One of the year’s most anticipated events in a Malaysian gamer’s calendar on the first weekend in June is the International Tabletop Day 2024 Malaysia. It is a day to celebrate a pastime that has been played for centuries, touching the lives of millions worldwide; it is a global celebration for all analogue gamers who will be hanging out, playing new games and making new friends.

International Tabletop Day 2024 Malaysia

The good news for those with multiple interests is that all four major tabletop gaming genres – Board Games, Miniature Games, Roleplaying Games (RPG), and Trading Card Games (TCG)—will be covered; each genre will have a dedicated quadrant.

While the event is Free Entry (no tickets required), some workshops and sessions will require pre-registration or a small fee to play. Each of the sections will be supported by a curation of vendors who specialise in their genre of tabletop games:

• Akida
• Boards & Brews
• Collektr
• Here Be Dragons
• Hobby Heresy Games
• Myu Collectibles
• Naga Minis
• Nightshade Tavern
• Plastics & Tactics
• Scrapscapes
• Stormgate Games
• The Collective
• Vivae Games Ampang
• Wither & Bloom

This tabletop event is also sponsored by Great Eastern Mall and curated by KakiTabletop and friends. It will be held in the shopping mall’s ground-floor concourse on the first weekend of June. The breadth of games available will include local and international games and all tabletop gaming genres.

History of International Tabletop Day

In 3100 B.C. the game of Senet became popular, especially with Egyptian royalty. The game board had thirty squares with symbols that were either good or bad fortune. They believed that depending on which symbols the players landed on would decide their fate outside of the game. If a player was successful, it would mean that they were in the favor of their gods, and it would be a determining factor in their journey through the afterlife.

The oldest tabletop game that has virtually remained the same was remarkably similar to backgammon. It was called Ludus duodecim scriptorum, “the game of twelve markings,” and it was played during the Roman Empire. Much like the modern version, the object is to bear off all of your checkers. The main difference was that there were three dice instead of two.

In 1903, one of America’s first board game designers, Lizzie Magie, created The Land Lord’s game, in which players travelled around a square game board and bought property. In 1935, she sold her patent to Parker Brothers, and it has since been known as Monopoly. From then on, Parker Brothers has become synonymous with board games such as Sorry!, Risk, and Trivial Pursuit.

Fantasy tabletop gaming arose in the post-Lord of the Rings world as Dungeons & Dragons was first published in 1974 by TSR Inc. and tabletop gaming expanded into all different arenas. Games of strategy, adventure, board games, and games based on popular franchises flourished and refused to quit. In 2013, International Tabletop Day was created as a result of the web series “Tabletop” hosted by famous gamers Will Wheaton and Felicia Day to celebrate gamers and to play board games with thousands of gaming events held around the globe.

Board Game Sessions

There will be board games to play, with guidance from Game Masters; Vivae Games Ampang will be bringing a host of modern board games for the public to play, experience, and buy to bring home: Dungeon Madness & Mayhem, That Sound Game, Mooncake Master, Wok & Roll, Durian Dash, and more.

Akida will also be present, showcasing their locally designed and manufactured bespoke board gaming tables. If you are a hard-core board game fan or even an RPG fanatic, this would be one of the exciting products to check out.

Miniature Game Tables

Locally designed and made tabletop gaming miniatures will be on display alongside one of the world’s most renowned miniature wargames. Plastics & Tactics will feature various aspects of the hobby, including painting, lore, and wargaming, while Naga Minis will showcase its latest catalogue of Malaysian-designed miniatures.

There will also be painting workshops, with assistance from Paint Masters. Hobby Heresy Games will feature their awesome Malaysian-made and designed playmats, and Scrapscapes‘ handmade dioramas will also be on display.

Roleplaying Game Sessions

The popular tabletop roleplaying game sessions are back! Embark on an adventure of a lifetime, save cats and the world, and survive and defeat your foes. There will be a spread of different RPGs hosted by Game Masters from Here Be Dragons & Nightshade Tavern.

Pre-booked and walk-in sessions are available and are beginner-friendly, so feel free to inquire when you are there. Wither & Bloom will be featuring Malaysian-designed and made D&D-inspired Stickers, Art Prints, and more.

Trading Card Game Tables

Collektr, Asia’s premier livestream bidding platform for collectables, whose main category is now “Collectible Card Games,” will, with the help of its partner stores, feature the latest and greatest TCGs, such as Magic: the Gathering, Pokémon TCG, Lorcana TCG, Star Wars: Unlimited, Flesh & Blood TCG, One Piece TCG, etc.

They will also showcase their live streaming portal alongside game demonstrations and learn-to-play sessions from Game Masters from FLGS, such as The Collective, Boards & Brews, Myu Collectibles, and Stormgate Games.

International Tabletop Day 2024 Malaysia

• Date: 1-2 June 2024
• Venue: Great Eastern Mall, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur
• Time: 11.00 AM to 9.00 PM
• Entrance: FREE
• Website: KakiTabletop

In addition, IGN Southeast Asia, Hishgraphics, Kakuchopurei, Says, and MyGameOn provided additional media coverage for this event, which was terrific.

Writer Information

This will surprise some people here, but I started playing RPGs in the early 90s when it was unheard of. We had to import our D&D materials, and we hung out at friends’ homes until 7:00 AM, playing like there was no tomorrow. Our hosting friend’s mom had to chase us all out of the house when she woke up to see us occupying the dining table.

I still have many of my D&D materials from back then, and not only that, I grew up with the lead GW miniatures, painting and all of that. Wow, if I recall correctly, it was back in 1993 before Games Castle was formed, and it was initially opened in The Artia, which was the former name. I will do a separate story for this when I am free, so please subscribe to my website for more.

Conclusion

Kakitabletop started as a community-building effort ten years ago, and it has evolved from merely bringing together Dungeons & Dragons players from all over Malaysia to include Magic: the Gathering, designer board games, miniature wargamers, and more. Today, the network of communities encompasses practically every major game and genre of tabletop gaming in Malaysia.

After focusing on hosting monthly meetups for the last two years, KakiTabletop is proud to bring everyone together for this one-of-a-kind annual event in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. The story goes that they started small, got interrupted by a pandemic, virtually celebrated gaming, and kicked off a regular series of meetups for the last two years, culminating in the biggest event yet, International Tabletop Day 2024 Malaysia.