Behind Shadow Market: China’s Growing Hub for Indie Board Game Creators

Halifa Cui (世路寒）, one of the core organizers behind SHADOW MARKET, shares the story of how a grassroots designer collective blossomed into one of China’s most vibrant and influential board game expos. From humble beginnings in 2016 to their largest event yet in 2025 in Shanghai, Halifa reflects on SHADOW Market’s growth, challenges, and its unwavering commitment to supporting indie designers and the China tabletop scene.

Q: Please give a short introduction about yourself and Shadow Market. What is your role? What is Shadow Market about? Why did you decide to start Shadow Market?

SHADOW Market (SHM) was created by SHADOW, which stands for “Shanghai Alliance Designer Off Work.” It’s a collective of game designers, and SHADOW Market is our game expo—by designers, for designers. I’m one of the designers in SHADOW, and because I had more free time than most, I took on the role of managing the project. After renting a booth at Game Market, a major board game expo in Japan, we realized that this format was ideal for designers. At the time, China didn’t have anything like it—so in 2016, we decided to start our own.

Q: What do you do to keep SHADOW Market unique compared to other board game conventions in China?

SHADOW Market stands out from other board game conventions in China through its focus on original board games, community-driven collaboration, player-friendly policies, and international exchange.

At its core, SHM is all about original creations. It attracts both local and international designers who showcase their prototypes and creative works directly to players. One of its key features is the "China's Best Board Game" event, which gives designers the chance to pitch their ideas directly to publishers—something that’s still rare in the local scene. SHM also invites experienced designers to give feedback to newer creators, helping them improve and gain valuable real-world experience.

As the event is organized by a group of board game designers, SHM encourages a unique three-way interaction among designers, publishers, and players. This model creates a more dynamic and innovative environment, very different from the more one-sided, commercial focus seen at other expos.

SHM also goes out of its way to welcome players. Ticket holders receive generous on-site shopping vouchers that can be used to buy games at the event—making it almost like attending for free. There are also fun activities like stamp collection and lucky draws, where the more you play, the more chances you have to win board games. In 2019, ten lucky participants even had all their game purchases reimbursed.

Beyond China, SHM actively builds international connections. In 2018, it invited CMON’s then-design director Eric Lang, and in 2019, it hosted Japanese creators from Sakura Wars and Tragedy Cycle, as well as members from the Japanese Board Game Design Alliance and ARCLIGHT publishing. These international exchanges bring new ideas and global perspectives to SHM, keeping it fresh and forward-looking.

Q: Due to the COVID pandemic, the government has banned public events for quite a number of years. What are the challenges you face while restarting the event?

From 2020 to 2022, we put SHADOW Market on hold as the pandemic made large gatherings impossible. After three years of suspension, we began planning a return—despite significant uncertainty and concerns from both participants and local authorities. At the time, all major events in mainland China required official approval, and even some well-established anime conventions were abruptly cancelled just a day before opening due to sudden spikes in infection numbers. We knew restarting SHM would be risky, and the uncertainty was daunting.

By 2022, daily life and production in China had mostly returned to normal, and events were permitted again. But for us, it had been three long years without the expo. I questioned whether companies and designers would still support us, and whether players would still remember us. Many industry contacts had moved on, and reconnecting with new representatives felt like starting over. I wasn’t confident things would fall into place.

But we pushed forward—and in the end, it paid off. We managed to secure exhibitors, and ticket sales even exceeded those from previous years. The community’s desire to reconnect after years of isolation was clear. When the event finally ran smoothly, and people reunited with friends who shared the same passion for games, the atmosphere was incredible.

That moment made me realize SHM really means something to people. It gave me the motivation to keep it going.

Q: What stood out the most from last year’s SHADOW Market? Were there any challenges or memorable achievements that made the event especially meaningful?

Last year, we organized SHADOW Market across five different venues spread over the upper and lower levels of the convention hall. To encourage movement and exploration, we required players to visit every venue before they could enter the lucky draw. To bridge the physical distance between spaces and enrich the experience, we also curated a Board Game Culture Gallery that traced the history of Chinese tabletop games—from ancient dice and chess sets to Leaf games (叶子戏), a traditional Chinese card game dating back to the Tang Dynasty that is considered a forerunner of many East Asian card games.

But the biggest challenge wasn’t the logistics—it was securing approval from the convention hall and various government authorities. Due to strict national regulations around exhibitions at the time, we had to implement additional security measures, submit detailed floorplans and route maps, ensure consistent identification tags, and provide full documentation for all exhibitors. The approval process dragged on for two months and involved more than a dozen visits to different departments. When we finally received the go-ahead, it felt like a massive weight had been lifted.

Q: How did Shadow Market grow from a small community event to a large-scale yearly convention? What changes and challenges did that bring for you?

SHADOW Market started as a grassroots initiative by a group of game designers—not a company—and that’s still who we are. We're not driven by profit; our goal has always been to help grow the Chinese board game scene and provide an affordable, supportive platform for designers to showcase their work and connect with others. Over time, as more designers, publishers, and players saw value in what we were building, SHM naturally grew. The support from the community—especially Chinese board game companies and players who believe in original content—really helped it expand. But with that growth came new challenges. For me personally, the biggest one has been time. I already have a full-time job, so SHM takes up nearly all of my free hours. Balancing both roles hasn’t been easy, but seeing the impact SHM has had makes it worthwhile.

Q: What is the most popular tabletop game genre in China now? How do you see tabletop gaming evolving in the coming years?

Right now, party games are definitely the most popular in China. We’re a country that values social entertainment, and with such a large population, games that are easy to pick up and fun in a group setting naturally do well. People often turn to tabletop games during their downtime with friends, so anything that creates laughter and interaction tends to catch on. That said, I believe the market will gradually become more diverse. As the player base continues to grow and mature, different genres—whether it's strategy, storytelling, or thematic games—will start to find their own dedicated audiences.

Q: What is the biggest challenge for indie game designers and creatives today in the tabletop and art industry, and how has Shadow Market been supporting local creators?

I think for indie game designers and creatives, to turn their games into good merchandise, they need skills. Not only for the game to be good-looking but also to have a good box, good instructions, good tokens, and so on. Lots of indie game designers think that only having good rules makes a good game, maybe it’s true, but it's not good merchandise, so not good for sales. So at SHM, we invite a lot of companies and players, and also factories, media, painters, lawyers, lots of different people to help designers.

Q: What are you most proud of when you reflect on the journey of organizing SHADOW MARKET throughout the years?

SHADOW MARKET is a non-profit event, organized entirely by passionate enthusiasts. None of our team members receive any pay. But organizing a large-scale event—previously 2,000 square meters and 5,000 this year, with dozens of publishers, hundreds of designers, and tens of thousands of attendees—is far too much for me to handle alone.

To this day, two of the core teammates working with me on SHM reached out to me voluntarily before the very first expo. When I announced plans to host a board game expo in Shanghai, they contacted me out of the blue and said, “I want to do this with you.” I had never met or even heard of them before. But that was nine years ago, and they’ve been with me ever since.

One of them handles on-site management and deals with all sorts of unexpected issues (he runs a board game store himself), and he's very familiar with board game mechanics and publishers. The other organizes forums, connects with journalists, and has many friends in the arts and culture scene.

Over the years, more and more friends have reached out and gradually joined us—some help with artwork, layout, and printed materials; others shoot videos introducing exhibitors and event content; and some help organize volunteers.

I believe it’s precisely because everyone recognizes that SHM is meaningful and valuable, that they’re willing to support us and contribute their efforts. And it’s thanks to this collective dedication and shared passion that SHM has continued to grow and improve.

Q: What are the plans for Shadow Market this year? What is one thing that you are excited about for this year’s convention?

In 2025 SHADOW Market will take place on 4-6 July at the Cecis Shanghai Exhibition Center (上海跨国采购会展中心) , in collaboration with the China Comics & Games (CCG) Expo. CCG is a well-established comic convention now in its 21st year and significantly larger in scale than SHM. This year, we’ll be sharing the same venue, and attendees will only need to purchase one ticket to access both events. In 2024, SHM occupied 2,400 square meters, but for 2025, we’re expanding to 5,000 square meters. Combined with CCG Expo, the total convention area will reach 13,000 square meters. With this expanded space, we’re expecting more players, more companies, and more designers than ever before. I’m especially excited to welcome new visitors from the CCG crowd, many of whom will get to discover and enjoy board games through SHM for the first time.

Q: Where can we find out more about Shadow Market?

We have an official WeChat Account: SHADOW桌游设计师联盟 where you can find out all relevant information on the convention. You will need to install WeChat in order to find the community.  Another site where you can find out more about the convention is via this site (https://zhongchou.modian.com/item/146866.html),

See you at Shanghai SHADOW Market!