Though I’m not a competitive person, I’ve always loved playing board games because of the social element they encourage. My fondness for them is heightened by being forced to collaborate or sabotage other players in-game, thus interacting with them in the process, as I’m not the best at making friends.
It’s why our group of introverts at Vulcan Post love playing tabletop games together too, and in fact, we’ve even written a whole opinion piece on the advantages of board games over video games.
So, here are 12 Malaysian board and card games you can play with your friends and family when you get bored of those MMORPGs and FPS games.
1. Codenames (Malaysia Edition)
Codenames is a game of guessing words in a set that are related to a hint-word given by another player. The aim is to guess all the words from your team. It’s similar to Taboo, minus the list of words you’re not supposed to say.
Players are split into 2 teams. A spymaster is chosen to represent each group, while the other players are secret agents. Using a single word, spymasters must give hints that can refer to multiple words on the board, and secret agents must guess them while avoiding the code names from the opposing team.
The concept was developed in 2015 by a European company Czech Games Edition, but a Malaysia Edition was created in 2018 by Orangutan Games. It features 2 additional bonus packs which contain 20 double-sided cards. There are 40 unique words based around Malaysian culture and slang, like Coconut/Kek Lok Si or Satay/Bomoh. How confident are you in your Malaysian-ness?
Number Of Players: 2-8 players.
Game Duration: 30 minutes.
Where To Buy: Get it on Meeples for RM99.
2. Drama Pukul 7
You’re an actor in a Malay soap opera who has to outshine other cast members in Drama Pukul 7. The goal is to steal the spotlight by eliminating your co-stars at the table by ruining their air muka (shaming them, in other words).
To do so, players use ‘Episode’ cards to advance the show’s plot, and ‘Item’ cards to attack. One of the creator’s favourite ‘Item’ cards is called minyak dagu, which lets you steal another player’s husband or wife, a classic trope in dramas.
Created by local animation studio artists, Haireey and Zamri in 2019, the game draws inspiration from Malay dramas which have become quite the meme on social media today. While the drama would be undesirable IRL, we all need a bit of spice in our life every now and then (and if it can be forgotten by putting away a game, even better).
Number Of Players: 3-6 players.
Gameplay Duration: 45 minutes.
Where To Buy: Get it on Meeples for RM85.
3. Kaki Lima
Kaki Lima is a light strategy game inspired by walking around Penang’s George Town. Players are pedestrians in the game and have to navigate through a grid. Victory points are earned when pedestrians reach landmarks on their task lists and exploration quest cards. Points are also attained when players clear blocked paths, and when they meet up with other pedestrians.
“I disliked games that eliminated people like Monopoly, but realised I was attracted to the concepts in ‘Euro games’ where everybody gets equal opportunities or number of turns, where randomness is kept to the minimum, and where there’s emphasis on managing resources,” shared its founder, Goh Choon Ean, with us last year.
Number Of Players: 3-8 players.
Gameplay Duration: 60 minutes.
Where To Buy: Get it on Meeples for RM 168.
4. Kuih Muih
Kuih Muih is a card game about collecting Malaysian delicacies by local designer Mike Ooi, published by Empire Game. Played over 3 stages, participants simply collect cards to score points, much like Sushi Go!
The aim is to score the highest amount of Kuih points from the cards you draw, where some power cards will let you steal points from an opponent. Who knew an entire card game could be built around something as small and simple as our local kuih?
Number Of Players: 2-6 players.
Gameplay Duration: 20 minutes.
Where To Buy: Get it on Shopee or Lazada.
5. Pasaraya: Supermarket Manager
In Pasaraya: Supermarket Manager, you’re a micro-entrepreneur in a market faced with the real-life duties of one. You’ll have to manage cash flow, stock up on goods, and supervise staff to bring your business to success over your competitors (opponents).
We’ve seen a few developers create online games that offer a similar experience, but card games of this nature seem a bit rarer nowadays. Resource management is never a bad skill to have though, and practising it in the context of a supermarket store is an interesting take.
Created by Seh Hui of Boxfox Games, the game took 3.5 years from conceptualisation to the finished product and was published in 2018.
Number Of Players: 2-4 players.
Gameplay Duration: 90 minutes.
Where To Buy: Get it on Meeples for RM129.
6. Politiko
Just before Malaysia’s 13th General Election in 2013, visual artist Mun Kao created Politiko as a fun way to teach players—including himself—about the country’s party politics.
Here, you’re pitted against your opponents in a parodical simulation of Malaysia’s General elections. Heavily inspired by the gameplay of Monopoly Deal, you must try to win votes as you lead various political parties, which are archetypes of real Malaysian factions.
An array of policies and tactics can be used throughout the game, such as redelineation, financial-policies, and sex scandals to attain a majority vote. Much like reality, the game isn’t fair and the odds are unjust, skewed in favour of certain parties.
Dictionary Time: Redelineation is a constitutional process in delimiting electoral boundaries to ensure electors (voters during elections) receive fair representation of their voting preferences.
Tindak Malaysia
For GE14, a mobile version of the game was launched, but upon reaching out, its team informed Vulcan Post that it won’t be available at the moment. “Unfortunately we aren’t able to maintain and expand the app, given our small team of 2,” Mun Kao told us. “We’re focusing on our other projects right now.”
Number Of Players: Up to 6 players.
Gameplay Duration: 30 minutes.
Where To Buy: Though it’s out of stock at the moment, you may be able to find and purchase it secondhand from Politiko’s community on Facebook.
7. Reef Stakes
Reef Stakes is a marine themed role-playing card game in Malaysia. Players are either a Conservationist, Developer, Natural Resource Manager, Tourism Operator, Politician, or Fisherman. Each character has a mission to fulfil, and it’s your duty to carry them out.
To win, players have to play 3 specific mission cards on the board. However, some priorities overlap between characters. This is where players must communicate, work together, or even sabotage, before collectively deciding the future of the reef.
Developed by professionals with backgrounds in Marine Sciences, the game is designed to introduce Malaysia’s marine species, coral reefs, and the threats they’re facing, an issue that many locals still don’t understand the urgency of.
Number Of Players: 3-6 players.
Gameplay Duration: 90 minutes.
Where To Buy: Order from their website for RM55 per deck.
8. RIMBA
RIMBA, short for Reptilia, Ikan, Mamalia, Burung, Amfibia (Reptiles, Fishes, Mammals, Birds, and Amphibians), is another educational game about animals. It was developed to give a voice and face to the Malaysian rainforest in the efforts to raise awareness and advocate for better forest protection, because to be honest, with our comfy indoor lives, we lack knowledge in this area.
The deck features 30 different animals that are all native to Malaysia, along with information about their ecology and status in the wild.
RIMBA can be played in 4 different ways:
- RIMBA: Collect 4 cards of the same animal by trading with other players (like Go Fish);
- SNAP: Snap matching animal pairs and win the pile;
- MEMORY: Flip 2 cards lying face down on the table to find matching pairs;
- WHO AM I? : Players ask “Yes” or “No” questions to guess what animal they are.
To make it accessible to the Malaysian public, the deck comes in dual languages, English and Malay.
Number Of Players: 2 and above.
Gameplay Duration: N/A.
Where To Buy: Get it on their website for RM110.
9. The Cikgu Life
This tabletop game lets Malaysians relive their schooling days, but from the point of view of what a cikgu (teacher) typically goes through in a classroom. The game was created by teachers, James Choong, Sophia Ngiaw, Liew Kah Hoong, and Raee Yeoh, who met in Sarawak during a Teach For Malaysia programme.
Each player gets to choose 1 of 7 different kinds of schools, each with their own unique traits. Events cards are drawn at the start of each turn which may help or hurt your school.
Players will play Action cards to clear paperwork or improve their students’ grades. However, some cards may increase your paperwork, and some events may cause your students to drop their grades.
Number Of Players: 3-5 players.
Gameplay Duration: 70 minutes.
Where To Buy: Get it from their official Shopee store for RM99.
10. The Lepak Game
Inspired by the popular Cards Against Humanity, The Lepak Game is a Malaysian version by The Rojak Culture that has a local twist that will push your slang knowledge to its limits.
The gameplay works exactly like the original cards. A prompt is given, and players have to pick the most heinous Malaysian response from the 8 cards in their hand. The “Boss” of the round chooses the winner, and the majority of fun in this game comes from every player trying to convince the “Boss” to pick them by picking cards that will cater to their humour.
Number Of Players: 4-8 players.
Gameplay Duration: N/A.
Where To Buy: Get it on their official Lazada store for RM36-RM139.50.
11. The Malaysian Dream
Launched by MGAG in 2019, the point of The Malaysian Dream is to pay, steal, and sabotage your way to become the perfect Malaysian.
Each player will get a character card with their own individual Special Power, which can be used once per turn. There are also Action cards to play which let you buy Dream cards from the deck or steal them from your opponents. The game ends when cards from the Dream pile are finished, and the player with the most Dream cards wins.
It’s a cute and quick game that plays on the typical archetyes of Malaysians such as the MLM agent, menteri, or national athlete.
Number Of Players: 2-6 players.
Gameplay Duration: 30 minutes.
Where To Buy: Get it on their official Shopee store for RM31.20.
12. WordBreaker Spelling Card Game
Designed to help Malaysians gain confidence in their English speaking skills, corporate trainer Firdaus decided to create the WordBreaker Spelling Card Game.
It marries the gameplay of Scrabble and Uno, where each card displays letters tied to points that players must use to build words. The difference is, Wordbreaker encourages players to pick up a dictionary.
Opponents can also steal cards from your word to build a longer one, meaning higher points. “What do I mean by this? Remember the feeling when you almost win in Uno, and then a friend throws you a Draw 4 card? Exactly,” he explained in our previous interview.
Number Of Players: 2-5 players.
Gameplay Duration: 30 minutes.
Where To Buy: Drop them a message on Facebook to order a deck for RM49.90.
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The pandemic has probably turned a lot of us into homebodies (and there’s nothing wrong with that), so Malaysian tabletop games give us another alternative to spending our free time while supporting local.
If you’re feeling a lack of social interaction, perhaps it’d be nice to whip out some of these to play with family, or call some friends over for the weekend and just chat while playing. Plus, they give your eyes a rest from all the screens you look at for work a majority of the time.
- You can read other articles we’ve written about board games here.
Featured Image Credit: Kaki Lima / The Lepak Game
