# family game (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 2 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover family game. Page: Feed: --- ## [New Old](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/new-old.html) _2026-08-26 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ New Old is a game from Japan. What stands out the most about it is the box design. It is deliberately designed to look like two boxes side-by-side, one brand new and the other one pretty old and worn. The cards inside and the rules are like this too. Some cards are normal, but others look like old cards at different levels of wear and tear. The rules come in two sheets, and one of them is ## [LOOP](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/loop.html) _2026-08-25 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ 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 2026](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/bangkok-international-game-festival-2026.html) _2026-08-24 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ 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 ## [Restoration (Phuc Dung)](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/restoration-phuc-dung.html) _2026-08-23 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ 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. ## [designer diary: Pilgrim Poker](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/designer-diary-pilgrim-poker.html) _2026-08-22 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Pilgrim Poker is named so because the setting is Journey to the West, the Chinese classic novel. The characters are transported to a modern setting. They are on the first leg of their pilgrimage, taking the train to Dunhuang. Guess what they are bringing on this trip? Pilgrim Poker of course! Five years ago when I started working on this game, it was very different. ## [Play Play Asia opens for business!](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/play-play-asia-opens-for-business.html) _2026-08-21 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ 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 ## [boardgaming in photos: repacking Pinocchio and playing Syzygy](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/boardgaming-in-photos-repacking.html) _2026-08-20 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ When I was in Kota Kinabalu I asked my mum to playtest my Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦) game with me. I wanted to get it played by different kinds of players, and senior citizens is not a demographic I often have access to. This was also the first time younger daughter Chen Rui played. I have told her about the game before during video calls when she was overseas, but she could only play the ## [Quartermaster General: South Front](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/quartermaster-general-south-front.html) _2026-08-19 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Having played Quartermaster General: East Front recently, Han and I moved on to play the South Front version. The South Front of World War 2 refers to the Mediterranean theatre. The game has a long map that stretches from Gibraltar in the south of Spain to Iraq in the Middle East. You have North Africa, Italy and the Balkans too. On the Axis side you have mainly the Pact (I think these are ## [Dog Poker](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/dog-poker.html) _2026-08-18 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Dog Poker is first in a series of animal poker games from Japan by Kaya Miyano. I bought both Dog Poker and Cat Poker when traveling, and only later realised I already own Cat Poker. Cat Poker is the original Japanese version of Panda Panda. Although named poker, neither game is similar to poker. Or maybe animals play poker differently. In Dog Poker every card ## [Rikka](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/rikka.html) _2026-08-17 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Rikka is from the makers of Tiger & Dragon, which I greatly enjoyed. The use of mahjong-like tiles is nice. Although not absolutely necessary, it does make the game experience better. You can consider Rikka simplified mahjong. It does feel like mahjong, but there are some important differences. You start with a hand of 5 tiles. On your turn you take a tile then discard a tile. Tiles in ## [Meet Claude, an AI assistant (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/vFNKj7EFWpOu) _2026-08-17 · **Sponsored**_ Chat with Claude at claude.ai — a conversational AI assistant. ## [Ukiyo-e](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/ukiyo-e.html) _2026-08-16 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Ukiyo-e is the 2025 Japanese edition of an old game from Michael Schacht, called Crazy Chicken (2003). This is a simple, mostly abstract card game, so it is easy to retheme. I would never have imagined a game about crazy chicken getting transformed into a game about traditional Japanese woodblock prints. In this Japanese edition of the game, you are collecting pieces of art by famous ## [Asian Board Games Festival - Malaysia 2026 - what I saw](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/asian-board-games-festival-malaysia_0611854383.html) _2026-08-15 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ 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 ## [Two Malaysians one Seoul](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/two-malaysians-one-seoul.html) _2026-08-14 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ 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 ## [Similo](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/similo.html) _2026-08-13 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Similo is a cooperative card game that is doing well. There are many different decks with different themes and characters. So far I have played three of them. In this game one player is the clue giver and the rest are guessers. A grid of 4x3 is laid out. One of these cards is a secret goal which only the clue giver knows. The clue giver needs to provide information to the rest ## [Pioneer Days](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/pioneer-days.html) _2026-08-12 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Pioneer Days comes highly recommended by Buddhima. I have never heard of this game before. It never made any big splash when it was first released. Now this is a rare game. It is a solid design. It has an interesting balance of competition and collaboration, and combo development. Every round, a number of dice equal to one more than the number of players are ## [Three Sisters](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/three-sisters.html) _2026-08-10 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Three Sisters is a traditional companion planting technique where corn, climbing beans and winter squash (e.g. pumpkins) are planted together, and each of them provides benefits to the other two. The game Three Sisters is a roll-and-write game about agriculture and farming. Everyone has his own player sheet. Dice are rolled every round to determine the possible actions. You ## [Regicide Legacy review and photo book](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/regicide-legacy-review-and-photo-book.html) _2026-08-08 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ I did a spoiler-free post about Regicide Legacy in April, giving a quick overview and showing the basic game components. This post continues from there. The first part of this post will contain no spoilers. If you have not played the game and you are thinking about it, it's safe to proceed. I played the Regicide Legacy campaign with younger ## [Gambler x Gamble!!](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/gambler-x-gamble.html) _2026-08-07 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Gambler x Gamble!! (two exclamation marks) is a game from Japan released in 2024. It is a reimplementation of a 2016 game called Gambler x Gamble! (one exclamation mark), which won the Group SNE Contest in 2015. We all know what it will be named when it gets a third edition, don't we? When I read the rules, the first thing that comes to mind is this is Machi ## [Asian Board Game Festival Malaysia 2026 (Penang) is this weekend!](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/asian-board-game-festival-malaysia-2026.html) _2026-08-06 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Asian Board Games Festival - Malaysia 2026 is happening Fri 7 Aug 2026 to Sun 9 Aug 2026 in Penang. By the time you read this, I'm probably on the way to Penang, or I am already in Penang running my booth. This is my third time exhibiting at ABGF MY. This time I will have two new games, Pilgrim Poker and Malaysian Holidays. If you are in Penang, come play with me! ## [All-In: Predictions](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/all-in-predictions.html) _2026-08-05 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Let’s play poker but in a different way. There has been several modern hobby games which make use of poker hands, e.g. The Gang. The good thing about these games is they use an aspect which most people are already familiar with. It will be easier for us gamers to convince our non gamer friends to try modern boardgames with us. Half of All-In: Predictions is ## [Stay updated on your professional world (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/MvjE1aHP8Squ) _2026-08-05 · **Sponsored**_ Keep in touch with people you know, build your career. ## [Lifeboats: Plank of Carneades](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/lifeboats-plank-of-carneades.html) _2026-08-04 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Lifeboats is a 1993 game. That's more than 30 years old! I am pretty sure I have heard about it before. The version I recently played is a 2024 remake. This is a negotiation game for up to 7 players. This is the kind of game which I would cheekily say can destroy friendships, and I wouldn't be lying. Be prepared for hurt feelings. There is a disaster at sea. The ship is sinking, and ## [Pilgrim Poker has landed!](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/pilgrim-poker-has-landed.html) _2026-08-03 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ It's always an amazing feeling to hold in my hand the final product after months or years of work. The Pilgrim Poker project went pretty smoothly. I planned to have it launched during the Asian Board Games Festival in Penang. All the art was submitted to Magicraft slightly ahead of schedule. We allowed for ample time for shipping. The games arrived at my doorstep the week ## [Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring - Trick-Taking Game](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/lord-of-rings-fellowship-of-ring-trick.html) _2026-08-02 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ There has been quite a few Lord of the Rings games in recent years. I think that's a good thing. I hope this brings more people into the boardgame hobby. There are two games in the Lord of the Rings Trick-Taking Game series so far - The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. I have only played some of the missions in The Fellowship of the Ring. I was told The Two Towers is ## [Asian Board Games Festival - Malaysia 2026 (Penang)](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/08/asian-board-games-festival-malaysia.html) _2026-08-01 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ 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](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/07/boardgaming-in-photos-rumble-nation-dnup.html) _2026-07-31 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ 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 ## [Oh My Pigeons! – Review](https://ourboardgamelife.com/2026/07/30/oh-my-pigeons-review/) _2026-07-30 · Lauren · Our Board Game Life_ Advert: This game was gifted for review by Ravensburger. All opinions are ours. Coo coo! Coo coo! Time to see who rules the roost in this pigeon collecting, ‘poo’ flicking game! (disclaimer: no real poo is flicked anywhere!) Key stats 2 to 5 players | ~15 minutes Publisher: RavensburgerDesigner: Shanon LyonArt: Alena Istif Categories: Animals, \[…\] ## [Haratama](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/07/haratama.html) _2026-07-30 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Haratama is a trick-taking game from Japan with a horror theme and great art. Every round, three card values are randomly drawn to become the penalty values for the round. That means if you win these cards you will be penalised. This is a game about scoring as few points as possible. Points are bad. Most standard trick-taking rules apply. You must follow suit if you can. There is a ## [Torchlit](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/07/torchlit.html) _2026-07-29 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ I have been playing many trick-taking games lately. I am not specifically a fan of the genre, but I don't dislike it either. If anyone suggests a trick-taking game, I'm usually happy to play. Torchlit is a trick-taking game which emphasises making predictions. Based on your starting hand, you secretly choose one card as your torch. This number is your prediction about how ## [Railroad Tiles](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/07/railroad-tiles.html) _2026-07-27 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Railroad Tiles is from the same designer duo who also brought us Railroad Ink and Dragon Castle. A quick way to describe the game is advanced Carcassonne. This is a tile laying game, and you get to place meeples. But this is not a fair way to introduce the game at all. Say this to people who already like Carcassonne to hook them. This game has its own place and in many ways is ## [Pilgrim Poker - almost here!](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/07/pilgrim-poker-almost-here.html) _2026-07-25 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ 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 ## [CLI-first decentralized compute (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/uaJCSxekhHI9) _2026-07-25 · **Sponsored**_ Run and pay spare GPUs from the CLI — transcode, coinpay (DID+escrow), infernet (AI). ## [The Old King’s Crown – First impressions review](https://ourboardgamelife.com/2026/07/24/the-old-kings-crown-review/) _2026-07-24 · Lauren · Our Board Game Life_ Ding dong the Old King is dead, or long gone…will you be the one to claim the crown of this forgotten Kingdom? Let’s see if this game is worth the hype, shall we? Key stats 1 to 4 players | 60-120 minutes | Age 12+ Publisher: Eerie Idol GamesDesigner/Artist: Pablo Clark Categories: Fantasy, Medieval, Card \[…\] ## [Bean to Bar](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/07/bean-to-bar.html) _2026-07-24 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Bean to Bar is not your typical Japanese game. When I hear Japanese game, by default I imagine a short, minimalistic and clever card game with few components. Bean to Bar is a complex and heavy Euro style game with many more stuff than just cards. It is a game about making and selling chocolate. You build and run an artisan chocolate empire. In the game you need to ## [National Economy](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/07/national-economy.html) _2026-07-22 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ National Economy is a game from Japan. It is a worker placement card game. It is pretty compact. There are many elements which at first made me think - isn't this just like Agricola? As I played, I soon discovered it is more than that, and less than that at the same time. All in all, a different beast, despite several familiar concepts. The game is played over 9 rounds. You start ## [The Kejap Food Game](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-kejap-food-game.html) _2026-07-21 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ The Kejap Food Game is not available for sale. You can get this as a free gift if you visit Kejap Food (a Malaysian fast food chain) and buy MYR 30 or more of food. While stocks last, of course. This is a simple, real-time game that is played in five minutes. It is a cooperative game. You work together to serve as many customers as you can within the time limit. Before a game starts, ## [Rajas of the Ganges](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/07/rajas-of-ganges.html) _2026-07-20 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Rajas of the Ganges is a 2017 game from Inka and Markus Brand, who made the Exit series. It was nominated for and won several awards. It was well received by gamers. I wasn't very interested to try it when it was hot, because it sounded like just another worker placement game, with dice. It was suggested at a recent game retreat, so I joined the game. It turned out to be much more ## [boardgame shopping in Japan](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/07/boardgame-shopping-in-japan.html) _2026-07-18 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ 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 ## [Dirty Work](http://hiewandboardgames.blogspot.com/2026/07/dirty-work.html) _2026-07-16 · Hiew Chok Sien 邱卓成 · Hiew's Boardgame Blog_ Dirty Work is a party game from Thailand. This is a simultaneous action selection game, and it is very much about guessing your opponents’ intentions. You are all miners mining gold, contributing to a stash of gold, one nugget at a time. Sooner or later someone will be tempted to steal from the stash. However such thieves can be caught by miners who decide to play guard. So these are the ## [Trouble Brewing – First impressions review](https://ourboardgamelife.com/2026/07/10/trouble-brewing-first-impressions-review/) _2026-07-10 · Lauren · Our Board Game Life_ Advert: We were loaned a prototype for review purposes. All opinions are ours. Design and components are subject to change. Double double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble! Today we’re looking at Trouble Brewing, coming to Kickstarter later this year! Key stats 2 to 4 players | 60+ minutes | Age 14+ Publisher: \[…\] ## [Canal Houses – Review](https://ourboardgamelife.com/2026/07/01/canal-houses-review/) _2026-07-01 · Lauren · Our Board Game Life_ Walking up and down the canals of Amsterdam, there’s one thing that we couldn’t tear our eyes away from…the architecture of course! Which is the inspo for today’s game. Key stats 2 to 5 players | 20 minutes | Age 8+ Publisher: Gigamic (distributed by Hachette Boardgames UK)Designer: Zach HoekstraArt: Jason Gamber Categories: City Building, \[…\] ## [Fiction: Banned Books – Review](https://ourboardgamelife.com/2026/06/26/fiction-banned-books-review/) _2026-06-26 · Lauren · Our Board Game Life_ Advert: This game was gifted for the purposes of review. All opinions are ours. you can navigate fact and fiction in this wordle-style deduction game? Let’s play Fiction: Banned Books! Key stats 2 to 8 players | 15 to 30 minutes | Age 10+ Publisher: AllplayDesigner: Peter C. HaywardArt: Anca Gavril, Daniel Profiri Themes: Literature, \[…\] ## [Twittens – Review](https://ourboardgamelife.com/2026/06/25/twittens-review/) _2026-06-25 · Lauren · Our Board Game Life_ Advert: This game was loaned for review through the UK Board Game Review Circle. All opinions are our own. Twittens sounds dreadfully British – and that’s because it is! Sussex slang for the alleys and backlanes that run behind houses, in this game you explore the twitten of your local neighbourhood to find point-scoring points \[…\] ## [Tulip Season – First impressions review](https://ourboardgamelife.com/2026/06/18/tulip-season-first-impressions-review/) _2026-06-18 · Lauren · Our Board Game Life_ Advert: This game was loaned for review through the UK Board Game Review Circle. All opinions are our own. Many years ago Matt and I were lucky enough to visit Keukenhof gardens (a short ride out of Amsterdam) and see the beautiful tulip fields it’s so well known for – if you’ve never been, I \[…\] ## [8 Dragons – First impressions review](https://ourboardgamelife.com/2026/06/12/8-dragons-first-impressions-review/) _2026-06-12 · Lauren · Our Board Game Life_ Advert: We were loaned the prototype of this game for the purposes of this review. All opinions are ours. Prototype components are subject to change. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? NO! It’s a swarm of dragons flying over the lands, having a lairy old time. 8 Dragons had a lot of interest \[…\] ## [The Mystery Agency: The Robber’s Grave – Review](https://ourboardgamelife.com/2026/05/27/the-robbers-grave-review/) _2026-05-27 · Lauren · Our Board Game Life_ Advert: This game was gifted for the purposes of review. All opinions are ours. The Mystery Agency is back with another unsolved case! Let’s dig into the latest mystery: The Robber’s Grave The Mystery Agency is a UK-based company that makes high quality, ‘escape room’ mystery boxes to play at home, designed by Henry Lewis \[…\] ## [Orapa Space – Review](https://ourboardgamelife.com/2026/05/25/orapa-space-review/) _2026-05-25 · Lauren · Our Board Game Life_ Advert: we were sent this game from Playte in exchange for a review. It’s Battleships (sort of), but in SPAAAAAAACE! Let’s take a look at Orapa Space, a deduction space race to locate your opponent’s planets. Key stats 2 to 5 players | 30 to 45 minutes | 8+ years Publisher: PlayteDesigner:Shota HasuikeArt:Wanjin Gill Theme/category: \[…\]