This month we highlight Kabayan Kreations – a group of local designers and their game, Play For Fun!
Catchy, colorful box art
Kabayan Kreations is composed of 4 women, who during the pandemic, were looking for new opportunities and decided to try out boardgame design!
We interview Candy, one of the Kabayans, on their journey in designing Play For Fun.
Ungeek: Hello, what is your name and what do you do for a living?
Candy: We are Kabayan Kreations. A group of friends working in the Aviation, Education, Entertainment and Hospitality Industry. We are Shareen, Ana, Bea and me, Candy.
U: How did you get into boardgame design and publishing?
C: My friends and I got into board game design just by chance. The pandemic brought a lot of surprises and this was one of them.
U: Have you designed/published other games before?
C: No. It was the first time in a very long time that the group was going to see each other. Bea, our friend wanted to have fun so she created a board game to entertain us.
U: What was the inspiration for Play For Fun?
C: Bea being the artist wanted to do something different and nostalgic at the same time. A board game composed of challenges that came from existing Filipino games like jack and poy, dance selfies etc., was created. It was something that could be played by all ages. Its purpose was to bring everyone together without gadgets.
good quality components
U: How would you describe its mechanics? Who is it targeted for and how long does a game usually last?
C: The objective of the game is to lose all your money. Each square on the board game has a corresponding challenge and if the challenge is completed, you pay the banker. If you fail to do the challenge, the banker pays you. These challenges include doing Tiktok dances, simple rock paper scissors, impersonations, category games etc. It’s a mix of fun, quick wit and funny or silly answers. Since we have extreme decks, the board game is for adults. Drinking sessions or team building or barkada parties would be perfect venues to play this game. If the extreme deck is removed, kids 8 years old and above may play this game. The game usually lasts for 15-30 mins depending on the number of players.
the game and its components
U: What were the challenges in designing and publishing Play For Fun?
C: The challenges this board game gave us was more on how to make it engaging for different generations. We wanted the instructions of the board game to be simple and easily played. A lot of trial and error were done on the design and playability. The usual challenges that come with this are editing, layouting and proofreading. The boardgame went through a lot of changes since we conducted a number of trial games with friends. We picked up some points to improve on; some parts were changed, deleted, replaced. From an adult game it became a family-friendly game then back to an adult game that could be switched to a family game. Production, printing and manufacturing locally was also a challenge because the costs were too high for it to be profitable as we wanted our boardgame to be sold at a low and competitive price.
U: What were the initial reactions of people who have played the game?
C: There were different reactions from the people who played the board game. Surprise, because there was a new Filipino-made boardgame. Players were also constantly laughing because of the extreme questions and hilarious answers being given. Some were very competitive and were excited to play this new game.
the designers playing the game
U: Since the theme is not for kids, have you run into issues with parents or guardians complaining about your product?
C: No, we never ran into complaints so far because everyone we sold to were informed that there was adult content but can be switched to kid-friendly by simply removing the extreme decks. We even showed them samples of the extreme cards for them to know what to expect.
U: How do you sell your product? Where is it available?
C: Play For Fun is sold through Kabayan Kreations Facebook, IG and Tiktok.
