Full Steam Ahead

GAME ON! Pauline Kong and Marie Wong developed the board game Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum as a bridge to understanding Asian culture.

Pauline Kong has worked in critical care nursing at Surrey Memorial Hospital for over a decade. She performed as a magician in her off-time. But after retiring from magic in 2018, the ICU nurse found that she needed a new hobby.

"I started playing more board games!" Kong says. "My friends and I play at my house because I have the most games," she explains. "One day I said, 'wouldn't it be cool if we had our own board game?'"

As they explored the idea, Kong says that her elementary school drawing of dim sum dishes happened to be on the table. This led to the idea of using dim sum as a cultural theme for a game.

"And that's how Steam Up was born!"

Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum is the board game Kong co-developed with friend Marie Wong. The two launched Hot Banana Games a couple of years ago and Steam Up is the company's first project.

Kong says the game's design began as an idea she and Wong steamed dreamed up and spun around in their minds – like a dim sum turntable – until it evolved to a family-friendly format for 2-5 players.

"Steam Up is a competitive dim sum collection game offering a delicious cultural experience," says Kong.

Steam Up is also the name of an award-winning dim sum restaurant in the game.

"Players travel from afar to Steam Up where they play as one of 12 Chinese zodiac animals," Kong explains. "The player who devours the most dim sum and leaves the table with the fullest stomach is the winner!"

Dim sum is a large range of small Chinese dishes that are traditionally served in bamboo steamers and enjoyed in restaurants for brunch. "The steamers are on a turntable that spins around so the food can be shared with family and friends," Kong explains.

"In Steam Up, we serve the five most popular dishes: shrimp dumpling, meat dumpling, BBQ meat bun, sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaf, and the exotic phoenix claw."

In the game, miniature steamers are filled with replica dim sum, then stacked and placed on a turntable. The game is played in rounds – each player takes a turn performing different actions like gaining food tokens, drawings or playing fortune cards, and that allows the player to turn the table.

Kong says it's important for a player to spend food tokens to purchase dim sum within your feast zone (i.e., within their reach). As in real life, instead of reaching over the table for more food, you take food in your feast zone. It's game over when there's no dim sum left.

"For players who have eaten dim sum, we hope that playing Steam Up brings back delicious memories of their favourite dishes," says the entrepreneurial nurse. "And for players new to this Chinese cuisine, we hope our game will spark their interest to go on a food adventure to try traditional dim sum."

Eating food is a universal experience that connects families, communities and perhaps the global community, too. Kong sees great potential impact for her board game. "We hope Steam Up is a positive bridge to understanding Asian culture," she says. "Gamers can experience the culture and customs through a fun, immersive board game. The greater your knowledge becomes, the greater your cultural understanding becomes too."

Steam Up launched on Kickstarter in October 2021 and to date has raised nearly $600,000 with over 8,200 backers. While the fundraising campaign has officially ended, pledges are still being accepted via Kickstarter.com.•

UPDATE (Spring 2022)