I participated in a mid autumn festival event on Sat 19 Sep 2026. This was not a boardgame specific event, but several Malaysian game designers and retailers were invited to showcase and sell their games. The event was in Pandamaran, Klang, which is an hour drive west of Kuala Lumpur. The event was 5pm to 10pm, and we were asked to come set up booth by 3pm. I had something else on that day which only ended at 3pm, so I said I couldn't make it at the required time. I arrived shortly before 4pm. Several other vendors had already set up their booths, but among the boardgame vendors, I was the first to arrive. I was overly anxious. For us the setup is quick and much less complicated than other vendors.
I think this was the 5th year they organised this event. There were many activities, like making fans, lantern riddles and photo booths. There was a small stage and many performances, mostly singing or music performances. The organisers placed us boardgame vendors far from the stage, so noise was not a problem for us.
Most of the event was outdoors, but covered. I was a little worried about rain, but thankfully it didn't rain. It was a little windy in the late afternoon, but thankfully not so after the event started.
Not all of my local game designer friends could make it to the event, so I brought their games there to sell. Those who could make it brought their own games. Chee Kong was there, Ray, Buddhima, Hwa Siang too. Kiwi demoed Tanglung and Roti Canai for LUMA and Faculty of Fun respectively. Yeow Meng was there, representing Swan Panasia.
I mostly demonstrated Pilgrim Poker. I also did some Pinocchio. I did not manage to sell much, and my wife would question why I keep going to such events. I did not expect to sell much, but I think it is important I go for these non boardgame specific events because as an industry we need to create more awareness in Malaysia. Boardgame penetration in Malaysia is still very low. My measure of success at these events is not how many copies I sell, but whether I manage to get many people to try boardgames.
Mid autumn festival events are the kind which parents bring their primary school age children to. My games are not really targeted at children, so I usually tell parents my games are for 10 and above. Some children younger than 10 might be able to play, but I think only slightly older children will be able to appreciate the kind of humour in my games.
One particular group included a father, a son of about 11, and a daughter of about 8. I taught them Pilgrim Poker. The father understood the game and took it quite seriously, as in he did his best to play well and to win. The daughter was a little lost and probably didn't fully understand some of the nuances. This is a game in which you can bluff, and you can deduct information based on others' actions. I'm not sure she fully grasped these intricacies. The father played treating the children as equals, and naturally did much better than his kids. I found that funny and a little awkward. He certainly enjoyed the game, but he wasn't trying to help his children learn and enjoy the game. I think older brother enjoyed too. Younger sister looked a little puzzled sometimes.
With another group, a mother and a daughter of about 7, I taught Pinocchio. I joined them to play. This mother was proactive in making sure her daughter understood what was going on. She explained how the game worked when she felt her daughter didn't fully follow. At one point, the daughter said she had a 20, and the mother started laughing. The mother knew the daughter was lying, because she had the 20 herself. Gosh, I have been successful in teaching children to lie. She was caught lying, but she tried.
I enjoy these moments, watching parents sit down together with their children to play games. I am happy to have created these moments for them. I certainly remember my own moments playing games with my daughters.
There were other types of groups. I had a group of young adults who were teachers. I had teenager groups too.
Buddhima was right next to me and he demoed Malaysian Holidays (designed by me) and Counting Cats (designed by Haireey). He has been actively collaborating with other local designers.
This year Hwa Siang organised MYBOGADECO - Malaysia Board Game Design Competition. I have participated in this as a contestant in the past. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves was a contest entry. This year Hwa Siang invited me to be one of the judges. Jon was also invited to be a judge. The three of us did judging on Sun 20 Sep 2026, at Jon's home. The competition parameter is everything must fit in a mint tin box. There were some interesting ideas. Hwa Siang will be compiling the final scores and the results should be out soon.
MYBOGADECO is a little different from the Design & Play game design competition. The judging criteria is broader and it challenges several capabilities a professional game designer would need to have to be successful in the market. For example how well you can pitch you game to a publisher.
The Design & Play game design competition results were announced on 16 Sep 2026 at GMBB Mall. We had a simple event and ceremony for it.
GMBB Mall let us use a reading corner for the afternoon for playing the finalist games.
Our lead organiser Jon feeling nervous in the limelight
We had a pretty good crowd that afternoon. All the tables were occupied most of the time.
It is encouraging to see so many people interested in designing games and in trying one another's games.
I taught my family Rikka. It is still decent at second play. Sometimes I wonder whether Japanese games have a halo effect on me. I think I am already predisposed to like them because I think highly of them. Well, that may not be a problem. If it makes me happy, what's the problem?
With my second play of Rikka, I feel there is a significant element of luck. Sometimes you just get lucky starting hands. I think that's okay. It's a light and short game. You have some interesting decision making. You make small gambles, e.g. deciding to focus on a certain number and hoping you will get more of that later. Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don't.
I played Shady Lady again too. I told my family this could be played in the dark, and Chen Rui insisted we try it. I found out it didn't actually work. We spread out the cards to let them absorb light for a while, and then played with the lights off. We could more or less read the cards, but it was not easy. So don't play this in the dark. It doesn't work.
Younger daughter Chen Rui is overseas now, continuing her studies. Before the end of her summer break, we played Innovation. We played this a lot last year before she went overseas. We both like the game. This copy we played was Innovation Ultimate.
Dog represents domestication!
Using the power of El Dorado is equivalent to buying a lottery ticket. You are probably wasting your time and money, but if you get very lucky, you will earn a lot of money. I was way behind Chen Rui and I knew it was hard to catch up, so I placed my bet on El Dorado. I ended up wasting many turns because it never worked for me.
I recently played Innovation with Jon. He had both the iello version and the 4th edition, and he wanted to see what the differences were. The iello version has pretty art, but I'm too used to the minimalistic art and I find it a little distracting. Also I'm too used to the original terminology and I can't get used to the terms in this edition. Some of the card powers have changed between the iello edition and the 4th edition. The 4th edition seems to be the same or very close to Innovation Ultimate. I've played a fair bit of Innovation, but I never bothered to make detailed comparisons. I just enjoy the ride.
I also played DVONN and Lost Cities with Chen Rui. It's nice to revisit some older games. After so many years, Lost Cities still amazes me. Such a simple game, and yet so much decision angst. I remember it was much hotter back in the day - in the 2000's. I think many gamers who entered the hobby in the past ten years may not know about it. It's a classic that deserves to be an evergreen two-player game.
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