5 Family-Friendly Asian Tabletop Games to Brighten Up Good Friday

Looking for a new way to spend time with your family and friends during Good Friday? At the end of this holy day of mourning, your rooms will be filled with passionate laughter and smiles to look back on this period of remembrance.

1) Fiero!

Publisher: Press Start Studio

https://www.pressstart.com.hk/

An imaginative storytelling card game

Want an artistic refresher on passages and stories from the Bible? Fiero! Is a card game that can bring joy to any family gathering. With this Hong Kong developed party game, players can create their own artistic twist on any story they wish, be it The Birth of Jesus or coming up with their own original writing within the Bible universe. 

This simple card game follows a three-step gameplay loop - cards to find out what storyline the player is building off of, cards to find out who their character is, what they’re doing, and where they’re doing it, and a voting system for the best ideas to advance to the next round, where they’re given more cards to build off their original story. 

Fiero! is a fun, wacky game for creative minds, simple thinkers, and even those who tend to believe the thought “Oh, but I’m not creative. I’ll sit this one out.” With a vast variety of prompts to pick and choose from, as well as bright and lively visuals to spur expressive stories, this is an easy game for players of any age to pick up and play, and a memorable way to bond with family to celebrate togetherness on His Good Friday!

2) Circus Break

Publisher: Z000 Studios

https://www.z000studio.com/

A fast-paced memory game

Searching for a more strategic and thought-provoking game? Circus Break is a quick game that gets players thinking about their next move and how to bluff their opponents to secure their win. It’s a game for families who love a challenge in their board game, and is bound to make any gathering lively.

To play Circus Break, players are given special character cards, which list their required items to escape, and take turns to flip open cards on the board and decide whether to keep them or place them back. Some of the cards on the board can aid the players by fulfilling their required items, or hurt the players by limiting their actions. The game ends when the first player with all their prerequisite items on their character card fulfilled finds the key to escape. But beware, some character cards have the ability to steal the items from other players, effectively snatching the win. It’s a game with a simple premise, but its choices need thought and intent behind them.

Circus Break is the perfect game for smaller families who want to spice up their Good Friday festivities, and is a great way to bond and get closer with the ones that you hold near to you. With its gameplay being designed by its Hong Kong developers to be around 15 minutes at maximum, it's an easy game to pick up and play, and will definitely bring lots of smiles and laughter to your holiday gathering.

3) Watch List

Publisher: Ludus Distributors

https://ludusproducts.com/products/watch-list

A Where’s Waldo inspired deduction game

Inspired by classic hidden object game Where’s Waldo mixed with word-guessing game Pinoy Henyo ( A Filipino version of Charades) Watch List is a cooperative party game similar to household party game Charades, and is an easy game to understand and play with families big or small.

In Watch List, players need to find the identities of 5 counter-informants that threaten your government. The player are either Agents or an Informant. The Agents role is to ask questions to find out the identity of a counter-informant, and the Informant’s role is to answer Yes or No to these questions. If the Agents find a suspect they think is the counter-informant, they will show an Assailant card to the Informant, who will tell them if their guess is correct or false. 

Watch List is a unique twist on pre-existing games that is transformed to be something completely different, and is a great addition to fuel your appetite for your satisfying Good Friday meal. It's a simple concept, but played in a different way that gets the mind thinking, perfect for all ages and skill levels. Published by Philippines game manufacturing company Ludus Distributors, you and your family can experience a taste of different cultures games this Good Friday holiday.

4) That’s You

Publisher: Tabletoys Games

https://games.tabletoys.id/

A lighthearted party game

That’s You! is a co-operative bonding game that tests your closeness with your friends and family, and is a good bonding experience that can lead into sharing fun stories, or embarrassing secrets that are bound to fill the house with bright smiles and surprised laughter.

One player is chosen as the clue giver, who will draw from a deck of trait cards full of phrases that can describe a person’s personality, and place them on the given board. The clue giver will then lay out chips with correct and wrong symbols, the correct symbol being the chosen trait card for the round. The clue giver then assigns clue chips based on who would be the most or least likely to fit that trait. After which, players will discuss who they think this trait belongs to. 

Created by Indonesian publisher Tabletoys Games, That’s You! is the perfect game to bond with your family over snacks and tidbits, and is the perfect game to explore and reflect on yourself this Good Friday. Want some fun stories about your family to tell your friends? That’s You! is the game you need to spark happiness and form memorable moments this holiday.

5) Breadpacking

Publisher: the function of x

https://www.thefunctionofx.com/

An educational bread-themed card game

To put a light-hearted spin on the phrase “breaking the bread”, Breadpacking is an educational game which teaches players about the different types of bread that is eaten in various countries, cultures, and continents, perfect to teach players young and old about geography and to stay knowledgeable about the different continents and countries of the world.

In Breadpacking, players take turns to place and draw cards from their hand, and the player who places down 7 different continent cards wins. The unique selling point about this game is the skills the cards have, one of example being to answer a question about what continent a country is in to be able to transform the card into one of a different continent.

Crafted by a Singaporean ex-MOE teacher, Breadpacking is an entertaining and exciting way to stay educated and open-minded on different cultures and traditions around the world, using the common element of bread, and is a great addition to celebrate Christians of different ethnicities and traditions this Good Friday. 

Good Friday is a holy time of remembrance, and a holiday of self-reflection, but it can also be a well-needed time of rest for families and friends. Through these games fun family games, whether you're learning about each others personalities, working together to solve puzzles, or come up with creative retellings of Bible passages, there's no better way to sit everyone down at the dinner table and have some good family fun.

Have a happy Good Friday everyone!