Normale Ansicht

Asian Board Games Festival - Malaysia 2026 (Penang)

Asian Board Games Festival - Malaysia 2026 is happening Fri 7 Aug 2026 to Sun 9 Aug 2026 in Penang. Cili Padi Games will be there. This time I will have two new games, Pilgrim Poker and Malaysian Holidays. Pilgrim Poker will be available at the Cili Padi Games booth, and Malaysian Holidays at the Specky Studio booth. Come play with me if you are in town!  

boardgaming in photos: Rumble Nation, dnup

I played the physical version of Rumble Nation. This is a minimalistic area majority game. I normally dislike area majority games, but this one is just so clever. It's a game from Japan, and the setting is Japan too.  You roll three dice to determine what options you have on your turn. You must use two of the dice to choose the region you will place your cubes, and the third dice

Pilgrim Poker - almost here!

I am expecting my next game from Cili Padi Games, Pilgrim Poker, to be released at the Asian Board Games Festival in Penang, 7 - 9 Aug 2026. I am very excited about this project. This is the first time I am using a Chinese story as my theme.  This is the box cover. Certainly a bold concept from my artist Edwin. I did have some concerns when he first showed me the concept art. I was

Pilgrim Poker - master and disciples

Here's another teaser for my upcoming game Pilgrim Poker. These are the four main characters in the story of Journey to the West. Modern day Master Tang Sanzang sits on a gaming chair and plays a handheld gaming device. I like his intensity. I find it funny. Modern day eldest disciple Sun Wukong is a delivery boy. His Somersault Cloud is transformed into a motorbike. I think it's an

boardgaming in photos: playtesting

Choon Ean and I were at Kinokuniya bookstore (Pavilion Damansara Heights) demoing our games over the weekend of 30-31 May 2026. This time our tables were occupied more, compared to two weeks earlier when I was there by myself. There were people who stayed to play for quite long. It feels great to see people enjoy my games and want to play again and again. That weekend I think I sold out all

boardgaming in photos - Risk and Race for the Galaxy

In my work as a leadership trainer, I regularly collaborate with others in the industry - fellow trainers, coaches and training providers. Being in a business community called BNI, I regularly meet fellow members of the community and we help one another in our businesses. One of my friends Captain Fuaad has developed a training game based on Risk, and he asked several of us to help him

Pilgrim Poker - a tease

 I am planning to launch my next game from Cili Padi Games in August at the Asian Board Games Festival in Penang (Malaysia). The art for Pilgrim Poker is all done. We are in the process of finalising all the graphic files and submitting them to the manufacturer. I love the art my artist Edwin Chong has created for this game. One of my favourite characters is this Bull Demon King (牛魔王), who

Asian Board Games Festival - The Philippines 2026

The Asian Board Games Festival in the Philippines was held 2 - 3 May 2026 in Manila. This was the first time I exhibited in the Philippines. I have been to Manila before at my previous job, and that was 18 years ago.  There were four Malaysian publishers at ABGF PH - Jon (nPips Games), Choon Ean (LUMA), Chee Kong (Haribol Way) and I (Cili Padi Games). We were

Snow White 2nd edition

The second edition of Snow White and the Eleven Dwarfs has been out for a while, last year in fact, but I have not yet mentioned it. This is a game I struggled with a bit, on whether to do a second printing. The first edition did not sell particularly fast. Partly it is because this is a game with a minimum player count of 7. I was running out of stock, and I still had enquiries, so I

Malaysia Boardgame Show 2026: 2 busy days!

18-19 Apr 2026 was the Malaysia Boardgame Show. It was held at Jaya One shopping mall in PJ. In the past few years there has been several different boardgame-specific events in Malaysia, like Asian Board Game Festival (in Penang), Boxcon, All Aboard, Dice & Dine, Anigames. Not all are recurring. MBS is organised by Jon, who is currently the most active game designer in Malaysia. He has

Pilgrim Poker concept art

The 2026 game title from Cili Padi Games will be Pilgrim Poker. This will be my fifth game published under the Cili Padi Games label. I have been making one game a year since Dancing Queen in 2022. Edwin Chong has been my artist since my first game, and continues to be my artist for this year's project. This above is the concept art for Pilgrim Poker. Since the game uses the theme of the

Dice N Dine event 14-15 Mar 2026

The past weekend was the Dice N Dine event at Lalaport, Kuala Lumpur, organised by The Magic Rain. It was not entirely a boardgame event. There were art booths and some cosplaying too. Surprisingly not many local game designers set up booths this time. Normally we have more. The venue is the Level 4 food court. The Dice N Dine concept is to run smallish events at food courts, because there

Orapa

31. Oktober 2025 um 16:00

Nice Game Publishing, Playte, 2025
Autoren: Junghee Choi, Wanjin Gill
2–4 Spieler:innen, ab 8 Jahre, 20 Minuten

Tief unter der Erde liegen Edelsteine verborgen und ihr seid das Team, das sie finden soll. In „Orapa“ schlüpft ihr in die Rolle von Teams in einer Diamantenmine: Eine Person legt heimlich Formen in eine Mine, die anderen müssen durch geschicktes Fragen und Kombinieren herausfinden, wo welche Steine liegen. Das Thema ist keine hochdramatische Expedition, sondern ein charmantes Puzzle-Setting. Ihr fühlt euch wie Expert:innen, die mittels Ultraschall nach Mustern suchen. Der Name verweist auf die reale Orapa Mine in Botswana, eine der größten Diamantenminen der Welt. „Orapa“ verbindet klares Deduktionsdenken mit einer leicht humorvollen Werkstatt-Atmosphäre, die Familien und Gelegenheitsspieler:innen schnell abholt.

„Orapa“ ist ein schnelles Deduktionsspiel, leicht gelernt und schnell gespielt. Eine Runde läuft so: Eine Spielleitung platziert heimlich Tangram-ähnliche Teile auf einem Raster. Die anderen stellen reihum Fragen, kombinieren Hinweise und versuchen, die Positionen korrekt zu rekonstruieren. Der Ablauf ist einfach zu erfassen, die Regeln kompakt, zugleich verlangt das Spiel präzises räumliches Vorstellungsvermögen und logisches Ausschließen. Es gibt Varianten für verschiedene Spielerzahlen und Schwierigkeitsgrade, sodass ihr sowohl kurze Duelle als auch längere Gruppenpartien spielen könnt. Insgesamt fühlt sich „Orapa“ wie ein intelligentes Knobelspiel an: kurz, konzentriert und mit befriedigenden Aha-Momenten, wenn eine Kombination plötzlich Sinn ergibt.

„Orapa“ überzeugt mit klarer Idee und schnell greifbaren Mechaniken. Die Deduktion steht im Vordergrund. Glück spielt kaum eine Rolle, was strategisch orientierte Spieler:innen freut, Gelegenheitsspieler:innen aber manchmal abschrecken kann, wenn sie weniger räumlich begabt sind. Material und Verarbeitung sind ordentlich: stabile Pappteile und ein praktisches Ablagebrett sorgen für Langlebigkeit und sauberen Spielablauf. Die Illustrationen sind funktional und stimmig, ohne übertriebenen Schnickschnack. Für Familien und Kennerspieler:innen, die kürzere, fordernde Spiele mögen, ist „Orapa“ eine lohnende Ergänzung. Wer reinen Party-Spaß ohne Denkarbeit sucht oder sehr große Gruppen unterhalten will, lässt es lieber im Regal liegen. Ein schlankes, clever konstruiertes Deduktionsspiel mit hohem Wiederspielwert für Spieler:innen, die Freude an logischen Herausforderungen haben.

❌