Edwin Wong: 2005 Review - Malaysia, Singapore & Thailand

With designer games being introduced to Malaysia only in December 2004, 2005 turned out to be a very encouraging year!

MALAYSIA
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Media support was more than anyone could ask for! Weekly columns in both the major English dailies (New Straits Times & The Star), and extensive TV, radio and press/magazine coverage of GAMECON-1 resulted in many Malaysians now being aware of designer games.

1st year sales exceeded RM100,000 (from a non-existent market), with more than 50% of sales done online [http://homepage.mac.com/imagine_newszine], and retail stores carrying these games growing from zero to 10, with presence in all the major shopping centers in the capital city. Almost 90% of sales were from customers in the city capital, while others came from Ipoh, Penang and East Malaysia.

More than 12 test drives were conducted during the year, seeing a growing number of people being introduced to these games. Around mid-year, the first games club was formed where people could play their favorite games, beyond test driving them. By the end of the year, not only was the club consistently packed during the weekend sessions, but the 2nd club was formed, catering more towards young children and their parents. Already, several meetings had taken place to plan for the 1st boardgames cafe to meet the increasing demand.

Very aggresive promotions were seen for the locally deisgned “Hottest Race in the World” game as part of the annual F1 event in Kuala Lumpur, including a 5 city roadshow to KL, Malacca, Kuantan, Kuala Trengganu and Penang. [http://www.pgi.com.my/main_brdgm_web.aspx].

The highlight of the year was surely GAMECON-1, held on 3-4 December 2005 at the country’s top exhibition center. More than 8,000 visitors kept the 18,000 sf hall fully packed over the weekend. Organized by the country"s three major distributors, Imagine Games (Fantasy Flight, Days of Wonder, Rio Grande, Face2Face, Uberplay, Eagle, Atlas, Shrapnel, Confrontation, Kosmos, Zoch, Amigospiele); Comics Corner (Avalon Hill, WoTC, Upper Deck, Wizkids, Triking); Games Circle (Games Workshop, Privateer Press), the largest game convention this side of earth saw strong assistance/coorperation from neighbouring Thailand and Singapore. The highlight of the event was Tom Vasel’s presentation, “Using Boardgames in Classroom”, which was well received by many educators and teachers from schools, colleges and universities. 20 family games, 6 sci-fi/fantasy games, 8 games in classroom, 4 miniature games and 3 ccgs were on demonstration. 9 major tournaments were held: MTG, VS: Marvel, Pokemon, Warhammer 40K, Warhammer Fantasy, Memoir44 Overlord, Acquire, and the Settlers & Carcassonne International Qualifiers, with more than RM50,000 in cash prizes. [http://www.gamecon1.com].

Prior to GAMECON-1, the national finals for Warhammer 40K was held during the mid-year.

All-in-all, a very encouraging year!

SINGAPORE
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Although longer established with a larger community than Malaysia, the gap is fast closing.

2005 saw no growth in the number of retail stores carrying designer games, with the total still remaining at 2, and Paradigm Infinitum the dominant designer game store. There were still no significant online sales stores apart from direct sales by two local game designers - Fun Factory and Van Der Meer games.

Ironically, Singapore saw rapid growth in the number of boardgame cafes, suggesting the increasing acceptance of gaming as a lifestyle and social activity. Leading the pack is Settlers Cafe with 2 outlets, and 3 other competitor cafes springing up during the year.

The Singapore Boardgame Meet-Up [http://boardgames.meetup.com/21/] group is the largest such group in the world (occassionally topped by New York). Averaging more than 50 people each time they meet, they are one of the most well organized and active gaming clubs this side of earth!

Over the year, gaming has succeeded as a choice social/lifestyle activity.

THAILAND
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Up to the end of 2005, there was still no sight of any store selling designer games, despite the global success of Thai-based abstract game designer, Pin International.

Miniature gaming seemed to fare better, with a specialist Games Workshop Independant Retailer (which neither Malaysia nor Singapore has!) in one of the high end shopping centers.

A case of great untapped opportunity, with several projects brewing by the end of the year, including the retailing of designer games and setting up of the 1st boardgame cafe.

Next article, we review the many exciting things in store for 2006! Until then, cheers!

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