Leaping Lions

Leaping Lions was the winner of the 2023 Button Shy Games game design competition, designed by Darryl Tan, a fellow Malaysian. It is encouraging to see my fellow countryman attain such achievements on the international stage. Leaping Lions, like most games from Button Shy, is an 18-card microgame. It uses their standard packaging too. It is a wallet game (photo above). This is a game about the traditional Chinese lion dance. So the packaging is red with golden lettering, just like the angpows (red packets) given out during Chinese New Year. 

Rulebook cover

This is what it looks like when you open the wallet

Leaping Lions is a 2-player game. You set up a high pole lion dance performance. Whoever can set up and execute the most impressive performance wins. 

Each player gets one lion

This is how the game is set up - three columns of cards and the draw deck on the right. The cards in the game are double sided, with a basic side and an upgraded side. These above are all on the basic side. Some card powers let you upgrade your cards to the other side. You take turns claiming cards from the centre of the table until all cards are taken. When a card is taken, other cards in the row are shifted left as necessary, and the space on the right is filled with the top card from the deck. 

Using the cards you claim, you form a row of cards before you. A new card is always added to the right of existing cards. You can choose to discard a card instead of adding it to your row. When you do this, you can upgrade a card or advance your lion. Your lion starts on the ground to the left of your row. When it starts advancing, it first jumps onto the first card. After that it advances towards the right. By game end, the further your lion manages to move, the more points you will score. 

Some cards have special powers. Some of these are activated when you play the card. Some can be activated every turn. There are four ways you score points. I've just talked about the lion advancement. The second way is cards in sequence. Every card is numbered, and you want your cards to be in ascending order as much as possible. Every stretch of ascending numbers with at least three poles will score points. The more poles you have in the stretch, the more points you will score. 

There are five different icons on the cards. Three of them are musical instruments - drums, gongs and cymbals. The other two are fire crackers and fans. Every completed set of musical instruments scores points. At game end, you also multiply your number of fire crackers and fans to score points. When you choose a card and decide whether to upgrade a card, you must consider all these scoring opportunities. You also need to consider the special powers offered by the cards. 

The first row shows the basic side, and the second the upgraded side. When you upgrade a card, you may get additional icons and sometimes an extra pole. 

The stars in the top right corner are used in two ways. At the end of the game, you score all the stars below and to the left of your lion. This is how the lion advancement works. Stars on your rightmost card also limit your options when you claim a card from the centre of the table. If your rightmost card has only one star, you may only pick from the first column. If it has two cards, you may pick from the first two columns, and so on. You need to consider your flexibility for your next turn when you claim a card. 

This is a game with a very simple procedure. You are just taking turns claiming cards until they run out. Yet, behind such a simple action, there is much you must consider. You must consider all four scoring opportunities. You must consider your flexibility for the next turn. You also consider what your opponent might want. The card powers must be considered too. 

I played Leaping Lions well before it was released, so I am pretty excited now to have the final product in my hand. Darryl certainly made Malaysia proud, as this is an excellent game. He continues to be active in submitting games, and there are other international publishers who are looking into his designs. This is wonderful news. As more and more Malaysian designs get released internationally, this will encourage other local creators, and this will help grow the industry in Malaysia. I am very much looking forward to that. 

Leaping Lions comes with two expansions. The first one adds scrolls, which is a new way of scoring points. Some of the new cards can only be upgraded when you fulfil certain conditions. 

The second expansion is a solo game. You play against a bot, and there are five bots to choose from. Each bot has an advanced version, so in a way you have 10 different opponents to pick from.