SINGAPORE: Before the internet led to a boom in online games and glued players to their computer and mobile screens, tabletop gaming was all the rage. Children grew up stacking blocks in Jenga, passing “Go” in Monopoly and yelling “Uno!” in, well, Uno. Today, the Singapore tabletop gaming scene is enjoying a revival.
Game makers and venues told CNA they are seeing an increase in the number of people opting for in-person play experiences and bonding sessions. Players are also hungry for board and card games with a local flavour, with those featuring durians and kopitiam drinks flying off the shelves. Such demand has given rise to more domestic game developers and a wealth of opportunities for the budding sector, industry players said.
LOCAL GAMES IN TREND The number of local indie tabletop game designers has skyrocketed from a handful in 2014 to over 50 today, said Mr Xeo Lye, editor of the Singapore Boardgame Design website. Businesses and government institutions have also published their own games to increase public engagement, with the trend growing 10-fold over the past five years, he added. Homegrown tabletop game studio Origame – known for its uniquely Singapore-themed games – has seen a 20 per cent jump in revenue in the past year.
Since the company started in 2019, it has released more than 20 original games. Its most popular games are big on hawker culture. These include Durian Dash – where players collect Singapore’s favourite fruit – as well as Cho.
