Boomerang: Australia works very much like 7 Wonders and Sushi Go. You start with a hand of cards. You pick one and pass the rest left. You keep doing this, and eventually all the cards will be claimed, and you score points based on your set of cards. This is a simple core mechanism. How the game differs from others is how the scoring works.  Every card has several

High Society is a Reiner Knizia game from 1995. I have heard of it so many times that I feel like I have played it before. This is one of the classics from Reiner Knizia that always comes back in print.   This is an auction game. Everyone starts with the same set of money cards, each a different denomination, from $1 to $25. That’s all the money you will have

Legions is a 2-player card game set in the world of Abyss. There are five regions between the two players, and you play cards to compete for dominance in each of these regions. There are two ways you can win. If you manage to capture five banners, you win immediately. Banners only appear on some cards, and it is not easy to achieve this victory condition. If no one achieves this by the

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

I was back in my hometown of Kota Kinabalu (we call it KK) for the Sabah National Tabletop Con over the weekend of 20-21 Jun 2026. This was my first time exhibiting in my hometown, so it was a meaningful event. This same event was held last year, but unfortunately I couldn't attend. This year it was held at the Sabah Art Gallery. We had many exhibitors from Malaysia and Singapore,

The game name dnup needs to be written exactly this way, so that when you turn it upside down, it looks exactly the same. This is a game from Kei Kajino, designer of SCOUT (written in all caps). It also has the element of turning cards upside down to change their values. Every card has two different values at the two opposite ends. The end you are holding upwards is the current value of the card.

The retreat didn't actually have a name. I call it the Yuhang retreat simply because it was organised by Yuhang. This was a private event of a group of boardgamers in Kuala Lumpur coming together for 3 days of gaming, staying at an Airbnb at Taman OUG. I didn't know Yuhang well before this. It was Jon who asked me whether I wanted to join. It was only after I had signed up that I found out I know

During the lifetime of a game taster, once in a while we stumble upon unheard of games which take us by surprise. This Game is Killer: Frozen Horror is one such game for me. It is not a ground-breaking genre nor is it a highly unusual setting. It is just how well the game is put together in a concise way, plus some genius ideas thrown in.  First and foremost, this is a

 This is happening 20-21 Jun 2026 at the Sabah Art Gallery. I will be there together with many other Malaysian game designers, and also many from overseas. Early copies of my latest game, Malaysian Holidays, published by Specky Studio, will be available! If you are in KK, come visit me! 

This is a game about preparing your team of anime characters for a tournament. Everyone has a team of three characters. During the game you get to train them, modifying their stats. You can mess with your opponents by modifying the stats of their characters too. When the game starts, you don't know yet what the tournament is going to be about. It will only be known by the mid point of the

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

This is a 2-player game about city building, where you compete for the same pool of resources to build your individual cities.  You each have your own player board, which is a 3x3 grid. On your turn, you place one of your four pawns on the common board, which is also a 3x3 grid. The common board has stacks of tiles. When you place a pawn, you claim the topmost tile, and you

 This is happening 20-21 Jun 2026 at the Sabah Art Gallery. There will be Malaysia game designers and also designers from other countries. If you are in KK, come look for me and let's play! 

Meadow is a game about wildlife in the countryside. The key underlying concept is the food chain. You need certain terrain to be able to support certain plants, you need certain plants to be able to support certain insects, and in turn these insects are food to small animals, and then these small animals are prey of larger animals. You collect and play cards with various icons. The icons allow

This game is set in World War II and depicts the battle between Germany and the USSR. This is a two player game and the story starts with Germany initiating the invasion of the Soviet Union. Every few rounds both players will score points based on controlling key locations. If you outscore your opponent by 10 points, you win immediately. Otherwise, you win by having more points at the end of

La Famiglia is a little unusual. It is a game for exactly four players (like mahjong!), and it is played in teams of two. You are mafia families in Sicily, and you compete to control the most regions. You win immediately when you control 5 regions, or your team controls 6 regions. If no one achieves this after four rounds, the team controlling more regions wins.  Every region on

Dewan in Malay means "hall", and the boardgame Dewan has nothing to do with any hall. It's just the name of the game world. But I'm stuck with thinking "what the hall" whenever I say the name of the game. Dewan is a clean civ game. I am tempted to call it 4X, but it doesn't have all four X's, just eXpand and a bit of eXploit. No eXplore or eXterminate. You start with a little settlement, and

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

Bahamut Dispute is a microgame from Japan. It is a 2 player game about two kings trying to defeat the other by setting a dragon on their opponent. The structure is simple. On your turn you draw one card, and you may play up to two cards. You need to discard only if you exceed the hand limit. You start with 4 health, and your goal is to reduce your opponent’s health to zero. So far, nothing