Kinokuniya demo

 

Sunday 17 May 2026 12:00 - 18:00 I will be at Kinokuniya Bookstore at Damansara Heights Pavilion demoing Snow White and the Eleven Dwarfs and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. If you have not tried them, come visit me!

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves 2nd edition

It's a scary thing to browse the ratings and comments page of my own games on BoardGameGeek.com. It's not easy to take criticism. I try my best not to be defensive about my games. I try to understand why some don't like my games. I try to learn from feedback my games receive. The most important thing about rejection is what we learn from them. And then there are some comments which give me huge encouragement. 

I came across this comment from a gamer in the US about Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves: "Seems a luckfest at first, then you realize that you can share info to collude, then you realize that you can give false info for your own gain..."  It is such a wonderful feeling to feel understood. I know one of the weaknesses of my games is that the fun part is not immediately apparent. In an age of short attention spans and more new games than anyone can keep up with, this is a handicap. It was a very moving moment for me to read this comment. A fellow gamer from the other side of the world understands what I am trying to do with my design, and he appreciates it. 

I ran out of stock of my first print run of Ali Baba around mid of the year. In preparing for the second print run, I made few changes. The first batch of games has just landed. I was a little late in starting work on this, resulting in a tight timeline. I needed the games to be ready in time for the upcoming Thailand Boardgame Show in Bangkok 7 - 9 Nov 2025. To be safe, I had to arrange some of the games to be sent by air. The rest would be by sea. 

One thing I added in the second edition is Chinese language. Both Simplified and Traditional Chinese rules are added. I added Chinese text to the cover too. I am hoping to promote my game in the Chinese language world, not only the Chinese community in Malaysia, but also China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. One interesting point which Jon shared with me was adding Chinese to the cover might cheapen the look, and I realise I do agree with that. When I pick up a boardgame, if it is a Chinese edition, I automatically wonder whether this is a pirated copy. There is an association with inferiority. This is a problem with Malaysians. We still have this mindset, even though by now most of the boardgames from international brands that we buy and play are made in China. 

I also needed to do some standardisation. In the first edition, I had forgotten to put my logo on the box front. Yes, rookie mistake. The cover has not been designed to allow for the logo, and adding the logo now makes the whole thing look a little too busy. But I think I should have the brand up front.

I wanted the "2nd edition" to be prominent, because I wanted the cover to say "this game is so good  that they needed to print a 2nd edition". So yes. Marketing. 

For this printing I went through the formal CE testing. This is in preparation to be able to export the game with minimal hassle. 

Three rulebooks in different languages

I make use of the four sides of the bottom box piece to advertise my other games - Pinocchio, Snow White and Dancing Queen. 

1st and 2nd edition comparison - box front

1st and 2nd edition comparison - box back

I love taking shots like this

There is no change to the components or gameplay

Ali Baba launched at Portland Game Collective

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves is now launched at Portland Game Collective! If you are in the USA, this will be a much easier and faster way for you to buy the game. Visit their page at: https://portlandgamecollective.bigcartel.com/product/ali-baba-and-the-forty-thieves 

boardgaming in photos: Ponzi Scheme, Innovation, Attika, Sabah Honeymoon

I was back in my hometown Kota Kinabalu recently. I met up with an old friend, Nicholas, a classmate from secondary school, to play boardgames. After graduating from secondary school we lost touch for some time. I only found out he was into boardgaming a few years ago. Once in a while we meet when I'm back in KK. This was the first time we met up to actually play games. I brought my prototype of Pinocchio and I asked for his help to blind test it, i.e. he and his group read the rules by themselves to play the game, pretending I am not present. After the blind test, we played other games. One of them was Ponzi Scheme. I had played Ponzi Scheme before, but it had been quite some time so I had forgotten most of the rules. 

My impression from when I first played the game was the mechanisms were solid, but the game felt a little dull. Every turn, you must start a scheme, which will earn you some money, but you will commit to making a payout of a specific amount to your investors every few rounds. You must honour the payout if you can, because the moment anyone fails to do so, the game ends, and that player is automatically disqualified from winning. The other players compare points from their companies to see who wins. There are four types of companies. You can start a company each time you launch a scheme. Your first company of a type scores 1 point, the second scores 2 points, the third 3 points, and so on. So you want to have many companies of the same type. During the game you can buy companies from or sell them to other players. You send a private bid to an opponent who has a same company type as you. They must either sell their company to you at that price, or buy yours at that price. This mechanism can be a way to force someone to sell their company to you, or to buy your company. 

Having played the game again, my impression remains the same. The mechanism is pretty solid. I don't see this in other games, so it is unique. Unfortunately the game feels a little dry to me. The bland art makes the play experience less exciting. Other editions of the game look better. The theme of scamming people also makes me feel a little uncomfortable. 

There is a gamer group in Ara Damansara which meets regularly, and they share what they play. It always makes me happy to see other people playing my games, in this case Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. 

I played Attika with younger daughter Chen Rui. We are both quite familiar with the game by now so we do not need to do any rules revision. We bring out the game occasionally. In this particular game, I (green) attempted to connect the two temples in the early game. Now in Attika winning by connecting temples is not easy to do. It is difficult to execute and easy to defend against. However sometimes it is worth doing because you can force your opponent to make suboptimal moves to defend against such an attack. If you can disrupt the tempo of your opponent, that gives you an edge in efficiency.

My first attempt to connect the temples was blocked. I continued trying, picking a right moment to drop that new terrain tile at the top right. That terrain tile opened up a new opportunity.

I caught Chen Rui off guard. She had just placed several buildings on that terrain tile on the left, and she was short on resource cards in hand. I managed to place that one last tile to connect the two temples, and subsequently won the game. 

We played Innovation. Chen Rui had played this before but she had forgotten how to play. In recent weeks we played quite a lot of this, so by now she knows she game well. It took her many games to finally get her first victory. There were a few times she came close, but Innovation is a game with unexpected twists, and sometimes just one specific and timely card can turn the tide. When she eventually won her first game she was overjoyed. Since we played a two-player game, we rarely reached the 8th age. Most games ended around the 6th or 7th age. 

After many years, I still think Innovation is a splendid game. It feels like every other card is overpowered. Yet often they are only overpowered under certain situations. There can be sudden twists of fate. There is always some excitement about whether you will draw the next killer card. Building a strong and stable empire is important. It protects you from attack and allows you make use of other players' actions. However it does not guarantee points. Sometimes opportunities to score points (called achievements in Innovation) pop up, and you just have to grab them, even if it means sacrificing part of your empire. 

After this recent spurt of Innovation, I feel the game is quite luck-heavy. If you are unlucky and don't draw scoring cards, it can be very difficult to catch up. That can be frustrating. Sometimes you draw the perfect card for your situation and you'll score lots of points. Still, you can take solid steps to build your empire, and there are cards you can anticipate. You also need to digest the situation and find the best use of the cards you draw. There is still much you can do to keep improving your situation, and that's what makes you feel you have some control. Well, maybe when I play even more of the game I'll see more strategic aspects and I'll have an even better appreciation of strategies that reduce the dependence on luck. 

I recently shipped two cartons of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves to USA. A US-based retailer Portland Game Collective contacted me and they were interested to stock Ali Baba. This was my first time distributing the game to the US, so I was pretty excited. I hope the game does well and I'm glad to see it reach more gamers in America. 

My old boardgame kaki (fellow enthusiast / partner) Allen has moved to Singapore because of work. Three of us - Allen, Han and I - used to be referred to as the Midah Group. We played together regularly and we played a good variety of games. Now we are all in different places - Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Johor Bahru. We still meet up and play once in a while. Allen has been visiting some discount stores and he often found good deals. Not long ago he bought for me Ticket to Ride: Nederlands. Then recently he bought for me 7 Wonders Duel: Pantheon. Had I come across these expansions at regular prices, I probably would not have bought them. However when he found them at super deep discounts, I could not resist. I tell myself this must be fate, and who am I to defy fate. Pantheon was SGD3.00, which is less than MYR10! Normal price is about RM115. That's more than 90% off! 

This year, Gray from Kaki Tabletop has been hosting game nights at Xiao by Crustz. Mostly on Friday nights, 8pm - 11pm. These are public meetups. Entrance fee is RM35, which includes one drink. Sometimes there are themed nights. Sometimes he has local designers showcasing their games. I arranged with Gray to join one such session to demo Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. 

Xiao is a very nice place, comfy and classy. There was quite a crowd when I was there. In addition to boardgames, there were people doing roleplaying games. I taught players Ali Baba, and also managed to playtest several of my designs in progress. This one above is Sabah Honeymoon. 

Opportunities to observe others play my games are precious. Through observation I can learn a lot. One thing about Sabah Honeymoon is I definitely need to make the board bigger, at least double the size.

The presentation day for the game design competition organised by STTOS is 19 April. A few of my game designer friends are going to fly all the way to Kota Kinabalu to present their games (a 2.5-hour flight). I am a Sabahan myself but I won't be making the trip for the presentation. I will be doing my presentation online. Every contestant is only given 15 minutes to present. There won't be enough time to complete a full game. There are quite many participants, so I dare not have too high hopes. I am just happy that this competition gave me the inspiration and motivation to create a game about my home state Sabah. It was a fun and fulfilling experience. Also, I rarely design games with boards. For this competition I designed one with a board and that was an interesting aspect of game design to explore and learn.

In Sabah Honeymoon, you play a newlywed couple. You've agreed to go to Sabah for your honeymoon. However the two of you have different must-see attractions. You need to plan a trip where both of you get to go where you want, plus some other new experiences. In the photo above, the first card on the left is your honeymoon card. This is your secret objective. To win the game, you need to be first to plan an itinerary which covers all five destinations on your honeymoon card. Gameplay is simple. During the game you collect cards and then spend them to make bookings. You'll book flights, entry passes, overnight stays, boat trips and so on. Designing and crafting this game has been a happy journey in itself. Everything in the game reminds me of home.  

Boardgaming in photos: about Malaysia and holidays

Once in a while I do a gathering with Ruby, Edwin and Benz, my ex-colleagues. This time Xiaozhu had a last-minute matter to attend to and couldn't join us. I asked them to help me playtest Malaysian Holidays. They are all big fans of Japan, so when the Japan destination card came out, everyone was keen to score it. 

I initiated a small collaboration project with fellow designers and publishers in Malaysia, to help one another promote and sell games. I place some of my games with them, and they place some of theirs with me. Whenever I attend any boardgame related event or gathering, or even on some private occasions, I bring a bag of local-published games to sell. Doing boardgame publishing in Malaysia is difficult. You wouldn't be doing it if not for a great passion for boardgames. The market in Malaysia is tiny. It is underdeveloped. There are Malaysian gamers. Most play international games and not many pay attention to local games. I was one such gamer myself. Local designers and publishers need to work together to grow the local market. 

A gamer from Belarus visited Malaysia, and bought a copy of Dancing Queen. I'm always excited to learn that Dancing Queen has reached yet another country. Even I have not been to Belarus. 

Those few days after the designer diary of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves was released on BoardGameGeek, I received several international orders. They kept me busy packing games and making post office runs. I'm happy to be able to sell my games internationally. The effects of publishing this designer diary remind me that I need to do a better job at marketing my games. A big part of doing publishing well is marketing, and I know it is one of my weaknesses. Also it is not exactly what I enjoy doing. Just that I know I should be doing it. I still hope to find good publishers for my games. I would prefer to let people with the skills and the reach to do it than to do it myself. I enjoy doing the game design and development part. 

One first time experience for me was selling to a gamer from Saudi Arabia. Being able to sell Ali Baba, an Arabian themed game, to a buyer from Saudi Arabia is a wonderful feeling. 

I had the joy of playing again No Thanks. This is a game from 2004, which was roughly when I got into the hobby. I remember first playing it using cards from Category 5 (6 Nimmt). I also remember playing a copy at Witch House in Taiwan. For many years I never properly owned this game. Only last year I bought the latest version. Now it comes with expansions. I have not yet played the expansions. I find even the base game great fun. We did a 6 player game.

In this game you want to minimise taking cards, because the numbers on the cards are all negative points. Every round a card is revealed and when your turn comes, you either take it or pay money to a pool. Money is positive points. The pool will grow. When you take a card, you take the money in the pool too. So at some point the pool will be attractive enough for people to be willing to take the card. Sometimes someone will run out of money and will be forced to take the card. The important twist in the game is when you have consecutive numbers, only the lowest number in the sequence counts. If you have the 24, you do not fear the 25. The 25 card does not affect you, but it's minus 25 points to others. You will be happy to let others contribute a ton of money to the pool before you take the card. It's a simple game, but very clever. 

This is a game design I am working on - Sabah Honeymoon. This is my entry for a game design competition run by an organisation based in Singapore which promotes trade and tourism in Sabah. I come from Sabah, so I was excited to learn about a competition which is about my home state. This time I decided I needed to make a game with a board. I feel to make a game about tourism, having a map makes the game more relatable. 

Buddhima and Jon helped me playtest Sabah Honeymoon and gave me several good suggestions. 

My old friends Ah Chung and Moh Yen helped me playtest Malaysian Holidays. I have two works in progress related to holidays. I have decided that Malaysian Holidays will proceed to publication. I hope this can be released in 2025 too. However this publishing project may be a little different from my previous games. Hopefully it works out. 

Malaysia is a country with many public holidays. I wanted to make a game which is relatable for Malaysians, and I thought this topic of public holidays would be great. On social media, every year near the end of the year there will be people doing analyses about the public holidays of the following year. They list public holidays which fall on Mondays and Fridays, because these mean long weekends. They also list public holidays which fall on Tuesdays and Thursday, because by taking a one-day annual leave (on Mondays or Fridays) you can have a four-day stretch of holidays. You can plan traveling during these long weekends. This kind of thinking is common among Malaysians. The game aims to convey the joy of public holidays. Photo courtesy of Choon Ean. 

Designer Diary - Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

The designer diary I wrote for BoardGameGeek has just been published: https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1/blogpost/170055/designer-diary-ali-baba-and-the-forty-thieves

boardgaming in photos: Chinese New Year in Sabah

Chinese (Lunar) New Year has come and gone. It is now the Year of the Snake. One gift my wife Michelle received this year came in this pretty wooden box, which had a snakes and ladders game board on the cover. I guess that's appropriate because it's the Year of the Snake. 

I spend most Chinese New Year holidays at my hometown Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, East Malaysia. This trip I brought some of my prototypes back for playtesting. I asked my family to playtest Malaysian Holidays for me. We tried three different rulesets. I wanted to test the flow of the game to make sure it is suitable for casual gamers. 

I taught my niece and nephew Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. I suddenly felt like Uncle Roger when I said niece and nephew. They were able to follow. Lauren (10) was a little confused about multiplication (there is one x2 card in the game), but she ended up winning. Oswald (12) won a game too. I was the only one who didn't win. Hmmph... beginner's luck.

Mahjong Rummy is a Chinese New Year staple. Three generations at the same table. Not many boardgames can do this. 

Michelle had an annual gathering with her girl friends, and all the husbands and children went together. I asked the children to help me playtest Taking Sides. I brought Snow White and the Eleven Dwarfs too to let them play. Two years ago before I decided to publish it, I had shown them the game, also at this annual gathering. They were highly engaged in playing the game, and it was partly their response to the game which made me decide to go ahead with publishing Snow White. So this time bringing them the published version of the game was a meaningful occasion. They had contributed to this game getting published. 

They had mostly forgotten how to play, but they picked it up quickly. As dwarfs they gave very clever clues, clues which minimised helping Snow White. It was not those weak ones like my number is larger than yours, or our numbers are even numbers. Due to the higher complexity of the clues given, playing the game was more mentally taxing. These are smart kids. 

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves is here!

My third game is now released - Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. I have been very busy with work, and have not had much time to work on marketing and distributing the game. There is still a lot I need to do. The first region I was able to distribute to was Penang. I had a work trip scheduled, so I took the opportunity to make appointments with boardgame cafes up north to show them the game and to see whether they are interested to stock the game. Now I need to work on the KL / PJ area. 

I checked my records, and found that I have been working on Ali Baba for more than two years. It has undergone many changes and adjustments. Holding the final product in my hand was a sentimental moment. 

The Ali Baba box is much thicker than Snow White and Dancing Queen, because it comes with many coins. 

Mock-up of game in progress

One unexpected bonus is the box opening experience. When packing the game away, if you place the rulebook and the cards at the bottom and the coins on top of them, the next time you open the box to play it will be a nice experience. You will feel like you are opening a chest of gold coins. It's like discovering treasure. I did not explicitly plan to create such a feeling. I realised it only when experienced it myself. It was a happy unplanned perk. 

More details: https://www.cilipadigames.com/ali-baba