Why boardgame industry people are nice

This is my theory, and it might not be entirely correct, but I'm sure it is at least partially true. 

I have been a hobby gamer for many years, but I have only been in the industry side of it for about 5 years. I count from 2022, the year Dancing Queen was released. I have met many, many nice people in the industry. Game designers, game publishers, play organisers and so on. My theory is that for many of us this is a passion industry. We wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t have enough passion for it. And that’s why I meet nice people. If you’re doing this out of passion, you are not desperately fighting for survival. You are not competing. You are not plotting to get rich out of this. You just enjoy the love of playing, and of spreading the joy. Maybe this is a naïve perspective. There are many people making a living from boardgames. To them it is life and death. So I consider myself lucky being a struggling wannabe game designer. I may never make it as a professional game designer. I may never be able to build a sustainable boardgame business that can feed my family, or even just me. But perhaps that’s okay. If someone plays my game today and it makes them laugh, it is a good day. 

I always have an urge to go around asking people, how do you make money from your boardgame business? I am curious because I can't get the numbers to work for me. At least not yet. A game designer is not a real job. This is the kind of thing I'd say, looking at my financial statements for Cili Padi Games. My little indie game design studio is not being sustained by profitability, but by passion. The financially responsible side of me says I am investing in a business that may grow into a stable source of passive income. The honest side of me says you can afford this hobby so just do what you want. My boardgame business is not a distraction or escape I need from a stressful full-time job. I do love my job and take pride in it. I am just greedy and I want to do all the things that make me happy.

At TOBE 2026 my wife Michelle met some of my boardgame industry friends for the first time. Out of the blue she said to me that Milk is such a kind person. She had just met Milk, and they didn't even have much time to chat. It was Michelle's comment that made me realise I do meet many nice and sincere people in the boardgame industry. Before TOBE 2026 Milk knew Michelle was going (and they had never met), and when she saw a small red chilli hairclip at a night market in Taipei, she decided to get it for Michelle. That was really thoughtful of her. 

I met Ming again at TOBE, and his wife accompanied him too. I can totally imagine our wives rolling their eyes at each other, and talking about how crazy their husbands are, and how they are humouring their husbands by coming along. 

I am grateful for my friends, and I wish them joy. And money, if they want more of it. 

My first experience at TOBE 2026, Taipei

TOBE 2026 (Taiwan Original Boardgames Expo) was 25-27 Sep 2026. I participated as an exhibitor. TOBE was first held in 2017. I had never visited TOBE before, so this was not only my first time being an exhibitor, it was my first time ever attending. One thing different about this exhibition for me was my wife Michelle joined me to be my helper. I have exhibited at many boardgame fairs in Malaysia and South East Asia, but this was the first time she joined me for the whole event. We took this photo above on setup day - Thursday - before the crowd. This was the event photo wall. 

We reached Taipei slightly early, on Wednesday. TOBE was Friday to Sunday. We met up with old friends Wednesday evening. We went to a Junji Ito exhibition Thursday morning. Junji Ito is a Japanese manga (comic) artist specialising in horror manga. We have read some of his manga and they are pretty scary. This exhibition was also at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, where TOBE was. It was at Warehouse 4, and TOBE was at Warehouses 2 and 3, just next door. Thankfully this horror exhibition did not give me any nightmare for the next few days. There was a lot of disturbing stuff. 

Michelle and I went to Ximending to buy Ruyi sunny cakes. Thursday was a relaxing day. We brought our games and exhibition materials to the exhibition hall around 4pm to set up. We had a very simple booth so there really wasn't much to set up. I was there mainly to meet the TWOPLUS team to pitch my games. TWOPLUS is a large and well-established publisher in Taiwan. I first met them at the Bangkok International Game Fair, but at the time we didn't manage to find time to chat more and for me to show them my games, so I contacted them afterwards to ask whether they accepted submissions. Eventually we arranged to meet at TOBE. It was a fruitful discussion and they took four of my games to play more. 

These are the wristbands for the three days

This was exhibition hall 3, Thursday around 6pm. Exhibitors could do setup from 12:30pm to 9:30pm. By 6pm many had completed their setup, but not all. Some only came to do setup Friday morning before the doors opened to the public at 10:30am. Warehouses 2 and 3 were part of a tobacco factory. That whole area was a tobacco factory. There was a long elevated platform that ran through the middle of the warehouse, as you can see in this photo. It ran from entrance to exit. My booth was on this platform. 

I saw a giant version of the game Leaves. The art is really nice. I saw this game just recently at the Bangkok International Game Festival. 

The only two Malaysian booths, Cili Padi Games and nPips Games were side by side, in Warehouse 3. 

This was Friday. There was a great crowd. It was Mid Autumn Festival, so it was a public holiday in Taiwan. Normally Fridays at game fairs are less crowded because it is still a work day. I was very busy from opening time 10:30am all the way to closing time 7:00pm. I did not have lunch. I only managed one toilet break. I had very few breaks. When a group was done playing, another would sit down to play. One thing nice was people generally didn't expect to play a full game. Many just wanted to try a few rounds to experience the game. Usually we played 2 or 3 rounds, and I would say "so this is how the game works", and the visitors would move on, and another group would sit down to play. This meant I could show my games to many, many people. 

When my booth was available, if anyone walked past, Michelle or I would say hi and ask whether they wanted to try the game. Most of the time they did. That was why I was so busy the whole day. My voice was hoarse by the late afternoon. 

One thing amazing is people are happy to play together with strangers. Once I had people of three different groups sitting down together to play. When only one person walked past and I managed to invite him or her to play, if another stranger walked past, I'd ask him or her too, and often he or she would sit down to join the first person. 

Before the fair, the organiser Smoox sent out contact details of influencers, exhibitors, publishers and related industry players to everyone, so that we could connect and explore collaboration. I reached out to several influencers and offered them review copies of my games. Many accepted and they came to my booth to collect their games. I felt bad that I was so busy teaching games that I could not chat with them properly. Smoox and the Taiwanese boardgame media did a great job promoting games prior to the event. Many people wrote reviews and previews of many games which would be available at the fair. Many people who came to my booth told me they read about my games so they came to try them. 

This is the commemorative game for TOBE 2026. They make one every year. The cards in the game showcase the games of the exhibitors. I chose to put Pilgrim Poker. Jon's King & Peasant is in the game. Name It from Thailand, and Restoration from Vietnam too. There are 40 games in the game. There were many more at the fair. 

Cat Earth has great components. I have not found out how it plays. I took this photo before opening time on Saturday and no one was at the booth yet. By opening time I was busy at my own booth. Saturday was just as busy for me as Friday. Again non-stop teaching games. The crowd was less than Friday. That was what everyone told me. I did not notice it myself because I was crazy busy. No lunch, and barely any toilet break. In hindsight, I probably should have engaged a local helper. Michelle isn't comfortable with teaching games and she would be rather nervous if I left her at the booth by herself. So I couldn't leave my booth much to connect with other publishers, designers and industry players. Not much chance to explore collaboration or to try the many games at the fair.

Giant Magical Athlete

Chinese edition of deluxe Puerto Rico

There is a Next Station games series from Singapore by designer Dexter Tiah which is different from the more widely know Next Station series by Matthew Dunstan. The first game in this Asian series is about the Singaporean MRT, and the second is about the Taipei MRT. 

This is a casual card game in which you try to be first to get rid of your cards. It's a little like UNO. You must play a card of the same colour as the previous, else you must keep drawing cards until you can do so, or until you have drawn 10 cards. Some cards have two colours, forcing a change of the active colour to another. Some cards are jokers, which also force a colour change. If you have station cards which are immediately adjacent, you can play multiple cards. If you have a set of four cards in the same colour, you can play them as a combo too. 

There are special ability cards with various powers. 

Milk from BGN Thailand saw a chilli hair clip when she was in Taipei, and bought it for my wife. 

Panda from Thailand visited my booth. We met at the Bangkok International Game Festival in August. He is a content creator. From creating content he went on to selling games, and now he is expanding into publishing games too. He will be publishing the Thai editions of Pilgrim Poker and Pinocchio. I am very excited about this collaboration project! 

This is a push-your-luck game Lucky Dumpling. This this here is the giant version. The real version looks very much like this, just smaller. It is absolutely lovely. 

Dog Bark Train (DBT) is a retailer in Taiwan

Dirty Work is a design from Thailand and it has now been localised in Taiwan. It's a great party game! It's clever and it can have dramatic twists of fate. 

Ngu Han Games from Vietnam was at TOBE 2026. This year they released a heavy strategy game Restoration. Plum and Toan were both in Taipei and it was great to meet them again. The last time we met was two years ago at the Thailand Boardgame Show. 

Tom from Gameness (Taiwan) has exhibited at the Asian Board Games Festival in Penang twice and I really enjoy his games. Coco Boom is a great party game. 

5-player Pilgrim Poker

Yoyo from Swan Panasia. He and his wife run Witch House, the cafe which I visited regularly in 2003 / 2004 and learned many modern German games. Swan Panasia is one of the biggest publishers in Taiwan now. Yoyo has been wearing a swan hat for many years, and I told him the chilli on my head was inspired by him. He said we must take a photo together. And that the swan wanted to eat some chilli. 

Cute middle aged couple photo taken by Panda?

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

Many people came to ask about Snow White and the Eleven Dwarfs. They read about it on social media. The Taiwanese circle of boardgame influencers and also TOBE organiser Smoox's team did a great job promoting the many game titles available at TOBE. The games were given much publicity. Normally it is not easy to get Snow White played at a fair, because the minimum player count is 7. Also normally sales is not as good as my other titles due to the player count range. This time I not only managed to get it played, sales was decent too, as good as my other titles. After one particular game, two of the players still hotly discussed the game and how they did the deduction. We moved on to play another game, and as I taught the next game to the group, the two of them couldn't stop discussing excitedly. Another player had to tell them to stop and listen to me. I'm certainly happy that people get so enthusiastic after playing my game. 

I taught Pilgrim Poker so many times that I now have script hardwired into my brain. Even all the jokes are scripted. 

With Casey and Serene from Singapore (Instagram channel: To The Table)

I saw this One Piece themed Dobble / Spot It being sold at a convenience store. I almost wanted to buy it for my younger daughter Chen Rui who is a fan of One Piece. 

Back of the game

My Sunday wristband for TOBE 2026

Sunny Sunday in Taipei. These are the pillar decorations in front of the exhibition halls. 

I love these drawings. They are done well, and they are based on internet memes. The overly enthusiastic parrot is based on that guy explaining some conspiracy theory. That bear waiting for something to happen is based on that meme of the lonely idle guy. That wolf I'm not sure. Maybe that one isn't based on a meme. 

How many chillis can you count in this photo? Answer at the bottom. 

Michelle taught these kids to play Pinocchio. That's the simplest among my games, so if kids came to play, usually we suggested this. These three kids probably just wanted to collect stickers. Fair attendees get a sheet for collecting stickers. Most booths give out stickers if you buy something from them, or if you try their games, or even if you just listen to the game being explained. When you collect enough stickers, I think you get to enter a lucky draw. Maybe you get some other stuff too. I'm not exactly sure. I didn't collect stickers. This sticker collection thing is something the organiser does to help exhibitors with sales. When people visit your booth, it's an opportunity for you to sell your game. Sometimes people visit you for the sake of collecting stickers and they are not really interested in your game, but that's okay. It's still an opportunity. At my booth, some people were happy to have just played one or two rounds. Michelle always gave stickers out the moment people sat down to play, while they were still listening to me explain the rules. This is efficiency. These three kids probably just wanted stickers, so Michelle gave stickers to them as soon as they sat down. She asked them whether they wanted to move on to the next booth to collect more stickers. It was okay if they were not really keen to play. The children felt is wasn't nice to only ask for stickers without playing, and they said they wanted to play. So Michelle taught them and we played several rounds. 

Sunday, to me, was almost as busy as the other two days. Only in the morning I had some free stints. By around noon, my booth was non-stop action again, all the way up to around 6pm. Closing time was a little earlier, at 6:30pm instead of 7:00pm. By around 5:30pm some booths starting packing up. Some booths were huge, with many games on sale. They were effectively shops. They certainly needed more time to do tear down. They had not only much stock to pack but also shelves and giant displays to dismantle. 

There was one guy who came to my booth many times wanting to try my games, but it was always occupied. Michelle noticed him returning several times. He came around closing time on Saturday, but we were already packing up. Michelle asked him to come earlier on Sunday. He told Michelle that he did come early on both Friday and Saturday, but even at opening time my booth was already full. Michelle remembered his face, and Sunday afternoon when there was a lull at my booth, she went out to look for him to bring him to my booth. Shortly after she left, visitors showed up and wanted to play. I couldn't say no. I had to proceed. I was secretly hoping Michelle would find him soon and bring him back before all seats were taken. She did manage to find him. He was very surprised and grateful. By the time he made it back to my booth, there was exactly one last seat available for him. I wasn't sure whether Michelle would find him, and I had just started teaching Pilgrim Poker. I gladly restarted the rule explanation. I'm happy to have people so keen to try my games. I'm glad to be able to show this 3-day guy my games. 

Michelle did a lot bringing people to my booth. She greeted people walking past and invited them to sit down to play. Many people did when invited. She handled sales most of the time, receiving money and handing out games. She chatted with people who had questions, because I was always busy teaching games and playing with visitors. She spoke to the influencers I contacted more than I did. They came to collect review copies I offered. She watched out for people with press passes and checked their names against my to-gift-list. 

This was the other Journey to the West game making a first appearance at TOBE 2026. Since my main game being promoted was based on the Journey to the West too, naturally I was interested to see what this other game was like. 

I didn't manage to play, but I read the rulebook and had a general idea. This is a card game. Two dice are rolled to determine a target number. Players then play cards to try to reach that exact number. They need to do this and also to collect a specific scroll card to win. Many Journey to the West characters appear in the game, and their powers tie well with the theme. I must admit this is probably more thematic than my own game. If you have the Tang Sanzhang card (the master), you can play it to ask for help. Other players must play a card to save the master. Disciple characters like Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing can do that. If you can't, you are eliminated from the game. 

The Journey to the West booth

This is yet another game based on the Journey to the West story. This one is from Hong Kong. The earlier one is from Taiwan. I did not read up on how this one works. 

I am in discussion with a Hong Kong publisher and a Taiwan publisher about localising Pilgrim Poker in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China. They might be collaborating to do a version localised for their markets. The gameplay will stay the same, but the theme will be changed. The association with gambling will be removed. The Journey to the West theme might be changed too. Pilgrim Poker did not start with a theme in mind. It was a mechanism first design. I picked the Journey to the West theme because it is something many people already know. Familiarity is inviting, and also helps in learning the game. People understand and remember that Sun Wukong (Monkey King) is powerful (he wins or loses double). The downside of using a familiar theme is they are already used in many other things. I am sure the publishers who are much more experienced than me will find a better theme for their respective markets.  

This is a reader of my Chinese blog. He has been a reader for many years. He brought his son to try my game. It is a special moment for me to meet a reader who has been following my blog. He is a blogger himself, and shares about boardgames. 

One thing I learned was I should have found myself another helper for my booth. I thought with Michelle joining me, I wouldn't need one and I could save some cost. Michelle is proactive in inviting people to my booth to play, and that kept me busy non-stop. That also meant I did not have time at all to do anything else throughout the fair. Not even lunch, and barely any time for toilet breaks. I did not have time to visit other people's booths or play other people's games. There were so many games I had not seen before. I'm going to plan to get a helper next year. I hope to be able to go again next year, and maybe make this an annual thing. By having a helper who can do game teaching, I can also make time to meet publishers and designers, and explore business collaborations. I want to pitch my games to publishers. Michelle is a little nervous about teaching games, so I cannot bear to leave her at the booth by herself for too long. 

Even if I get a helper to teach games, I still need to and want to do some game teaching myself. One comment I heard from visitors was they liked how passionate I was about my games. The direct translation what they said is I light up when I talk about my games. People do appreciate that the designer himself is there to teach his games. People feel the connection. The personal touch is important. And I do enjoy teaching people games and watching them have fun. 

Closing time on Sunday

Team Malaysia! Jon was the only other Malaysian exhibitor. His booth was right next to mine. Buddhima did not exhibit, he was there as a visitor. The Beast of Boardgame team was there too, not to booth but to cover the event and to buy games. 

There were several visitors who came from Hong Kong. When they spoke to me in Mandarin, I could hear the Cantonese accent, and I'd ask whether they were from Hong Kong. When I spoke Cantonese to them they were pleasantly surprised. I told them some Malaysian Chinese speak Cantonese, especially those from Kuala Lumpur. The guy who came the furthest (that I have met) was an American guy whom I have met before at the Asian Board Games Festival in Penang. He works for an airline and he could fly cheap. So he travels a lot. It's amazing to be able to meet him both in Penang and in Taipei. He likes my games and he has bought them in the past. He wanted to try my new game. 

TOBE 2026 was an amazing experience. It gave me Essen vibes. It is nowhere near as big as Essen, but there were many games I had not seen before. I would say most games are light family games and party type games. There aren't many heavy games like at Essen. There are many localised games, and most heavy games available are from the west and have been localised. TOBE is a paid entry event, so most people who do come are truly keen to try and buy games. At the end of Sunday I asked Michelle, are we going to do this again next year? She said, why not?

How many chillis answer: Six. On top of my head and Michelle's head. In Michelle's hair. On the poster behind us. On the poster behind me in the top right corner. On my apron. 

Bangkok International Game Festival (BIGF) 2026

28 - 30 Aug 2026 was the Bangkok International Game Festival (BIGF) in Thailand. This was my third time exhibiting in Thailand. I first exhibited at the Thailand Boardgame Show (TBS) in 2024, and I went to TBS too in 2025. This year I wanted to try the other main boardgame event in Bangkok. Choon Ean of LUMA was at BIGF last year, and she helped me sell my games. Sales was great. So I was curious to experience BIGF myself. 

This little Malaysian flag is something new to my exhibition procedures. I will be bringing this every time I exhibit overseas. Well, maybe I can do this when in Malaysia too, to let people know I am showcasing local games. 

My new Pilgrim Poker bunting was in use for the first time. I love it. 

There were only two Malaysian exhibitors, Jon and I. The venue was TK Park (Thailand Knowledge Park) in the centralwOrld shopping mall. This giant rubber ducky was right outside the mall. This was a blow-up children's playground. 

Six Seven is a game from Hong Kong, published by Capstone (HK). This is a climbing / shedding game. One unique aspect is it has cards numbered 67. That's the highest numbered card. It's very powerful when played as a single card or in multiples of the same value, but it is not adjacent to any other number so it cannot be part of any runs (straight or straight flush). There are only a few combo types - singles, multiples, straights and straight flushes. 

When you win a sequence, you place one of your winning cards before you. It will score 1 point. You may also a token of the matching colour if you have the most in that colour (you win ties). These tokens are worth 1 point each. 

The game is played over three rounds. Each round you must play until all but one player has played all cards. The first two to do so score points, and the last takes a penalty. From the second round onwards, since there will be some cards placed before players which don't get shuffled back into the deck, the deck composition will be different. Some cards have mandatory special powers, like the 6 above which forces you to take a card from another player. 

If you like climbing games, this is worth checking out. I'm not from the 67 generation so that joke is not effective on me, but I know that people will sit down to play just because the game is called Six Seven. 

This is a deduction game from Korea which has been licensed to be published in Japan. The name in English is Prisoner's Night.

You're all in jail. Every player gets a crime card, which is what you are in for. However one of the players is secretly an undercover cop who hasn't committed any crime. To win the game as a regular prisoner, you must find the cop. If you catch the wrong guy, the cop wins. This card above was what I got - drunk driving. 

Question cards are drawn, and all players secretly play a yes or no answer based on their crimes. For example one question is whether the crime needs to be meticulously planned. In my case of drunk driving, my answer was no. Up to five questions might be revealed. If anyone has answered yes three times, the questioning ends early. All players' crime cards are shuffled and an extra crime is added. They cards are then all laid out, and players now discuss and must decide who they think is the undercover cop. You can tell others which crime is yours, and why you have given your answers that way. If you can explain it well, the others will believe you. If you are the cop, you initially do not know which crime belongs to who, and which is the new crime. You have been answering the questions blindly, and somehow you need to be able to convince others you are a criminal too. 

In the game we played, Kimkun was the cop and he won easily. The answers he had given happened to match the new crime perfectly. He kept quiet during the early discussion so that others would speak more and give away more information. Most of us were sure the cop was another player due to his answers being iffy. We were wrong.

Ping was my assistant for Friday. She has not exhibited before but she's a gamer. She was a great help. Her favourite games are tile laying games like Cascadia. 

My booth was in a side room and not in the main open area. Mercenary Squad was one of the games displayed at my room. It looks great!

I taught Ping how to demo Pilgrim Poker.

We made sure the Malaysian flag was visible in this photo.

The event was very international. We had exhibitors from Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Korea, Japan, and Indonesia. 

Lionwake is from Taiwan and the art is fantastic. You might think the lion looks weird, but this is because it is based on the lions in the traditional Chinese lion dance. I love the idea. 

Dragonarium is from the same booth.

Food Alley is from both Indonesia and Germany. This is designed by Simon Schmieder who is German, and he lives in Indonesia.

Food Alley contains three different games using most of the same components.

ButaBabel is from Japan, and this edition I played is from Taiwan (Homosapiens Lab). This is a simple and frantic real-time game. 

There are only three types of cards - rock, paper and scissors. Everyone has a hand of three, and also one stack of cards (starting with one card) before them. Once the game starts, you can play cards to any stack, whether your own or those of other players, as long as you follow the rock-paper-scissors rule. E.g. you can only play a rock on a scissors. Everything happens in real time. After you play a card, you draw a new one. The game is played until the draw decks are exhausted. Then the player with the highest stack wins. The twist is you are disqualified if your stack is 3 or more higher than the next highest stack. So this is not only about building the highest stack. You want to make sure you are not too far from the next guy. So you may want to help the next guy. Or if you are in second place, push the leader so far ahead that he gets disqualified. In our game, I had 14 and I was second highest. The highest had 17, and he was immediately disqualified. The one after me had 13, so I was safe, and I won. In the frenzy during play, I find it impossible to keep track of everything accurately, so you probably have to guess. However I can also imagine people who are more experienced with the game playing more carefully, and playing it slower so they can keep count. 

Knock Knock Out is also from Homosapiens Lab of Taiwan. Everyone has some hand cards. There is also a row of cards at the centre. Your goal is to have seven different monsters, formed using a combination of your hand cards and the central row. On your turn you can reveal cards from the deck to add it to the central row. Whenever you reveal a card, you execute its power. You can reveal as many cards as you want on your turn. However if you reveal a card that duplicates with another in the central row, you are forced to take both into your hand. That's not necessarily a good thing, because if you get seven cards in hand without achieving the objective, you automatically lose. 

Some of the monsters in the game

Pilgrim Poker in play

My assistant for Saturday and Sunday was Chris (Apiwat). He has been my assistant every time I exhibited in Bangkok. 

A six player game (max) of Pilgrim Poker

The crowd and the retail sales at the event was not as good as I had hoped for. Some other exhibitors who were there last year mentioned that it was indeed weaker than last year. Still, it was good to have made some new connections. There were many familiar faces, but also several publishers and designers I had not met before. 

Although retail sales was not great, I did manage to do good B2B sales. Several retailers were interested in buying my games in bulk. Wisebox from Thailand bought many copies. They bought many copies when we were in Manila for the Asian Board Games Festival Philippines (ABGF PH), and I am thrilled to learn that they had sold all those games I supplied to them just three months ago. I am happy that my games are doing well in Thailand. 

What I am most excited about now is that I am in discussions with two potential publishing partners to have Pilgrim Poker localised in other countries. They tried my game and they enjoyed it. They think the game has good potential. This is the best kind of outcome I can hope for when exhibiting at overseas game fairs. We are still in early stages of discussion. Well technically we have not started discussing. I only have an expression of interest. However I am hopeful that Pilgrim Poker can find overseas publishers and reach a wider audience outside of Malaysia. 

My old friend Teck Kang and his daughter came to the fair. We played both Pilgrim Poker and Pinocchio. 

One thing I felt strongly about the boardgame industry in Thailand is how many influencers and content creators there are. I saw many people taking photos and videos. In my social media feeds I saw much information shared by different people. I was interviewed by Mark Chobb, one of the top boardgame influencers in Thailand. My segment is near the end at 1:04:57 - https://youtu.be/RvqN003KkIQ?si=DpLhGrV48EYyA6_P&t=3897. 

During a chat with my Thai friends, they mentioned one influencer team Board Booster (https://www.youtube.com/@BoardBoosterChannel) who take fantastic photos. They showed me the Board Booster team, and said if I had the chance to give them reviewer copies it would be helpful in getting exposure. And then the next day when I returned to my booth after a discussion, I found a few guys fiddling with game components and positioning them for photo taking. The component placement style looked familiar, and I quickly recognised the faces. It was the Board Booster team! They had already bought my game. Here's Board Booster on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boardbooster.playhouse/,  https://www.instagram.com/boardbooster.bg/.

The Capstone Hong Kong team (Rachel and Edward) is developing an Old Master Q (老夫子)  game. I grew up with this comic character and it's great to see a game with him and his friends. This is still a prototype so the eventual product might not be exactly like this. Rachel and Edward asked several of us to playtest the game and to give feedback.

This is a shedding game, in that your goal is to get rid of all your cards. Every round, everyone plays a card in turn order. Most cards are in one of five flavours (suits). Players who play the same flavour are temporary allies. The card values are summed up by flavours. The highest flavour(s) wins. Whoever is not in the highest flavour (or flavours) must draw a card. Ideally you want to keep being on the winning team, so that every round you will have one card fewer, until you eventually play your last card. 

This is fun because you will try to join forces with others, sometimes against their will. Whether you can join your preferred team is subject to you having the right flavours. Some special cards create unexpected results. You may change the flavour of another card, causing that player to join your team. You may even disable the value of a card. 

The high cards have no flavour. If you play a high card, you are on your own and you won't be able to join any team, unless someone else uses a special power to convert you to one of the flavours. 

Edward and Rachel from Capstone, Hong Kong. They helped me playtest my Dream of the Red Chamber game, together with Jon (right) and Mike from Swan Panasia (not in photo). 

I brought a demo copy of Malaysian Holidays, but I did not have enough luggage space to bring stock to sell. I brought a demo copy so that if I had a chance to pitch to an overseas publisher I could do that. This group of fair visitors saw the game and wanted to try it, so I taught them the game. The guy on the right is Malaysian, and his friends teased him that if he didn't win, it would mean his patriotism was questionable. To his relief he did win. 

My long-term assistant Chris (Apiwat). This was his third time helping me.

I sold out all copies of Pilgrim Poker that I brought. About half were sold throughout the weekend to visitors, and at the end of the fair, several retailers and distributors bought the rest. I'm glad that many who played it liked it. Most people understood the tactics quickly. Some visitors fooled me at my own game, tricking me into folding when I had a strong card. I joked with them that Thai people cannot be trusted and I didn't want to return anymore.  

I took this photo only at the end of the fair

This was the main area of BIGF. There were four sections. The one in the foreground is the first section you see after walking in. Jelly Jelly Games (Japan), Origame (Singapore) and Swan Panasia (Taiwan) were here. In the background on the left is the second section. Capstone (Hong Kong) and Paix (Japan) were here. There were several Thai publishers here too. On the right in the background is a raised area. That's the third section. Homosapiens Lab (Taiwan), Ryusei Games (Japan) and Larong Atin (Philippines) were here. I was in a smaller hall to the right, accessed through the raised section. Straight on in this photo and in the background is an event hall. Some activities were conducted here, including showcase sessions for local influencers, pitching sessions by Thai designers, and a meet and greet with Daniele Tascini (Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar, The Voyages of Marco Polo, Teotihuacan: City of Gods). 

My booth was in this room, together with nPips (Malaysia), Spiel the Game (Indonesia / Germany), and Underdog Games (Korea). 

This is the view from the raised area. Most have packed up by this time.

Bye-bye and see you next year!

Milk brought Jon and I to visit this boardgame cafe called Dice Cup. 

Comfortable private rooms

They have two floors, and this is upstairs. 

The edges of the tables are raised, I think to prevent game components from being accidentally pushed off the table. 

THB 50 (about MYR 6) per hour of gaming, THB 180 (MYR 22) for a full day, THB 240 (MYR 30) for a whole weekend. This is much cheaper than Malaysia. 

Nice ambience! They have a shop section too. 

Milk (right) from Board Game Night (BGN) brought Jon and I out for dinner. She is the organiser of the Thailand Boardgame Show (TBS), which I have been to twice. This year it is happening in November, but I might not be there this time round. When Jon organised Malaysia Boardgame Show (MBS) earlier this year, it was modelled after TBS. We learned a lot from Milk and she is very willing to share her experiences and insights. 

I found photos taken by Board Booster! So I am happily sharing them here. 

I love this product shot!

I think all of these were taken with just phones, not professional cameras.

Group photo!

We flew from Bangkok back to Kuala Lumpur on Merdeka Day.

In the past few years I have exhibited in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Sabah), Thailand, and the Philippines. This year I will be exhibiting in Taiwan for the first time. Throughout these exhibitions, it has been wonderful to get connected with other designers and publishers, learning from them, being inspired by them, and sharing stories. Most of us share the same challenges and dreams. We share the same passion. Recently I have been having doubts about what I am doing as a designer and indie publisher. Maybe I'm feeling burnt out. I sometimes dread some of the things I know I should be doing. Things I need to be doing. Spending time with friends, seeking their views, and hearing their stories give me new perspectives and encouragement. 

Jon is my regular partner in crime. We spoke about our business model as small businesses. Our business model now doesn't seem to make sense. I wonder whether I'm really running a small business. Based on the numbers, I am more like having an expensive hobby. I always have a nagging feeling that I'm being financially irresponsible. Jon sees this a little differently. He knows he is spending time and money and this whole thing is not making financial ROI now, but he sees gains in many other aspects. He enjoys making games, traveling, making friends internationally, learning new things. His full-time work allows him enough spare time and the means to do all this boardgame stuff. So why the hell not? I should not be measuring everything in life using a simple financial statement. 

Freddie is passionate about promoting Filipino and Asian game designers. He believes we need to reach out to and create a fanbase. In the Philippines, people appreciate the arts, and when people know you and your story, they want to support you. He believes indie designers and publishers must build connections with their fanbase. We don't have the marketing budget of the international brands, but we have the local touch and the personal touch. 

Simon's ideas for games amaze me. Many small day-to-day experiences can be turned into a game. Poking fun at life can be done through a boardgame. When you are an observer of people and of life, you can find the humour and put it in a game, and this is something people can relate to and will appreciate. Syn believes in collaboration and indie publishers supporting one another. Mike shared with me an insight I had not thought of when I designed my game boxes. To represent the rulebook languages I have inside the box, I put the USA and British flags to mean English, the China flag to mean Simplified Chinese, and the Hong Kong and Taiwan flags to mean Traditional Chinese. The Taiwan flag might be a problem if I plan to sell my games in China, due to political reasons. I had not considered that. Oops. Aum shared with me her experiences at Beijing Dice Con, one of the biggest boardgame fairs in China. Booths are expensive. In China the prices of boardgames are low. It is a competitive market. Exhibiting in China is not a decision to be taken lightly. Without the right business model and infrastructure, plus good planning and preparation, it could become an expensive lesson for me. 

The many insights and inspiration I get from my friends make me think about how we can grow the boardgame market in Asia. I believe Asia and South East Asia are growing markets with huge potential. We have a mission to bring the joy of boardgames to more people. 

I and grateful for my friends in the boardgame circle, who are a little mad to be doing all this, just like me.