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.
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