Dancing Queen royalty

Photo from Matagot

The Matagot international edition of Dancing Queen was released in June 2025. I signed the game with them mid 2023. At the time the rough plan was to release the game by end 2024. I received my designer's advance shortly after signing the game. That was nice. Not all publishers do that for their designers. I am lucky. 

I get half yearly royalty reports from Matagot, to let me know how many copies have been sold, and how much royalty they will pay me. From the release date in June till the end of September, 1700+ copies have been sold. That's certainly much much much better than what I can achieve by myself as a tiny indie publisher. They have sold more in 3 months than I have sold in 3 years. That's the difference between an established publisher and indie publisher. 

I have no idea why there is one copy sold before the release date. Might be some administrative correction. Or pre-order? 

Dancing Queen is back in print!

The Malaysia second edition of Dancing Queen is now out! This uses the same art as the first edition. The international edition from Matagot was released only recently. It uses new art. I have a soft spot for the original art by Edwin Chong, so although I knew that Matagot would be doing a global release for the international edition, I decided to do a local reprint of the game using the old art. One addition in this edition is Chinese language rules and reference cards. The international edition has English and French. By adding Chinese I hope to be able to get into the Chinese market - the Chinese community in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China. 

The Malaysia first edition of Dancing Queen sold out around the end of 2024. I decided to work on a reprint at the same time as my 2025 game project Pinocchio. 

This time I use a two-piece box instead of a tuckbox. Also this time round I did CE safety testing. 

Game components

English reference sheet

Traditional Chinese reference sheet

Simplified Chinese reference sheet

I remove the card power text from the game cards. I make them language independent so that the same components can be used for players using different languages. The rules and the reference cards come in specific languages. The card names remain. These are song titles. They don't directly affect gameplay. 

The gameplay remains the same

Now I have three rulebooks. They use a new format. 

First edition on the left, and second edition on the right. It looks significantly bigger. The card sizes are actually the same between the two editions. Late in the project, the manufacturer suggested to increase the box size. I had specified a requirement that the box should fit after all the cards are sleeved. The manufacturer was conservative and suggested an increase. 

After sleeving all the cards, it looks like this. It looks like almost a perfect fit. There is still some space on all sides, and the box could have been a few millimetres thinner. So it's a comfortable fit. 

Malaysia first edition, Malaysia second edition, and international first edition

Family photo of Cili Padi Games titles as at July 2025

Official page of Dancing Queen (includes order form): https://www.cilipadigames.com/dancing-queen

The Asian Board Games Festival (Malaysia) is happening 11-13 Jul 2025 in Penang. If you are in the area, come play Dancing Queen at my booth! 

Dancing Queen international edition officially released

21 Jun 2025 is a special day for me, because this is the official launch date of the international edition of Dancing Queen from Matagot. They signed the game about 2 years ago. However they have a huge list of publishing projects to work through, and it really does take about 2 years from signing a game to getting it officially released. Matagot picked up Dancing Queen because they were looking to release a series of pocket games - microgames which use only a small number of cards and can fit in your shirt pocket or jeans pocket. This is the style of games which ButtonShy publishes. 

The game includes two languages, English and French

This is the wallet after removing the paper band.

The back of the wallet. 

When you open the wallet, you see two transparent pockets where you can slot cards in. These two are the French and the English rulebooks. 

Reference cards (English)

The main game components are these nine cards. In this international edition the cards are not divided into boy and girl. They are divided into green and orange types. The card powers are represented by icons and not text. This is to keep the cards language neutral. Text descriptions can be found on the reference cards. The card names, i.e. song names, still remain. 

The seven trophies and the disco ball.

Rulebook

Seeing the Cili Padi Games logo printed next to that of Matagot is a touching moment for me. 

Comparison between the Malaysia first edition (2022) and the international edition (2025). 

The rulebook of the first edition looks very minimalistic in comparison. 

Matagot gave me a few free copies because I am the designer. I took the opportunity to buy a small quantity of stock. The Malaysian second edition of Dancing Queen is coming out soon. I am not sure whether this international edition will become available in Malaysia. If you are in Malaysia and you are interested to get this international edition, contact me privately. 

Dancing Queen international English/French edition from Matagot

The international English/French edition of Dancing Queen will be released on 21 Jun 2025. It will use  a wallet game format, similar to those released by Button Shy Games. Product photos have been uploaded to BoardGameGeek.com. I am looking forward very much to it. Matagot has given the game new art and also made an adjustment to the theme, to better fit the Western market. The game mechanisms are unchanged. 

This is my first time having a game published by a big international publisher, and I am absolutely stoked. I am excited that my game will reach the hands of many more players around the world. I hope it brings joy and a new interesting experience to players. 

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. 

Dancing Queen on Dice Tower

The Dice Tower is the number 1 English-language boardgame media channel. My game Dancing Queen just turned up on their show, reviewed by Chris. This is an exciting moment for me, seeing my game on The Dice Tower. It wasn't a standalone review video. Dancing Queen was reviewed together with several other card games. 

The segment for Dancing Queen was short. When I watched it, my heart sank a little. The video says that you play your objective card face-up, and you play other cards face-down to try to fulfil your objective. The correct way to play is you play your objective card (called your lead dancer) face-down. A key point in Dancing Queen is you don't know what your opponent is trying to achieve, and you must observe and guess. This is how bluffing and feints come into play. If the lead dancer were face-up, the game wouldn't work. No wonder Chris didn't like the game.  

I hurriedly left a comment below the video to clarify. Chris responded quickly. It turned out that he did play the game correctly, just that he explained the game incorrectly in the video. The shot was taken at the end of a round, and that was why the lead dancers were face-up. 

I imagine The Dice Tower must be receiving tons of review copies of games. I'm happy that Dancing Queen stood out enough that they made time to introduce it. It's disappointing that it didn't click with them, but I need to learn to accept that not everyone will enjoy my games. I always appreciate it when people take time to try my games and share what they think. That is always precious and I always learn something. Sometimes when I send out review copies, the reviewer never mentions my games. I do ask beforehand whether they are interested, and I only send review copies if they are. Still, there are some whom I don't hear from anymore. I guess that's part of life being an indie publisher. I need to continue to work on marketing my games and getting exposure for them. 

The international edition of Dancing Queen will be released by Matagot in June. This will be an important opportunity for me to observe how an established international publisher does marketing and promotion. Got to keep learning.  

Dancing Queen segment on The Dice Tower here. 

Dancing Queen international edition coming soon from Matagot

Super excited that the international edition of Dancing Queen from Matagot has been announced. It will be available in English and French, 21 June 2025.

boardgaming in photos: Ali Baba and Ra

The game I am planning to publish this year under Cili Padi Games is Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. It has gone through many rounds of playtesting, but I still needed to get it cold tested. I asked Julian and his gaming group to cold test for me, i.e. I hand them the game and the rulebook, and they learn to play by themselves without me guiding them or answering any questions. I was there, but they pretended I wasn't. The cold test is an important test for the rulebook and the game component design. I can't be there to teach every person who buys my game, so the rulebook and the components must be as fool proof and conducive to understanding the game as possible. 

Just to make sure I don't set wrong expectations - the game on the table is A Feast for Odin. Only what's in Julian's hand (left) is Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. 

I observed and learned a lot by just watching them play. Which rules they were unsure about and how quickly they were able to clear it up by looking up the rules or by referring to the game components were all important information for me. In their first game, it took only one round for Arief to win. That was a short game. It has happened before. That particular round they made it to the higher rewards. It was a little sudden. Maybe it is a problem. I decided not to implement any unwieldy additional rules to eliminate the possibility of short games. Just let that be a possibility. 

The group quickly proceeded to start a new game. This time the length was more normal, about 6 to 7 rounds. As they played, they came up with suggestions on how to modify the components. They even started implementing some of their ideas. That copy of Ali Baba had no component to help keep track of the current sum of all face-up cards. Players have to keep track of it in their heads. It's just one number. If you forget, you have to count again. Julian's group took out a 12-sided die to do the tracking. However after a while they found it tedious to fiddle with the die to find the right number, and they abandoned it. After the game, they gave me more suggestions. This was a very fruitful playtest session. 

Once I got home I started making improvements. I added a yellow background colour to cards with sun and moon icons. This provides a much stronger visual reminder to players to check for the presence of both a sun and a moon. I also added the Cave card (bottom left) to help players keep track of the sum. Initially I was worried whether it would be tiresome. I tried playing with it, and it turned out okay. I may test this more with other groups. 

I asked younger daughter Chen Rui to help me test the various 2-player variants of Ali Baba. She was the one who did the most playtesting with me when I designed Dancing Queen. That's the convenience of designing 2-player games. It's easier to get playtesting done. At one point I planned to make Ali Baba a 3 to 6 player game. I felt it wouldn't be as much fun with 2 players. Later on I decided to tweak it to support 2 players. I knew with less than three some dynamics would be missing, so the game needed to offer something interesting for two. Adjustments were necessary. I came up with several ideas, and tried them all. Having now compared them, the variant I will go with is when drawing from the deck, you draw two and pick one to apply. If you draw the Boss, you must apply the Boss (i.e. you will lose that round). Using this variant, I give a bit more control to the players. In a two player game, you only have one opponent and thus only three face-down cards you can reveal. Your options are limited. Drawing two from the deck and picking one initially felt overpowered. However after some playtesting, I found it wasn't as overpowered as I thought. The Boss rule makes drawing from the deck riskier, balancing things out a little. 

Dancing Queen is going to Hungary. This couple is gamers from Hungary visiting Malaysia. They bought some games from BoardGameCafe.biz including my Dancing Queen. I am always excited to see Dancing Queen reach new countries. 

Ra is a game I played a lot of when I first became a boardgamer. Julian has a copy of the latest deluxe version, with art by Ian O Toole. The Ra marker is huge. I should have put my hand in the photo for scale. 

The tiles in the game are not cardboard but wood. Red in this game means something bad. The first tile is a Ra tile, i.e. the countdown mechanism in the game. The other three are disaster tiles - drought, war and earthquake. 

The tiles in the first row are not Ra tiles, although they do look like the Ra tiles in previous editions of the game. These are actually the backs of the tiles. Yes, this edition has art on the backs. Previous editions have blank backs. The tiles in the next two rows are the monuments. 

First row, from left to right - pharaoh, god, gold, flood and Nile. Second row is the five different civilisation tiles. 

The Axis & Allies series will have a North Africa game! I call myself an Axis & Allies fan, but I have not been playing it for a long time. I still own many games in the series. I'm still a supporter because nostalgia. When I eventually get this, it will probably get one play and then sit on the shelf for a long time. I still haven't played Rommel in the Desert again. #firstworldproblem #toomanygames