I am trying to do a little preview on some of the publishers that will be at the Taiwan Original Boardgame Expo (Sept 25th-27th). Taiwan Boardgame Design has done several preview gamedays in Taipei but I haven’t been able to attend since I live in Kaohsiung. I am not even sure if all of these will be at TOBE but these are the games that I found interesting this year.
TOBE is a much smaller and much different convention than TGM. Tobe is held in the old tobacco warehouses at Songshan Cultural Park near Taipei Dome (blog link). 60-70 vendors from about 10 different countries will demo and sell their games. One of the biggest surprises for me at TOBE is that people are usually able to play the full games at the vendor tablesduring the expo. Obviously don’t expect to play a 2-3 hour game but you can play games all day at different vendor booths. There are no tables at the expo for open play.
If you know of any other new games let me know and I can add them. I would like to add all of the vendors but I don’t know many of them very well myself. And I am running out of time to finish this blog.
Nguh Hanh Games (Vietnam) previously brought On Stage and Duky to TOBE. This year one of my more anticipated games is a medium weight worker placement game (Restoration). I am always a sucker for themes that dig deep into Asian culture.
Erik and Kevin (Magi Games – Taiwan) have quickly built up a nice catalog of games. FLOW is their latest release. Very cute and the gameplay looks interesting.
My game Formosa Formosa (Taiwan/USA) will be for sale for the first time at TOBE this year. Formosa Formosa is a fun throw and write game traveling around Taiwan. Players can set up combos similar to Ganz Schonz Clever but they must be efficient or else they will create too much pollution.
I will also have Planepita, Snowp, Trickarus and Orthognomes for sale at my booth. Planepita is like mini Crokinole and Snowp is a completely different game but just as much fun. Trickarus is a fun trick taking game and Orthognomes a beautiful 2p abstract that is best described as 3D Connect Four.
Good Games Studio (Taiwan) has previously designed and published Vegetable Stock, Taiwan Night Market and Round House (published by Emperor S4). 1st Band is their new game and it has been getting very good reviews internationally. 1st CEO is a new game releasing at TOBE.
Isle of Bears (Heybye Games – Taiwan) is the new 2p abstract from the creator of Pwned! It is an area control fight between black bears and polar bears where your goal is to capture, push off the ice flow or banish your opponents bears. You can demo it online at Isle of Bears demo.
I don’t see the designer (Taiwan) of Dungeon Team with a booth but it is a new cooperative deckbuilder in the family of The Crew. It seems to be getting good reviews at least among tricktaking fans. If you see it there try it out.
Create Camp (Taiwan) is another game that I am not sure if it will be at TOBE but it has been getting very good reviews. It is most definitely a party game.
Geoffrey from Good Spirit Games (Singapore) has a cute little collection of games from the last few years. Kabuki Tricks was picked up for international release by 25th Century Games and it might not be at TOBE but River Woods (light worker placement), Katana Spirits (cute) and Nightmares of Sushi will probably be there.
I don’t know much about Poki’s (Taiwan) latest release Gift Swap but my students LOVE Slime Artist. It is a Dixit style guessing game where all players use silly puddy to create an object and all players guess what everyone crafted. My students LOVE it so much.
Amuri Studios (Japan) is board game store in Tokyo that has several small box games published. Last year’s release, The Coil, is their more strategic game that I need to check out sometime. Their latest Kickstarter, Nine Tails, is lighter but has amazing artwork. I think they might be able to bring some copies to Taipei.
Jelly Jelly (Japan) is another board game publisher with several stores in Tokyo. I think they will have a demo of Yena: Succession War for their upcoming Kickstarter in addition to other games for sale.
J&M Space (Japan) previously published one of the most beautiful games at Tokyo Game Market. HANAMI uses little tatami mats for the game board and glass for the game pieces. Their newest game, Shibagoten, also looks great.
Key’s Work’s (Hong Kong) new game, Castle Peak Fish Market, is a Dutch auction with light engine building mechanics. They also have a game with cute cats on the cover.
Journey to the West is a new game from a new publisher (Journey Studio – Hong Kong). I don’t know anything about it but it looks interesting.
Play With Us (Taiwan) has a nice lineup of games that includes Soulaween (2p abstract) and the newer Club of Cthulhu (2-4p push your luck). Not sure if they have anything new out but they have some very nice games.
Emperor S4 (Taiwan) is most famous for their Hanamikoji and Walking series of games. Their latest games (Walking in Osaka and Walking in Kamogawa) combine the two.
JJ Boardgame (Taiwan) has a large lineup of games including one of my favorites from last year (10 To Leave). Tang Master Tailor is one of their new games that looks promising. There are some great games with Asia themes but they have done a great job integrating the theme into the game. There is a How To Play video from Boardgames With B7 to learn about the game.
npips games (Malaysia) has published Furmation of Rome (love the box cover) and King and Peasant (2p) before. I am not sure if they will have something new at TOBE but I would check out Furmation of Rome just because of the box cover.
Origame (Singapore) is one of the organizers of the Asian Boardgame Festival in Singapore, Penang and Manila. They have a very nice lineup of games to check out including 108 Outlaws and Overparked. The 108 Outlaws art by Geoffrey (mentioned earlier) is some of my favorite art from the last couple of years.
Valley of Sky Lanterns (Taiwan) won’t be for sale at TOBE since it is currently on Kickstarter but hopefully they will be doing demos of the game there. This is Icerain’s largest game yet and it looks like a nice blend of a boardgame with the history of Taiwan.
Always a Bridesmaid is the first game from Kado (Taiwan). Very cool art. I am not sure how to play but there is a simultaneous reveal of cards and you really don’t want to upstage the bride and rank first but you only get points for the second rank.
Paix Guild (Japan) has a large selection of trick taking games. Tsumoo is a chaotic tricktaker that is a lot of fun and Angels and Devils is a trick avoidance game in the Hearts family. They also have some more recent games that I don’t know as much about.
Thai publisher bgn has attended the last few TOBE expos. I am not very familiar with their games but they seem to specialize in fun games for larger groups (3-8 players). I think Inside House is their latest game but I am not sure what they are bringing to TOBE.
Tembusu Games (Singapore) has expanded their Next Station series to include Taipei in addition to their previous Singapore version. Tembusu’s Next Station series is a shedding game where players play same color (same MRT line) cards until a player switches colors (MRT lines). This is quite different from the Mathew Dunstan roll & write version also named Next Station. It is always great to see Taiwan themed games.
Silent Guardians from Ryusuei Games (Japan) is another cooperative tricktaking game that was well liked by a few people that I know at the spring Tokyo Game Market.
Not My Probllama is the latest game from Homosapiens Lab. It is a shedding game where passing requires players to draw more cards if they pass with potential bombs/llamas in the deck.
Mizo Games (Taiwan) offers a mix of friendly cute games like My Life Be Like (very nice game) and intense war games. 2045 is their latest war game with China invading Taiwan. I think playing it would give me anxiety about living in Taiwan but it looks really cool
Wonderful World Boardgames has one new game (Dragonarium) at TOBE and one other game (Lionwake) on Kickstarter in addition to having several others for sale.
Deep Dark Dive is a light push your luck game from a long time war game publisher Formosa Force Games. Looks kind of cool.
I don’t think this is even half of the publishers that will be at TOBE this year so anyone should be able to find something to play. In addition there are larger vendors that have demo areas and a lot of games to demo and for sale.
Lynx Lake Games 