IceRain Games, an emerging board game designer from Taiwan, seeks to create unique experiences in the card games he designs. With 3 games under their belt, discover the challenges of starting up a brand, the motivations that are held close in times of trials, and the experiences of bringing his game to an international audience!

Q: Please give the readers a short introduction about yourself and Icerain Games. What is your “origin” story?
Hi everyone, I’m Icerain. I started designing board games in 2018 and have participated in some competitions, earning recognition in some awards. At the end of 2023, I decided to dedicate more effort to board game design and established my personal brand, IceRain Games, to publish games I’ve designed. So far, we have officially released three card games: Phone, Wallet, Keys, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Trick’n Treat.
Q: What is Icerain Game’s vision and mission that you want to bring to the tabletop community in Taiwan?
We aim to publish world-class board games, collaborating with Taiwanese designers, illustrators, and manufacturers. Our goal is to become a brand that Taiwanese players can be proud of, while also helping to drive the export of Taiwan's board game industry.
Q: You have designed a number of tabletop games in Icerain Games. Please share which is your favorite game you have designed.
Trick’n Treat is my personal favorite among the games we’ve published so far. I’ve always loved trick-taking games, so when I founded IceRain Games, I decided to bring one to Essen Spiel 2024. In the early stages, we developed several prototypes for trick-taking games. After multiple playtests and observing player feedback, we decided to keep Lethal Adventure, a trick-taking and trick-avoidance game inspired by last year’s popular game Lethal Company, but with an Indiana Jones-style theme.
The name Trick’n Treat came to me as a pun, and both Essen Spiel and Halloween are in October, so we decided to change the name and theme. We wanted to create a lightweight trick-taking game, so we avoided the usual prediction mechanics. Through try and error, we fine-tuned the suit values, adjusted the abilities of ghost cards, and removed the trump card system. However, none of these changes significantly elevated the gameplay.
Then, one day during a playtest, Wei Chang, a designer known for his expertise in solo games, suggested, “What if this became a cooperative game?” That single idea gave players a meaningful purpose for each round and effectively expanded the strategic possibilities within the constraints of their hands. This breakthrough eventually led to the cooperative and team-based competitive modes you see today.
For the artwork, we took a different approach compared to our previous two games, which used AI-generated art. I discovered a talented illustrator, Trigotri 美術部, on Instagram and licensed her original character designs for the game (though the candy and cover art were redrawn). I’m personally very satisfied with the American cartoon art style, and it has received plenty of positive feedback from players.

Q: How was your recent trip to Essen Spiel? Talk about your experiences interacting with international players. What were some things you learnt during your trip?
Essen Spiel was truly an unforgettable experience. The players we met spanned a wide range of ages and were mostly from various parts of Europe. Many of them were seasoned board gamers who had played a significant number of games. Teaching the rules as the designer has many advantages—it allows me to observe exactly when players experience emotional shifts, whether during the rule explanation or while playing. This helped me gradually refine the way I taught the rules for demos, making the entire process smoother and more engaging.
One of the most memorable moments was teaching a group of deaf players how to play Phone, Wallet, Keys with the help of an on-site sign language interpreter. Even though there was no verbal communication, I could still feel the joy and excitement of playing a board game together.
Apart from teaching at our booth, I also explored nearly every hall at Essen Spiel, studying booth poster designs, game presentation methods, and more. These insights will definitely help us improve when participating in future exhibitions.
Q: Which were some of your well-received games that you brought to Spiel? What was the feedback given by players?
We brought all three of our games to Essen Spiel this time, and Trick’n Treat received the most praise. Many players were drawn to its charming art style and the teamfight trick-taking mechanics. A lot of them found the rules simple yet the gameplay highly engaging.
One particularly touching moment was when a player asked me to sign the copy and said, "It is a good game. Thank you for designing this game." I was deeply moved—I never imagined that designing a game could lead to such heartfelt feedback.

Q: What are your views on Taiwan's tabletop game industry? What trends have you observed emerging in recent years?
The mainstream board gaming community in Taiwan currently leans toward social games such as party and hidden-role games, with most publishers catering to these preferences. However, in recent years, there has been a growing number of new designers, including many who independently publish games in genres like abstract strategy, TCGs, or family games.
I personally believe the Taiwanese market holds great potential. The development of board games in Taiwan spans just over a decade, yet many board game stores and publishers have successfully established themselves across the country, introducing the joy of board gaming to people of all ages.
In 2024, Taiwan ranked sixth globally in mobile gaming consumption. Considering the population size and national income, this indicates an impressive proportion of spending on emerging entertainment. The key challenge for the next decade will be figuring out how to redirect some of this entertainment budget toward board games and how to retain and encourage casual players to continue exploring the hobby in boardgames.

Q: What steps are you going to take moving forward to expanding into international markets?
Icerain Games has always aimed at the international market. In 2025, we plan to list some of our products on Japan’s Rakuten and Amazon online stores. We are also actively reaching out to overseas board game shops and publishers to explore opportunities for sales and multilingual publishing.
In addition, we hope to run a new game project on Kickstarter within the next three years and participate in more international exhibitions to further expand our brand’s visibility.
Q: During your first fundraiser for Phone Wallet Keys, what were some challenges you experienced? Were you surprised by the amount of support gathered for the fundraiser?
Phone Wallet Keys was both our first crowdfunding project and our first published game, and naturally, we encountered many challenges along the way: the review process for the payment platform took longer than expected, the promotional materials on the campaign page didn’t turn out as well as we’d hoped, and after the campaign ended, we struggled to find suitable packaging materials for shipping.
Although the funding goal was difficult to reach, we were fortunate to achieve it in the end. What surprised and moved me the most was that about a quarter of the backers came from my personal social network—friends I already knew but who might not usually play board games.
Q: Any future games that you’re currently working on that you want readers to know?
Currently, we are developing two games: Butterfly Kingdom, a set-collection card game, and Provintia, a family worker-placement game. Both are themed around Taiwanese history. If all goes well, we plan to publish them either independently or in collaboration with other publishers in the second and third quarters of this year.
Q: How can we find out more about Icerain Games?
If you’d like to stay updated on our new games or related activities, feel free to follow us on our Facebook page or Instagram. Additionally, we’ll continue to post in English on X (Twitter).
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