18-19 Apr 2026 was the Malaysia Boardgame Show. It was held at Jaya One shopping mall in PJ. In the past few years there has been several different boardgame-specific events in Malaysia, like Asian Board Game Festival (in Penang), Boxcon, All Aboard, Dice & Dine, Anigames. Not all are recurring. MBS is organised by Jon, who is currently the most active game designer in Malaysia. He has managed to gather a large group of volunteers and helpers for the event. I am hopeful MBS will become a recurring event in Malaysia. 

 

 

I participated as a local designer and publisher, and I had a small booth on the Ground Floor. The event took up two floors. The Ground Floor was open to the public, and booths selling games were all on G/F. First Floor was the activity area, i.e. the ticketed area. You had to buy a pass to access the activities here. There were volunteers bringing their games to teach others to play. You could sell your pre-loved games. Buying games did not require a ticket. There were large group games hosted (2 Rooms and a Boom, Blood on the Clocktower etc). There were also four competitions being run over the weekend, including for Dune Imperium. 

 

Local publisher Meja Belakang (makers of Drama Pukul 7) was right next to me and Jia Xian photobombed me. 

 

 

I still had a lingering cough after the Raya event (Dice and Dine at Lalaport) one month ago. The two days at MBS were almost non-stop teaching games. There was a good crowd. Saturday I could only take a break around 7pm. Sunday I had some breaks here and there. When friends passed by, many couldn’t chat with me because I was in the middle of teaching games. 

 

 

 

This was one of the game shelves on the First Floor. Many volunteers brought their own games to place at these shelves. They taught visitors to play, and sometimes played with them. A big part of this event was the community. I think it is amazing that we have so many generous volunteers, willing to bring their precious collections to the event to teach strangers to play. If you are a visitor, you can browse the games and if there is a specific game you want to try, you look for the owner (whose name would be on the box) and he or she will teach you to play. 

 

 

I only had time to take some photos of the First Floor in the early morning before visitors started coming. Once the event started, I was at my booth most of the time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m thinking I’m probably positioning my table (red tablecloth) wrong. It looks less welcoming. I probably should have turned it 90 degrees to be the same as my neighbours. 

 

 

On my other side was Roll Rebellion, makers of the highly successful HR Game.