108 Outlaws is a game from Daryl Chow of Origame. It is based on the Chinese classic novel Water Margin. I have been designing games based on the four Chinese classics, including Water Margin, so I was certainly interested in seeing Daryl's take on the topic.  108 Outlaws is a tableau building game. All 108 characters of Water Margin are in the game. They are

Plantful Life is a roll and write game from Taiwan. You take care of a plant and you nurture it to grow and bloom. The game comes with six different plants, and they need to be taken care of differently. At the end of the game, you will score points in several ways, including how much your plant has grown, how many flowers it has, and how many butterflies it has attracted.

Too Many Exits is a game from Korea. It is based on the horror movie trope of a bunch of teenagers being hunted down by a mad killer. Like the story about friends running away from a bear, you don't need to outrun the bear. You just need to outrun your friends. This is a single loser game. When one player gets killed, everyone else survives and wins.  Characters

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

War of Beauty is a game from Taiwan, and it is a party game about palace drama, i.e. how the concubines of the emperor fight for power and influence. One of the designers is Kevin Tsai (蔡康永), a popular TV show host. When I saw the components of the game, I was intrigued and very keen to give it a go. If you like this kind of Chinese TV drama about politicking at the palace, you will get a real

LOOP is designed by Takashi Saito, who is from Nagasaki, Japan. I bought this game when I was traveling in Nagasaki. Because of this the game will have a special place in my collection. This is a climbing card game, like Tichu and Big 2. You play different combinations of cards and your goal is to play all your cards. The most important twist in this game is

  Bangkok International Game Festival (BIGF) is happening in Bangkok 28 - 30 August 2026. Cili Padi Games will be there. The new game I am bringing is Pilgrim Poker. I have exhibited in Thailand before, twice, at a different event - the Thailand Boardgame Show. This year I want to try going for a different event. It is my first time at BIGF. Let's see what it's like. I hope to be

This is a game I am very excited to talk about. Restoration is a game from Vietnam, designed by Plum Tran and Toan Nguyen, and published under Ngu Hanh Games. It is a strategy game about restoration of the Kien Trung Palace. You play the role of artists and craftsmen. This is a worker placement game. It uses a rondel mechanism, and it has area majority competition. 

We have a new physical boardgame store in downtown Kuala Lumpur! Play Play Asia is located in GMBB Mall, which is a local hub for arts. The shop specialises in Asian games, with much focus on South East Asian titles. This is a collaboration between Origame from Singapore and LUMA from Malaysia. You will see many Singaporean and Malaysian game titles at the shop. Can you spot my games Malaysian

The Asian Board Games Festival (Malaysia) was 7 - 9 Aug 2026. This was the third time it was held, and I have been exhibiting there every year so far. It was at the same venue - 1st Avenue Mall in Penang. Here's my experience at ABGF this year.  Three of us - Jon, Buddhima and I - travelled together in the same car from Kuala Lumpur to Penang on Thursday, a day before the event

Jon from nPips Games (King & Peasant, Furmation of Rome) and Chee Kong from Haribol Way (Zodiac Go) are two of my regular game exhibition buddies. We have been to many game exhibitions together, not just in Malaysia but also in Thailand and in the Philippines. In July, they went to Korea. I could not join them, so I asked them to share their experiences with me. We did

I visited Kyushu, Japan on a family holiday. Needless to say, being a gamer, I looked up boardgame stores to visit well before the trip, and also took the opportunity to look for games at bookstores, 100 yen shops and such when I was there. I found some games at Don Quijote. Don Quijote is a discount store which sells lots and lots of different stuff. Most of the games I found seemed to be

Malaysia is a country which has many public holidays. We have three major ethnicities and many minor ones. We have different religions and traditions. We have national holidays as well as many state specific holidays. Every year towards the end of the year, I see infographics on social media helping people strategise when to apply for annual leave in the following year. For

Trishaw Frenzy is a Malaysian design. The designer is Ewe Boon How, and the publisher is LUMA. This is a game about trishaws in Penang. It is a simple game, and I'd even consider it a children's game.  One easy way to describe the game is modernised Snakes & Ladders. This is a roll-and-move game. The board is made up of nine tiles randomly placed and oriented. The squares

Katana Spirits is a light strategy game from Singaporean designer Geoffrey Chia. This game uses several characters also found in other titles from Good Spirit Games. Many of Geoffrey's games have a Japanese theme. Katana Spirits is a game about training yourself as a fighter and then going out kick some gangster butt. This is a game which uses polyomino tiles.  On your turn

I came across several games during my trip to the Philippines for the Asian Board Games Festival in Manila. I played some, and I listened to an overview for others. Here are some of these games.  This is the Combatron game, based on the Filipino superhero which was created in the 1990's. I forgot to ask the actual game name. It is in the final stages of development. I played a near final