I was invited to the launch of Journal Singapore, a Singapore board game by Monsters Under the Bed with the support of National Heritage Board. It is the first board game to feature the history of Singapore from it’s early days as a British Colony in 1900, to it’s Independence in 1965. The game is designed for 3 to 5 players and can be played in 1 to 2 hours.
I would consider the learning curve for this game to be average. That coming from someone who played a few other board games occasionally. I’ll just briefly talk about the game play. It may sound confusing here. But trust me, it would be easier for you to learn as you play along.
You start off by selecting one of the characters. The characters are all pioneers of Singapore like Mr Tan Kah Kee, Mr Lim Bo Seng, Mr Yusoff Ishak etc etc. Each characters has a special abilities to help you during game play, so choose one wisely. Each player also get 5 plan cards and 5 resources (which we prefer to call money). The first player to take the Merlion Token starts the game. This Token will be passed to the next player at the end of each round.
There are 3 era in the game (Colonial, Occupation and Post War) and 5 rounds for each Era. You can choose to play all 3 Era or just one, depending on how much time you have. At the start of each round, the player with the Merlion Token will draw an event card. This event card will affect all players. At every turn, a player has 3 action which he/she may choose to either Move (using the plan card), draw a plan card, influence/bid the sector the player is at. Every sector has a special ability which the player can use if he/she owns the sector. Player can also use the secondary effects on the plan card to either sabotage his/her opponent or give him/her the added advantage.
At the end of each Era, players will tabulate the Victory Points (VP). Each sector is 1 VP. Occupying related sectors gives player 3 VP. Player holding the Merlion Token at the end of the Era gets 3 VP. Players can also exchange 4 resource for 1 VP or 3 plan cards for 2 VP. At the end of the game, the player with the most VP wins.
I played one era during the launch with a few other friends from the media. It’s a pretty fun game. One of the players has no experience in playing board games and she managed to pick up pretty fast. And she almost won the game. Must be beginners luck. The thing I like about Journal Singapore is the way they associate with Singapore history. All the characters, events and sectors are related to Singapore and there is a short write up about their history. It is a fun and interesting way to learn about Singapore’s history.
The game is quite replay-able. Every game is different since there are 12 different events in each Era and the order of these events will change the strategy and game play. I understand that there will also be expansion packs in the future. Journal Singapore is now selling for $59.90. Quite a decent price for a board game. You can also find it at some of the board game cafe in Singapore.
For more information, check out their website.
on Jan 19th, 2010 at 1:18 PM
Nice coverage of the game launch and an even better explanation of the rules of the game. For newbies like me, it was quite a struggle getting to understand the intricacies of scoring points and gaining an advantage over opponents. Thanks for the plug!
on Jan 19th, 2010 at 1:25 PM
sound interesting. where to find out more details or is it possible to get a set for board game review?
on Jan 19th, 2010 at 1:30 PM
Walter: I guess my little experience in other board games does help a bit. But the lady at our table pick up pretty fast despite having no experience in playing board games. The 3 of us have to team up to prevent her from winning towards the end of the game. Haha.
WeeKee: Let me hook you up with the company. You getting one for Pitstop cafe?
DK´s last blog ..Journal Singapore – Singapore’s first heritage board game
on Jan 20th, 2010 at 11:09 AM
[...] the universe and everything – Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Journal Singapore – Singapore’s first heritage board game – My Very Own Glob: Why Tanglin has a Halt [Thanks [...]
on Jan 20th, 2010 at 4:07 PM
Sorry. I was there and I nearly died of boredom, the part that killed my interest was how it was just another version of monopoly with a bit of cluedo.
No where near the stuff the brotherhood regular comes out with like the Ascension and Tiberium game RPG’s, nowhere close.
Btw, I read this, finding them is hard enough, now this, does anyone know where they are right now?
http://singaporedaily.net/2010/01/11/daily-sg-11-jan-2010/#comment-7623
Just like dat! They just block Singaporedaily from aggregating all their reads from this day onwards, wtf!
on Jan 20th, 2010 at 4:11 PM
All I happen to know is the sometimes post here: but I heard from many this is just a tenth of what they usually produce
dotseng@wordpress.com
So where is the beef. Coming back to the board game if they had something like a get out of jail card or community chest feature, it would have made it alot more engaging, instead they had this token rewards, that I found depended alot on luck and no skill. Just my review = 2 chilis out of 5
on Jan 20th, 2010 at 11:20 PM
DK! I shall challenge you! When you wanna play? ;x
Princessa´s last blog ..Clustered memories. All but words.
on Jan 21st, 2010 at 12:51 AM
mongoronian: I can’t no ball. What does dotseng got to do with Journal Singapore?
Regarding Journal Singapore, I think it’s far from Monopoly and Cluedo. You need lots of strategy and planning. And every round is different because of different event cards.
I think it would be weird to have get out of jail card or community chest feature. Doesn’t fit into the game play.
My only issue with the game is that I feel the Merlion Token holds too much VP. Everyone is fighting for that Token towards the end of the Era. But this can be easily solved by reducing the Merlion Token VP.
on Jan 21st, 2010 at 12:51 AM
Princessa: You got a set ah? Just name a time and place.
on Jan 23rd, 2010 at 12:02 PM
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on Jan 26th, 2010 at 3:31 PM
[...] blog about Journal Singapore recently after attending their launch. It is an interesting board game featuring the history of [...]
on Feb 11th, 2010 at 1:15 PM
[...] Game Preview《新加坡历程》Journal Singapore Feb 11 新加坡历程, 桌游预览 相信各位读者都已经接触过很多的欧美桌游，但是你是否接触过同在亚洲的新加坡的桌游呢？今天我们就随着Dee Kay的这篇报道，和读者分享这款新出的桌游：Journal Singapore。 [...]