Five or six youngsters are gathered around a table in a room somewhere in Taipei City. They are in good spirits and from time to time boisterous laughter breaks out among them. But otherwise their attention is focused on the board game in front of them.
Soon a newcomer arrives. “First, draw a card,” one of the youngsters tells the new arrival. “Each card represents a piece of land, on which is located a road, a field, a cloister, or part of a city. When placing the card you have to make sure roads are connected to roads, cities to cities and fields to fields. Use your checkers to occupy various areas to give you more points. The game ends when all 72 cards are used up, and the one who earns the most points is the winner.”
He was explaining the basic rules of Carcassonne, the most well-known European-style board game in Taiwan.
“Board games are taking off and becoming increasingly popular in Taiwan,” said Jashua Lee, secretary general of the Board Game Association based in Taipei. “Over the past one and half years, we have seen more and more board games enter the market. Game stores are opening up at a rate three times faster than in previous years.”
According to Lee, there are now over 60 board game stores in Taiwan. They come equipped with rooms, tables and board games, all of which can be rented out to customers at a rate of between NT$25 (US$0.82) to NT$50 per hour per person. Refreshments are also provided. Store owners are often board game enthusiasts, who can describe the basic rules of any number of games and if necessary can clarify arcane points for more experienced gamers.
Board games are not the same as gambling, as they do not involve money wagers. A board game store’s light-hearted atmosphere is another characteristic that differentiates a board game room from a casino.
“Board game products in the Taiwan market can be generally classified into two kinds: European-style games and American ones. They are different in that European games are likely to incorporate three to six players, with a focus on strategy deployment in a friendly race of scoring points. By contrast, American games are more likely to be between just two people, and to involve a greater element of luck. Players in an American-style board game usually end up in a win or lose, zero-sum situation,” Lee said.
The attractiveness of board games is largely credited to their social values, according to the association. For example, in Bohnanza, a popular game from Germany, participants have to voice their needs for different bean cards and trade them with the other gamers. As a result the game is as clamorous as can be, and it is great at forging friendships, even among complete strangers. game.
In addition, the association added, board games are intimately involved with beauty. Not only are the games and cards exquisitely illustrated, even the “meeples” that stand for the players are aesthetically pleasing.
Last but not least, board games have tremendous educational value, as more and more gaming aficionados are starting to realize.
Indeed, the government has found it useful to promote historical knowledge via board games. Academia Historica, which is responsible for studying and preserving ROC historical documents, has sponsored four board games since 2009.
This year, which happens to be the centennial of the ROC, Academia Historica launched a board game named the 1911 Revolution of China, to familiarize the younger generation with the momentous events surrounding the founding of the nation.
“On the hexagon-shaped map, two players have to act either as the revolutionary side or as the Qing Dynasty military side. They compete for control of three cities in the middle of China—Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang—all of which played an important role in the 1911 uprising,” said Academia Historica.
The game includes 36 cards, each one representing an influential episode during the uprising. It might take some time for players to learn all the rules, but once they get the hang of it, the game is arguably the most enjoyable way of learning early ROC history.
It was designed and manufactured by TwoPlus Studio, a six-member creative team based in Taipei, which said that after receiving the commission from Academia Historica, it had only eight months to design the game from scratch. “It took us great pains to design, research and reach an agreement with the commissioner; and we also had to strike a balance between making the game fun and making sure it was truthful to history,” said Wang Ya-wan, the studio’s products development manager. But their efforts were not in vain, as the game’s landscape board, fighting and transportation system are both outstanding.
Founded in 2007, the studio is affiliated with Yawan Stationary Co. Ltd., a leading publishing house in Taiwan best known for producing the Taiwanese version of the classic board game Monopoly since 1962.
“TwoPlus Studio was established in order to explore new possibilities, even as the lower birth rate in Taiwan and the prevalence of electronic games are presenting grave challenges to traditional board games,” Wang said.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Interior, Taiwanese mothers in the 1980’s gave birth to 2.52 children each household, but the figure dropped to 1.12 in 2005. Also, the soaring development of the country’s Internet infrastructure over the past decade helped online games produce larger-than-life characters and elaborate battlefield animations.
No wonder, then, that the vast majority of teenagers and young adults in Taiwan prefer video games to board games.
Wang said the studio’s current strategy is to position itself as a luxury board game developer. Thus whereas its previous games ranged in price from between NT$400 and NT$700, its latest products have a price tag starting from NT$1,000.
Despite the studio’s best efforts and its successes so far, however, according to the manager it is still struggling financially as the local market remains limited and competition from overseas games is intense. “There are about 3,000 sets of new board games arriving in Taiwan every year,” she said. “These games really do eat away at our profit margins.”
Both Wang and Lee are devoted to giving the local board game industry a lift. Every other Thursday night the studio holds free meetings, while the association continues to organize competitions and camps for students.
To enrich teaching resources, the association is conducting classes for the fifth year in a row this winter to train board game promoters, or “seed teachers.” “To date we have produced more than 60 professional board game instructors, including elementary and junior high school teachers, professors and office workers in different trades,” Lee said.
“Thanks to their passion, we are optimistic about our business taking off and are looking forward to more people joining the ranks to let everyone know how much fun board games can be,” he added. (HZW)
Write to Aaron Hsu at pj1210meister@mail.gio.gov.tw