his daughter came to the fair. We played both Pilgrim Poker and Pinocchio. 

One thing I felt strongly about the boardgame industry in Thailand is how many influencers and content creators there are. I saw many people taking photos and videos. In my social media feeds I saw much information shared by different people. I was interviewed by Mark Chobb, one of the top boardgame influencers in Thailand. My segment is near the end at 1:04:57 - https://youtu.be/RvqN003KkIQ?si=DpLhGrV48EYyA6_P&t=3897. 

During a chat with my Thai friends, they mentioned one influencer team Board Booster (https://www.youtube.com/@BoardBoosterChannel) who take fantastic photos. They showed me the Board Booster team, and said if I had the chance to give them reviewer copies it would be helpful in getting exposure. And then the next day when I returned to my booth after a discussion, I found a few guys fiddling with game components and positioning them for photo taking. The component placement style looked familiar, and I quickly recognised the faces. It was the Board Booster team! They had already bought my game. Here's Board Booster on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boardbooster.playhouse/,  https://www.instagram.com/boardbooster.bg/.

The Capstone Hong Kong team (Rachel and Edward) is developing an Old Master Q (老夫子)  game. I grew up with this comic character and it's great to see a game with him and his friends. This is still a prototype so the eventual product might not be exactly like this. Rachel and Edward asked several of us to playtest the game and to give feedback.

This is a shedding game, in that your goal is to get rid of all your cards. Every round, everyone plays a card in turn order. Most cards are in one of five flavours (suits). Players who play the same flavour are temporary allies. The card values are summed up by flavours. The highest flavour(s) wins. Whoever is not in the highest flavour (or flavours) must draw a card. Ideally you want to keep being on the winning team, so that every round you will have one card fewer, until you eventually play your last card. 

This is fun because you will try to join forces with others, sometimes against their will. Whether you can join your preferred team is subject to you having the right flavours. Some special cards create unexpected results. You may change the flavour of another card, causing that player to join your team. You may even disable the value of a card. 

The high cards have no flavour. If you play a high card, you are on your own and you won't be able to join any team, unless someone else uses a special power to convert you to one of the flavours. 

Edward and Rachel from Capstone, Hong Kong. They helped me playtest my Dream of the Red Chamber game, together with Jon (right) and Mike from Swan Panasia (not in photo). 

I brought a demo copy of Malaysian Holidays, but I did not have enough luggage space to bring stock to sell. I brought a demo copy so that if I had a chance to pitch to an overseas publisher I could do that. This group of fair visitors saw the game and wanted to try it, so I taught them the game. The guy on the right is Malaysian, and his friends teased him that if he didn't win, it would mean his patriotism was questionable. To his relief he did win. 

My long-term assistant Chris (Apiwat). This was his third time helping me.

I sold out all copies of Pilgrim Poker that I brought. About half were sold throughout the weekend to visitors, and at the end of the fair, several retailers and distributors bought the rest. I'm glad that many who played it liked it. Most people understood the tactics quickly. Some visitors fooled me at my own game, tricking me into folding when I had a strong card. I joked with them that Thai people cannot be trusted and I didn't want to return anymore.  

I took this photo only at the end of the fair

This was the main area of BIGF. There were four sections. The one in the foreground is the first section you see after walking in. Jelly Jelly Games (Japan), Origame (Singapore) and Swan Panasia (Taiwan) were here. In the background on the left is the second section. Capstone (Hong Kong) and Paix (Japan) were here. There were several Thai publishers here too. On the right in the background is a raised area. That's the third section. Homosapiens Lab (Taiwan), Ryusei Games (Japan) and Larong Atin (Philippines) were here. I was in a smaller hall to the right, accessed through the raised section. Straight on in this photo and in the background is an event hall. Some activities were conducted here, including showcase sessions for local influencers, pitching sessions by Thai designers, and a meet and greet with Daniele Tascini (Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar, The Voyages of Marco Polo, Teotihuacan: City of Gods). 

My booth was in this room, together with nPips (Malaysia), Spiel the Game (Indonesia / Germany), and Underdog Games (Korea). 

This is the view from the raised area. Most have packed up by this time.

Bye-bye and see you next year!

Milk brought Jon and I to visit this boardgame cafe called Dice Cup. 

Comfortable private rooms

They have two floors, and this is upstairs. 

The edges of the tables are raised, I think to prevent game components from being accidentally pushed off the table. 

THB 50 (about MYR 6) per hour of gaming, THB 180 (MYR 22) for a full day, THB 240 (MYR 30) for a whole weekend. This is much cheaper than Malaysia. 

Nice ambience! They have a shop section too. 

Milk (right) from Board Game Night (BGN) brought Jon and I out for dinner. She is the organiser of the Thailand Boardgame Show (TBS), which I have been to twice. This year it is happening in November, but I might not be there this time round. When Jon organised Malaysia Boardgame Show (MBS) earlier this year, it was modelled after TBS. We learned a lot from Milk and she is very willing to share her experiences and insights. 

I found photos taken by Board Booster! So I am happily sharing them here. 

I love this product shot!

I think all of these were taken with just phones, not professional cameras.

Group photo!

We flew from Bangkok back to Kuala Lumpur on Merdeka Day.

In the past few years I have exhibited in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Sabah), Thailand, and the Philippines. This year I will be exhibiting in Taiwan for the first time. Throughout these exhibitions, it has been wonderful to get connected with other designers and publishers, learning from them, being inspired by them, and sharing stories. Most of us share the same challenges and dreams. We share the same passion. Recently I have been having doubts about what I am doing as a designer and indie publisher. Maybe I'm feeling burnt out. I sometimes dread some of the things I know I should be doing. Things I need to be doing. Spending time with friends, seeking their views, and hearing their stories give me new perspectives and encouragement. 

Jon is my regular partner in crime. We spoke about our business model as small businesses. Our business model now doesn't seem to make sense. I wonder whether I'm really running a small business. Based on the numbers, I am more like having an expensive hobby. I always have a nagging feeling that I'm being financially irresponsible. Jon sees this a little differently. He knows he is spending time and money and this whole thing is not making financial ROI now, but he sees gains in many other aspects. He enjoys making games, traveling, making friends internationally, learning new things. His full-time work allows him enough spare time and the means to do all this boardgame stuff. So why the hell not? I should not be measuring everything in life using a simple financial statement. 

Freddie is passionate about promoting Filipino and Asian game designers. He believes we need to reach out to and create a fanbase. In the Philippines, people appreciate the arts, and when people know you and your story, they want to support you. He believes indie designers and publishers must build connections with their fanbase. We don't have the marketing budget of the international brands, but we have the local touch and the personal touch. 

Simon's ideas for games amaze me. Many small day-to-day experiences can be turned into a game. Poking fun at life can be done through a boardgame. When you are an observer of people and of life, you can find the humour and put it in a game, and this is something people can relate to and will appreciate. Syn believes in collaboration and indie publishers supporting one another. Mike shared with me an insight I had not thought of when I designed my game boxes. To represent the rulebook languages I have inside the box, I put the USA and British flags to mean English, the China flag to mean Simplified Chinese, and the Hong Kong and Taiwan flags to mean Traditional Chinese. The Taiwan flag might be a problem if I plan to sell my games in China, due to political reasons. I had not considered that. Oops. Aum shared with me her experiences at Beijing Dice Con, one of the biggest boardgame fairs in China. Booths are expensive. In China the prices of boardgames are low. It is a competitive market. Exhibiting in China is not a decision to be taken lightly. Without the right business model and infrastructure, plus good planning and preparation, it could become an expensive lesson for me. 

The many insights and inspiration I get from my friends make me think about how we can grow the boardgame market in Asia. I believe Asia and South East Asia are growing markets with huge potential. We have a mission to bring the joy of boardgames to more people. 

I and grateful for my friends in the boardgame circle, who are a little mad to be doing all this, just like me.