milestone checkpoint: 5 published games

I have a mid-career crisis with my boardgame designing and publishing business, not unlike mis-life crises people have. What am I doing? Where am I going with this? What do I want to achieve with this? I've had this discussion with myself many times, and I thought I had my conclusions. But then I started asking myself the same questions again. 

The most recent recurrence of self-doubt was triggered by something which should be good news. I need to reprint Snow White and the Eleven Dwarfs because I'm running out of stock. Wisebox from Thailand bought all the remaining stock I brought to the Asian Board Game Festival in Penang back in July. It seems Snow White is well received in Thailand. The game is not selling all that fast in Malaysia. I only printed 500 copies. I'm running out of stock now partly because I still have stock on consignment with some of the bigger retailers like Book Xcess, Kinokuniya and MPH Bookstores. I have not actually sold these copies. All this while I have been planning to let this game go out-of-print once I sell my print run. And then Thailand gave me hope. In the grand scheme of things, 500 copies is a tiny print run. A proper game publishing business cannot live on such small print runs. If I am serious about running this as a business, I need to commit more effort to market my games. I ask myself, is Snow White a product that can only sell 500 copies? If it is only good enough for that, then I shouldn't reprint it. But what if the problem is me not being committed enough to properly market it? 

When I think about printing another 1000 copies of Snow White, I suddenly feel tired, even before the battle is joined. How am I going to sell these 1000 copies of the game? How long will it take? I feel I should reprint it. If I'm serious about this business, I need to muster the grit to do this. I need to work harder to get exposure for Snow White. Yet I have a nagging feeling that in my heart I don't really want to be a publisher. I just want to be a designer. This was one conclusion I have given myself before in one of my previous soul-searching episodes. 

Another recent trigger that made me question myself was Rebels of the Three Kingdoms getting a publication opportunity. There is a publisher interested, and this is the second publisher the game has attracted. Based on my previous conclusion and the direction I had set for myself, I should just say yes. I have told myself that getting more of my games published is more important that building the Cili Padi Games brand. Yet I hesitate. Rebels of the Three Kingdoms was going to be my game publishing project for 2026. If I license it to another publisher, what game will I publish next year? I don't have a suitable candidate now. Cili Padi Games publishes small card games in a particular style, and at the moment I don't have something else that fits in its product line. I suddenly have a fear, an emptiness, for not having a game scheduled for Cili Padi Games next year. 

When my brain tells me something, but my guts tell me something else, it means I need to look in the mirror and rethink. 

What's the Goal?

In my full-time business being a leadership trainer, one framework I teach is called OTJM, which means Objective, Target Audience, Job to be Done, and Measure. It is a tool to help you do your work right, and to make sure projects stay on course and achieve their goals. One Objective I have given myself before was I want to let more Malaysians know about boardgames, and enjoy boardgames. I have gained much happiness through boardgames. I made wonderful memories with family and friends. In Malaysia the awareness about modern boardgames is low. So I want to spread the love. 

At one point, this was the conclusion I arrived at. I do think boardgames can help children learn. It makes happy families. It develops communication skills and empathy. It is a medium for people to make connections. Boardgames bring a human touch to how we entertain ourselves. Senior citizens can play to stay mentally active. The list of why boardgames are good goes on and on. Sometimes I just go back to a simple fact - boardgames is something that brings joy. 

But maybe I am not as altruistic or idealistic as I thought. One thing I realise is when I tell myself to pick a goal, I subconsciously shy away from declaring I want to make money, like it's a dirty word. 

About Money

Money should not be a dirty word. I know it's hard to make a living out of boardgames. In Malaysia only some retailers and boardgame cafe owners and operators manage it. Very few game designers and publishers manage this. Most of us have other full-time jobs. Society and culture sometimes make us think that wanting to make money is bad or shameful. When I consider my possible goals for running a boardgame business, money is always listed as an option, but it sits in a dark corner and I only occasionally poke it with a ten-foot pole. 

I realise money as a goal is more nuanced topic than how I think of it. I have oversimplified it. Since getting into publishing, I've always told myself to be financially responsible. This should not be an ego-stroking exercise. I must not burn money and end up with hundreds of unsellable products at home. This is going to be a proper business, that makes games truly worth publishing, and I am going to put in effort to market these games. I will be spending money, so I cannot ignore money. Don't burn money. 

Money as a goal comes in different forms. It can be as simple as treating my boardgame business as a hobby that doesn't cost me too much money. Creating games and getting them to people who like them can be a hobby. I can just aim to break even financially, and what I get from this hobby is the joy of making games, and the satisfaction of bringing happiness to people. 

Alternatively I can aim to build a stable side income from my boardgame business. Maybe I'll eventually become a pure game designer working with multiple publishers, and if my games do reasonably well, I'll get some stable royalty income. Not enough to feed me maybe. Just some pocket money. Maybe it can be a passive income for when, or if, I retire. 

I can also aim to build a business that will eventually feed my family. Not immediately or any time soon, but if that's the long-term objective, my decisions today will be geared towards this end goal. 

Now that I break down the money goal, I realise it's a question I must answer. And my answer is A. Just don't burn money. Enjoy your hobby responsibly. Maybe one day it will offer me opportunities to make more money, but I'll leave that mid-career crisis for another time. 

Being Honest

If my goal is to help more Malaysians learn about and enjoy boardgames, there are many ways other than being a designer and publisher. I should be going to non-boardgame events because most people at boardgame events are already converts. I can start a TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Red Note (小红书) or YouTube channel. I'm already blogging, but blogging may not be an effective way to reach out to a large number of non-gamers. I should make mass market games and find channels to reach out to non-gamers. In fact, I have been exploring this. I chose to publish Pinocchio because it is simple. I price it so that non-gamers will be more willing to try it. There are enough retailers in Malaysia, so it's not something I should go into. Parents now worry about their kids being glued to phones and devices. Tabletop games can attract parents with this as a hook - get your kids off devices, and spend quality time as a family. 

I now come to a realisation that I don't need a noble cause. I should be honest with myself. I don't have to force myself to have a lofty goal. I don't need to impress anyone. Yes it will be nice to introduce the joy and wonder of boardgames to others, but I don't necessarily have to make it my job. It can be a by-product of what I do. 

I'm just doing something which makes me happy. I've been happily playing games and blogging for 20 years. Creating games and sharing them with people is an extension of that. It makes me happy to create a good game. I don't necessarily have to make Malaysia proud. It makes me happy to have created something that I can leave behind and be proud of. 

When I started publishing my first game, I said I would do a checkpoint by the time I have five published games. My fifth game is Malaysian Holidays, on track to be released before the end of this year by Specky Studio, who published My Rainforest, Jom Burger and Durian Runtuh. I have been reflecting on my goals and plans well before this checkpoint. I now think I need not worry too much about what I might achieve in 10 years, or even 5 years. Now my goal is just to create some good games while not burning money. If this helps in achieving the other more noble goals, that's a bonus. I will focus on doing today the right things which will push me in the right direction. I may or may not reach some of those bigger goals, but I will be placed somewhere I am happy and also most probably nearer to what I might decide to achieve later, when I have my next self-reflection episode. 

One of the cards in Malaysian Holidays

Yes, I will reprint Snow White. It may take a while to sell, but I shall be patient, and I shall make more efforts to market it. This applies to my other game titles too. If I want to make games people will play, I should aim for bigger print runs. Also most likely I will license Rebels of the Three Kingdoms to the publisher who believes in it and wants to publish it. My goal is to get more games out, not to become a publisher. In the mean time I need to continue to work on my game design projects. Maybe I will later have one ready for the Cili Padi Games product line in 2026. 

Deus

Deus is a game from 2014. Back then it was nominated for many game awards. I remember it as a highly regarded game. I did not have a chance to play it then. I only played it for the first time recently, and I played on online implementation. 

In Deus, you develop your nation one building at a time. Some help you score points during the game. You will capture barbarian villages and earn points. Temples you build will score points at game end. Leftover resources in every type will be compared among the players, and whoever has the most scores points. So yes, this is a point-scoring Eurogame. 

The core mechanism in the game is based on card play, and it's a very smart system. Simple yet effective. Cards come in six colours. Five of them are related to five different Greek gods. They are also related to specific building types, and specific aspects of your nation, like trading, military, or resource production. The sixth colour (purple) is related to temples. To build one temple, you need to have first built one each of the other five building types. A temple scores points at game end based on a specific criteria. If you decide to build a particular temple, you need to be working towards its scoring criteria too. 

On your turn you have only two options - build or pray. To build, you need to have a card to build, the required building materials, and the game piece in your player stock. Your card tells you what building it is and what power it has. You start the game with several game pieces in hand, and the rest is still in the general supply. If you use up all the pieces of a certain type in hand, you will need to get more from the general supply before you can construct that building type. You need resources too. If you are short, you can spend money in lieu (but it's expensive). If you don't have enough money either, then you need to wait till you have produced enough resources or earned enough money. 

When you construct a building, you activate its power. If you have constructed other buildings of the same type in the past, all of them get activated too. This is an amazing feeling. You are snowballing your building powers. Your empire becomes more and more powerful. 

Your other option on your turn is to pray. Praying is basically doing a reset. You will discard some cards and redraw to your hand limit. The first card you discard will be the god to pray to, and depending on which god it is, you get different benefits. The first benefit is a game piece related to that god, which you claim from the general supply. Notice how this mechanism creates a challenge for you. Let's say you want to build a blue type piece - a ship. You have a blue card and you like the power. However you have run out of ship pieces. That means you have to pray and discard a blue card to gain a ship piece. So are you going to discard that blue card you like? And then hope to draw a different blue card which also works well for you? Or do you keep this blue card, but discard other cards for now, hoping to then draw a different blue card which you will later spend for claiming a ship piece? Doing this means you are waiting one more pray cycle. 

In addition to claiming a game piece, praying also gives you benefits related to the god you pray to. You may get resources, money, victory points etc. When praying you may discard additional cards from your hand. The more you discard the bigger your reward for praying. Yes, burning more cards shows your piety. You are going to draw back to your hand size anyway, which is five. 

There is a certain tempo to your play, between playing cards to construct buildings and praying to reset your hand. You may construct several buildings then pray, or sometimes you may pray a bit more frequently to cycle cards and take the god benefits. You can keep cards you like when you pray, but there is a cost to it. Sacrificing fewer cards when you pray means getting a smaller reward from the god you pray to. 

The play area may look small, but this setup below is for a 2-player game. With more players, the board is bigger. Also it is actually not easy to expand your empire. You can only build on a new spot if it is next to your existing building. Some buildings can only be constructed on specific terrain, or you want to build them on specific terrain. You compete for terrain types. Some spaces are barbarian villages. If you surround them you... ahem... integrate them into your empire and score points. That's another thing you compete for. You don't actually fight your opponents. You just compete for land. 

This is such an elegant design. The hand management is interesting. The core mechanism is simple and the game runs smoothly. The interesting decisions are all integrated with this simple core mechanism. I like it when a game gives you seemingly few options, but there is much to think about behind these options. You need to think carefully how to make the most of the hand you draw. Which are the buildings you want to construct, which is the god you will pray to, and which are the cards you will sacrifice to the god. The buildings have many different abilities, and players will develop empires with different characteristics. There are many possible combinations. It is satisfying to see how your nation's abilities compound. This is something you want to fully utilise. Deus is a tableau building game and a Euro style civ game. 

Pinocchio at Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore

Pinocchio is one of the Asian games featured at a special exhibition at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore - Let's Play: The Art and Design of Asian Games. This exhibition runs from Sep 2025 to Jun 2026. Big thank you to Casey from To The Table for introducing Pinocchio. 

There is going to be a copy of Pinocchio you can play at the museum. If you are in Singapore, go check out this exhibition. 

Pinocchio has a serial number of 071, which means there are many other games you can check out. 

My Shelfie

If not for BoardGameArena.com I probably would not have known about My Shelfie. The theme is absolutely relevant for boardgamers. Someone should have made a game about this a long time ago. This is a light family game about arranging your shelf. It’s not just a game shelf. You have different types of collectibles. You want to arrange them in specific ways in order to score points. Everyone has their own shelf. Every turn you add one to three items to your shelf. The game ends when a player fills their shelf. 

On your turn you pick one to three items from a shared grid. They must be on the outside edge of the grid, and if you pick more than one, they must be adjacent and form a straight line. These items are then added to your shelf via a dropping mechanism. Imagine playing Connect Four. You pick a column, and then you “drop” the items from the top. They will “land” on the lowest empty compartments. I must admit in terms of connecting with the theme, this is a bit of a stretch. 

You score points in several different ways. Some conditions are known to everyone. When you can group multiple items of the same type together, the bigger the group, the more points you will earn. Some scoring criteria are randomly picked every game. You need to race for these because whoever is first to achieve them gets more points. You also have a secret private objective. Your secret objective specifies certain compartments which need to hold specific item types. You want to fulfil these as much as possible so that you can score more points.

This is a straightforward game that can be played in a relaxed manner. You can watch what your opponents are doing and try to deny them items they want. That is, if you are the competitive type. You can also just focus on your own shelf and still have a good time. There should be a gamer version of this where the item types are Carcassonne series, Pandemic series, Ticket to Ride series and GMT games. 

The Vale of Eternity

The Vale of Eternity is quite popular. It is a card drafting and tableau building game. There are five different types of creatures, and each every creature has a different power. You draft two cards every round. You may discard it for coins, you may claim it into your hand, or you may play it into your play area by paying the cost. You may have only as many cards in play as the round number. If you have no more slots and want to play a card, you must first remove an existing card. 

One challenge this game poses is coin management. You may have at most fours coins. Coins are in denominations of 1, 3, 6. When you pay for a card, no change is given. Sometimes it can be painful to overpay. 

Card powers vary greatly. Some are single use, some can be activated every round. Some cards attack other players. Mostly you are managing your own combo of cards. 

I didn’t find the game interesting. Nothing really new or unusual about it other than the coin management. Unfortunately I found that more annoying than fun. 

Rumble Nation

Rumble Nation is a game from Japan by Yogi Shinichi. It is an area majority game. It simple and short, and very clever too. The game is about preparing for war. What you do is just deploying troops. The war only happens at the end of the game. The war is actually the end game scoring. 

There are 11 regions in this stylised map of medieval Japan. During game setup, chips numbered 2 to 12 are randomly placed. These are the point values, the region numbering, and also the sequence in which battles will be fought. The battle winner claims the chip. In 3 or 4 player games, the second placed player claims a chip which is half the region value. 

Every player has the same number of soldiers. The game is played until everyone has placed all their soldiers. On your turn, you roll three dice. You have to add two of them to determine where you will place soldiers (i.e. region number), and the third die determines how many soldiers you will place (between 1 to 3, because you half the die value). So there is some luck in terms of where you are able to place soldiers, but you do have some options. Also you have one chance to reroll if you absolutely hate your first roll. If you are first to use up your soldiers, you claim the most powerful sword, which is a tiebreaker during battles. The earlier you finish deployment, the stronger you are in tiebreaking. 

When the deployment ends and the war starts, battles are resolved based on simple majority. What's special is whenever you win a battle, if you have soldiers in any adjacent regions where battle hasn't started, they all get reinforcements. This can help you win those later battles. Although the earlier regions are not worth much, they may give you valuable reinforcements to help you win those later and more valuable regions. There can be chain reactions too. 

Once per game instead of using dice to deploy soldiers, you may claim and use one of the tactic cards in the game. These are randomly set up at the start of the game and they are visible to all. These cards let you manipulate soldiers in various ways. Some let you move enemy soldiers too. 

During the game you will be playing out the war in your mind many times. If I deploy here and I win this battle, I will get more troops there and there, and this will help me win those battles too. The map is open information so you can do all these calculations in your head. There is some tension in how quickly you want to use up your soldiers. I feel generally it is advantageous to see where others commit their forces before you deploy yours, so that you can concede where you can't win and utilise your soldiers better. Yet, the tiebreaker advantage when you finish deployment early can be crucial. What a juicy dilemma! 

You don't have direct control over where you get to place troops. Sometimes you have no good options. The die roll may force you to place too many soldiers somewhere you are already certain to win. This means wasting your soldiers. Generally I find you have interesting decisions to make. I think it is a nice balance. You have some but not too many options that would give you analysis paralysis. There are only so three ways you can group two out of three dice. 

Rumble Nation is a delight to play. It is the kind of game that puts Japanese designs on the map. Minimalistic but smart. The game is doing well. It has gone through several editions. Battles are deterministic, so that aspect may feel a little dry. However your deployment is dependent on die rolls. Although this is a perfect information game, it doesn't feel like the typical abstract game due to the uncertainty in the dice. You will be holding your breath too when your opponents roll their dice. 

Jump Drive

Jump Drive is the easy version of Race for the Galaxy, by the same designer Tom Lehmann. Race for the Galaxy is one of my favourite games. Many people complain about the many icons and how hard they are to learn. I guess they are a little intimidating at first, but once you understand the general principles in the game, they are manageable. You don't really read the icons. You just need to understand the key rules. Then the icons become reminders for what the card powers are. For any more complicated card powers, there is text on the card you can read. To me the icons are functional and practical. 

Jump Drive has been around for some time. I've never had any urge to try it, since I'm comfortable with Race for the Galaxy. I don't need a kiddie version. Sorry I sound nasty calling this a kiddie version. It is a different game, and it could have been given a wholly different theme, and be an independent game. It is quicker and more straight-forward than Race for the Galaxy. 

Jump Drive is a card game. It is set in the future, when humankind has just invented jump drives which allow interstellar travel. This is a tableau game where you will play cards into your own area. Cards mostly help you draw more cards every turn, or score points every turn. The game ends when someone has 50 points or more. Think of this as a snowball game. As you add more and more cards which score points to your tableau, the points you score every turn snowballs. There is an exciting acceleration which you are trying to achieve, almost like achieving terminal velocity to launch yourself into outer space. 

Every turn you may play one or two cards, and if you don't, you do something called explore, which is to draw several cards then discard some, so that you get a net of two more cards. The explore action basically helps you find good cards you can play. When playing a card, you have to pay for it using other cards from your hand. Cards in the game are either worlds (i.e. planets) or developments (i.e. technologies). If you play just one world, you get a rebate of 1 card. If you play just one development, you get a discount of 1 card. However if you want to play one world and one development, there is no rebate or discount. You need to be able to afford them. Some worlds are military worlds. You don't pay for them, however you need to have accumulated enough military strength from existing cards in your tableau. 

Cards you manage to play give you various abilities, and the most common two are income and victory points. Income means cards you get to draw every turn. Victory points are generated every turn too. Some cards have other abilities, but there aren't that many different powers in the game. So this is a pretty straight-forward game. 

This screenshot from BoardGameArena.com shows the cards we have played every turn. The asterisk icon means no cards were played, i.e. an exploration was done. Usually you try to play at least one card every turn, but sometimes you can't afford one. If you are familiar with Race for the Galaxy, one difference you'll notice is that duplicate cards are allowed. Most if not all of the art is from other games in the Race for the Galaxy universe. I have played so much of Race for the Galaxy that I'd prefer Jump Drive to have a different theme and use different art, because it's a good game in itself despite sharing several similarities. The same art makes me compare it to Race for the Galaxy, and when I do that, Jump Drive feels like, well, a kiddie version. And that's not fair at all. 

This Rosetta Stone World is probably the most complex a card can be in Jump Drive. This is a compact and fast card game. You must play efficiently, because otherwise the acceleration will catch you unprepared. You build your tempo to achieve terminal velocity. There is no direct player interaction, but watching your opponents' tempos is important. If they are rushing, you don't want to be left behind, or you need to prepare for a powerful enough boost to be able to overtake them. Players may surpass 50 on the same turn. When that happens, you want to have a more powerful engine so that you score more than everyone else.