A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now.
China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation.
The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians working to sabotage the Taiwan’s defense, as well as citizens picking up guns to defend their homeland.
Taiwanese board game maker Mizo Games started crowdfunding the game in August. Within two-and-a-half months, the company had received more than NT$4 million (US$122,261) to fund the project.
“It is not quite peaceful around Taiwan and the Western Pacific as we speak,” Mizo Games founder Chang Shao-lian (張少濂) said.
Chang said he wanted “players to feel they want to win and think about what they will do to win.”
The game, which is also to go on sale in the US and Europe later in the year, has been developed at a time when officials have intensified preparations for scenarios, including a China conflict.
Players who participated in a play test of 2045 said they learned about what might happen in the event of a Chinese invasion and that they hoped the game could help people understand the implications of a war.
“I am not very knowledgeable on military matters, therefore through this game I learned about where the army may land and launch an attack,” said Kalin Lai, a 23-year-old who tried out the game.
Mizo Games has created two other Taiwan war-themed board games — one about surviving an air raid in Taipei and the other about a bombing in Kaohsiung during Japan’s colonization of the nation between 1895 and 1945.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
The Sports Administration yesterday demanded an apology from the national table tennis association for barring 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) from competing in the upcoming World Table Tennis (WTT) United States Smash tournament in Las Vegas this July. The sports agency said in a statement that the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association (CTTTA) must explain to the public why it withdrew Yeh from the WTT tournament in Las Vegas. The sports agency said it contacted the association to express its disapproval of the decision-making process after receiving a complaint from Yeh’s coach, Chuang
Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) tendered his resignation last night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by media. His resignation was immediately accepted by the Control Yuan. In a statement explaining why he had resigned, Lee apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon on May 20. The issue first came to light late last month, when TVBS News reported that Lee had instructed his driver to take the dog to the salon. The news channel broadcast photos that it said were taken by an unnamed whistle-blower, which purportedly showed the
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
RSS