Malaysians mesti makan, so we attempted to associate three things: tabletop games and food, with the upcoming Lunar New Year. The basis for the creative concept came from the tradition of eating 腊八粥 / 臘八粥 during 臘八節 traditional Chinese festival.
As the Lunar New Year is synonymous with the coming of spring, families give their homes a thorough spring cleaning: “Wash away the dirt on 年廿八 / 洗邋遢.” So we associated this with a good habit of dusting off our shelves of board games.
“除夕之夜，各相与赠送称曰馈岁：酒食相邀，称曰别岁：长幼聚欢，祝颂完备称曰分岁，大家终夜不眠，以待天明，称曰守岁.” At the end of the year, people gift and wish each other, calling it Kuisui (馈岁); people invited others with drinks and food, calling it 别岁; on the new year’s eve, people stayed up all night until sunrise, calling it 守岁: a tradition of staying up late on Chinese New Year’s Eve, which is still practised as it is thought to add on to one’s parents’ longevity.
