Singapore Board Games League (SBGL) 2008

Introduction

The Singapore Board Games League (SBGL) was set up to bring organized game play for the board games community and interest groups in Singapore. It aims to let casual gamers experience the challenge of a competition environment, and to recognize outstanding board game players in Singapore.

The Singapore Board Games League seeks to accomplish this by the working with both the board games and non board games community to hold various events and tournaments. It will select, for a start, up to ten different designer board games for its league. At the same time, it will work with various schools and organizations to host such tournaments. It will also seek to hold each year a National level board games tournament (Singapore Board Games Nationals) and to send its winners to represent Singapore at the international board games tournament levels.

Background

Currently in Singapore, there is a strong growing interest in board games as a leisure activity. These are no longer just the Monopoly or traditional games, but are what are commonly called Designer Games. Designer Games are basically board games that do not rely on the luck factor to win; instead it depends on good strategy and multiple paths to victory. Most of these games rely on soft skills such a negotiation, and help build communication.

The popularity of such games can be seen in that within 4 short years, board games cafes such as Settlers Café, Minds Cafe and Pitstop Cafe have grown and there are now about eight such cafes here. At the same time, Paradigm Infinitum reports very strong sales in designer board games. These translate to more people being aware of such board games, and are buying them. At the same time, companies such as Youth Enterprise Academy are using such board games to run their course and seminars.

League Format

The league format will be divided into three categories. These categories are to ensure that competitors can choose to play within their peers, or to choose to play against all competitors. Prizes and entrance fees will likewise be scaled accordingly. The categories are:

Junior Category

Junior Category targets for children between the ages of 7 to 12. The games chosen will be those that are easy in steps, but hard to master. This helps to develop the child’s mind.

Youth Category

Youth Category targets youths from the ages of 13 to 16. The Junior Category games are also used here. Most of these games require a deeper level of understanding, and may have complex strategies.

Open Category

The open category is for all participants. Games are from both junior and youth as well as a select few that are also used for international tournaments.

At the same time, there will be 3 basic levels of tournaments. This is to allow venues to hold social tournaments to the more serious tournaments. This allows the casual player to enter into the tournament type of his choice, be it the more relaxed mini tournaments to the highly competitive Nationals. The three levels are:

Casual

These informal games are usually played as a regular weekly event at various avenues around Singapore, such as board games cafes, stores and community clubs. The main goal is for players to sharpen their gaming skills as well as to socialize. Any SBGL member may run such a tournament, but may not participate.

Regionals / Qualifiers

These monthly tournaments are targeted for those who would like a more competitive environment. Players basically play to a right to be seeded into the top 8 of the Nationals. These tournaments must be overseen by an SBGL Committee Member, of which a Head Judge and his team of judges will be appointed. Prizes tend to be more lucrative.

Nationals

This annual event may be split into two sessions, June for the Open Category for Singapore Representatives to the Essen Spiele, the annual International Board Games Convention held in Essen Germany, as well as the November and December period for the Nationals. This event recognises the true board game champions in Singapore, who will be awarded prizes as well as trophies. The Nationals are not a new event, it has been run in Singapore since 2006 under the organization of Settlers Board Games Café.

Finally, league format for the game will be based on groups of four players where possible. In cases where it is impossible to break into groups of four, last few groups will be grouped as groups of three instead.

League Point System

The SBGL works on recognizing and rewarding players with points as a means to monitor the rankings of the players. Points are won or lost as a result of the matches played in the league, be it at the Casual or National level. Players are also awarded participation point bonuses for attending such events. The points are awarded as follows:

1^st Placing = Total Point value of the match / Player’s Current League Points

2^nd Placing = Total Point value of the match / Player’s Current League Points / 2

3^rd Placing = - (Total Point value of the match / Player’s Current League Points / 2)

4^th Placing = - (Total Point value of the match / Player’s Current League Points)

At the same time, participants will be awarded participation points at the end of the league, irregardless of their position, based on the tournament level. The points awarded are:

Casual = 1 point

Regional / Qualifiers = 5 points

Nationals = 10 points

These points will be updated monthly on the SBGL website, and rankings will be based on these points.

Tournament Formats

The tournament format used by SBGL will be both the Swiss as well as Elimination. The Swiss format is defined as playing a set number of matches, with a randomized first match and ranked matches for the subsequent rounds, based on player points. In Elimination, players play only one match, and advance if they are first, or either first and second in the match.

As a guideline, Casual play will consists of Elimination, Regionals / Qualifiers Swiss and Nationals a combination of Swiss for qualifying matches and Elimination for the Top 16, where winners of each table advance to the finals.

Points awarded will be 4 points for 1^st, 3 points for 2^nd, 2 points for 3^rd and 1 point for 4^th. Players tied will share the total of their position points divided by the number of players. In the case of a tie to determine final winners, the total in game points scored will be used, in the event of another tie, the total game % wins.

Current list of games planned for League

Title

Blokus

Boomtown

Carcassonne

Cartagena

Dividends

HIStory

Puerto Rico

Settlers of Catan

St Petersburg

Ticket to Ride

Singapore Board Games League Team (to date)

SBGL is currently headed Colin Lim. It is in the process of confirming at least two more key members of its team.

Colin Lim

The SBGL is headed by Colin Lim, one of the founders of Settlers Café, Singapore’s First Board Games Café. His impressive experience in the area of competitive gaming tournaments includes organising both Singapore Board Games Nationals (2006, 2007), Settlers of Catan Nationals, judging for Magic the Gathering CCG, Marvel/DC Vs CCG, World of Warcraft CCG. He is also the creator of Corporate Cahoots!, Singapore’s first live interactive team building game for companies and tertiary institutes, which includes HP, Microsoft, Simtech and Power Seraya among its clientele. A passionate board gamer, Colin is always at the forefront of all board gaming developments in Singapore, and a passionate supporter of games groups such as the NUS Table Top Board Games Interest Group.

Joseph Tan

Joseph Tan is the founder of Melchiz Pte Ltd, which produces the card game HIStory. Based on the Biblical ancient heroes such as Samson, it has reached out to many schools and churches in Singapore. Joseph will be in charge of developing the Youth and Junior Leagues.

Adrian Teh

Adrian Teh is Singapore’s ultimate CCG games organizer. From his early days in running Magic the Gathering CCG tournaments at Admiralty Country Club to the Regional Manager for South-East Asia (Upper Deck), he has been involved in organized play tournaments at every level. Experienced in organizing National and Regional CCG tournaments for both Wizards of the Coast (Magic the Gathering CCG) as well as Upper Deck (World of Warcraft CCG), he is one of the key personnel that will be developing the tournament format and coordination of the league.

Wee Kee

WeeKee is one of the founders of Pitstop Cafe. He is currently a student after spending over 4 years in the field of software and product development. He is a geek and believe that combining internet technology with board games can make the SBGL a more engaging experience.

Current Singapore Board Games League Venue Partners

Paradigm Infinitum

Settlers Café

Pitstop Cafe

DeCoders Cafe

Hideout Cafe

Hippos

Pending

NUS Games Club

SMU Games Club

NIE Games Club

NTU Games Club

How you can get involved

We are definitely looking for sponsors to come forward and support the SBGL. By being a sponsor, you have already taken a huge and exciting step into supporting organized play for board games in Singapore. At the same time, if you have other talents to support us, such as photography, videography, creative designs, match reviews and writing, we welcome you to assist us into establishing the league.

If you are not able to meet any of the requirements, then you fall into our most needed category, the word of mouth supporter. Just email this information to anyone you feel might be interested to sponsor or help. At the same time, be excited to join in our tournaments, and bring your friends along!

For further information, please email to:

colin@settlerscafe.com