Asian Board Games Festival headed to Philippines for first time

MANILA, Philippines — The Asian Board Games Festival (ABGF) will make its Philippine debut from May 2-3 at the Bayanihan Center in Kapitolyo, Pasig City, marking the country’s first hosting of the regional tabletop gaming event.

First organized in Singapore in 2019 by board game publisher Origame, ABGF is an event where the public can play and purchase games from visiting Asian publishers, designers and artists. The Philippines will be the fourth country to host the festival, following earlier editions in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

The Philippine edition is co-organized by Origame and Filipino board game publisher Larong Atin, which has previously released titles such as Darna at ang Nawawalang Bato, Hugot and PlataPorma. Aside from game booths, ABGF Philippines will host panel talks for aspiring designers and artists, designer sessions and several local launches.

“Initially, at the start it was just running in Singapore. And when Malaysia started running it, it became an annual event in Malaysia and Thailand. Hopefully, what happens in the Philippines, it becomes an annual event. So, hindi naman siya nag-rotate. It's going to be an annual event in each participating country. Ang nag-rotate actually is yung mga exhibitors. Like, for example, yung organizer ng Singapore, sila naman yung pupunta dito. Hopefully, if this year's event is successful, we will run ABGF again next year. And hopefully, we'll get, we'll grow the awareness of the event,” said Freddie Tan, president of Ludus Distributor, a game distributor in the Philippines that also overseas Larong Atin.

ABGF Philippines will feature over 200 games from more than 30 publishers representing 10 Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines. Games on display range from party and family-friendly titles to strategic and thematic games that reflect different Asian cultures.

“When you come to ABGF, you feel part of a community. It’s not like transactional market events where you come, buy games, and then just go through. In ABGF Singapore, you really talk to the designers. You learn about why they make games. No designer will say they have no time for you; because for people who make games, connecting with people who play makes everything worthwhile,” said Daryl Chow of Origame and founder of ABGF.

The festival will also see the launch of new komiks titled “Death Metal” by Combatron creator Berlin Manalaysay, a Combatron toy collaboration by Quiccs and TidoDojo, and demos of Larong Atin’s upcoming miniatures tabletop game Combatron Komiks Kombat Arena.

Hoping to change the perspective of many in terms of “board games” and “play”, Tan sees the upcoming Festival as a means to evolve the board game industry in the country.

He added, “We want to make the games as accessible to the Filipino and we want to have the creators to have access to the Filipino community. Na walang barriers. So what we're doing is we're building bridges. We want Filipinos to see that board games is for everyone and for our own local creators to have a platform to showcase their talents. The idea here is playing is an integral part of being human. We're creating awareness sa Pilipinas na games are not just for kids.”

While entry to the two-day event is free, attendees may opt to purchase an ABGF Play Passport, which allows participants to collect stamps by playing games from different countries and redeem exclusive prizes.