Unboxing Your Games in New Lands
Dumplings & Dragons is a play, eat, and travel (PET) fellowship that aims to share board games, food, history, and culture from your part of the world to Singapore and Asia.
We can partner with you to help:
-
incorporate your brand in Singapore as a stepping stone to the rest of Asia
-
build up manufacturing and supply chains
-
showcase your games to new audiences
Dumplings & Dragons can be a valued partner if you:
-
publish games about food, history, and culture
-
manufacture in China or any other parts of Asia
-
want to grow your brand in Asia from a secure base
-
want to reach new untapped markets in Asia
Dumplings and Dragons is organising 2 open-play sessions in Singapore during the 2024 school holidays to showcase unique games to 2 untapped markets in Asia: families and women. These events will be free and open to the public.
Take a leap into Asia.
With a small investment, exhibit your games at our open-play sessions and reach new players. Contact us to learn how.
"Don't let perfection stand in the way of progress."
~ CAMPAIGN 1 ~
Set Up Camp
(2-4 months)
-
Register your brand/company
-
Tap on corporate services
-
Set up banking and accounting
-
Build systems and processes
-
Construct your web infrastructure
~ CAMPAIGN 2 ~
Build Your Inventory
(6-12 months)
-
Develop your game
-
Find a trusted manufacturer
-
Obtain testing and safety marks
-
Find warehousing space
-
Handle shipping and customs
~ CAMPAIGN 3 ~
Forge Alliances
(6-12 months)
-
Find distributors and retailers
-
Organise events for newcomers
-
Activate review circles
-
Build a community of players
-
License your games and grow your reputation
The Marketplace
-
This needs to be understood: actual value ≠ price
-
The price you set anchors expectations and communicates its value.
-
Is the cost of shipping and customs duties factored into your pricing strategy?
The Docks
-
Amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics.
-
There is a sweet spot in how much weight you can ship per dollar; your job is to find it.
-
Do you speak the lingo? Learn about shipping processes and conquer the seas.
The Storehouse
-
Design your product to optimise shipping and warehousing costs.
-
Are your product design principles aligned with your marketing and environmental ideals?
-
Have you set aside adequate stock for different markets or cycles?
The Guard Tower
-
Materials testing increases your upfront cost of production.
-
Different markets/regions require different safety tests and marks.
-
Have you obtained the relevant approvals and certifications?
Checkpoints
"There is no such thing as over-planning.
But don't measure everything, only what counts."
All shipping routes lead to/from Singapore:
Connectivity is the hallmark of the Singapore port. Since 1986, Singapore has been the busiest port in the world in terms of shipping tonnage, with an annual average of 140,000 vessel calls.
It is the focal point for some 200 shipping lines with links to more than 600 ports worldwide. Global connectivity is the key to Singapore’s success as a world-leading hub for container transhipment, with over 37.3 million TEU handled in 2022.
Credit:
Dr Jean-Paul Rodrique
Dept of Global Studies & Geography, Hofstra University
COMMON LANGUAGE &
COMMON LAW
Singapore was a British colony. Our use of English facilitates business between East and West, and serves as a neutral common denominator for non-English speaking parties seeking common ground.
Language is no obstacle to your quest.
Singaporeans speak the same language as the West, and our own Asian mother tongues of the East.
TRADING PORT &
STEPPING STONE
Singapore serves as a distribution hub and stepping stone for the region. World trade flows through Singapore. Major international banks, crowd-funding through Kickstarter, and logistics services are easily accessible.
Establish your base camp here.
If you manufacture in China, your games can reach Singapore easily, either by land or sea.
MELTING POT &
TESTING GROUND
Singapore is small but it contains a diverse mix of cultures, languages, ethnicities, and backgrounds. New migrants mix with locally born citizens. Everything and everyone is within arm's reach.
Find your niche, build your tribe.
All of Asia is represented in Singapore. Playtest your games in multiple Asian languages here.
READY BUYERS &
HAPPY PLAYERS
Singaporeans recognise value and are willing to spend on their passions and pursuits. The Singapore Dollar is one of the strongest and most stable currencies in Asia, making it easy to earn and save.
Build up your war chest.
Families and women constitute two significantly large and untapped market segments in Singapore.
In The Lion City
Envoy
Nicholas Pang is the co-founder of Origame. Besides building processes and managing the daily operations in Origame, he art-directs, oversees production, and manages shipping. He loves games that pack a surprise and efficiently combine good story-telling with high production values.
He learnt his trade by publishing Smol Tok, the first social tool designed in Singapore for community-building and small group facilitation. Smol Tok clinched Gold in the corporate category at the Singapore Design Awards 2018/19.
2016 - Present
Founder of Starknicked and Creator of Smol Tok, the first social tool designed in Singapore for community-building and small group facilitation.
2019
Recipient of the Singapore Design Awards 2018/19 for Smol Tok (Gold, corporate category)
2019 - Present
Director & Co-Founder of Origame Studios Pte. Ltd., which specialises in designing and publishing board games that tell stories about Singapore and Asia.
I have experience with starting and growing three companies without relying on venture capital or external funding.
I have a keen practical understanding about starting and running a business sustainably in Singapore.
I have a trusted network of illustrators, manufacturers, shipping partners, distributors, and reviewers.
"You will save blood, sweat, and tears if you set up your processes cleanly at the start."
Why Dumplings? What Dragons?
The first dumplings are said to have been made in China.
Over time, they travelled the silk road all over the Old World and sailed to the New World before circling the globe and finally making their way back to Asia.
Whether steamed, fried, or boiled, the humble dumpling is known by various names in various cultures. Whether you call it a wonton, mandu, momo, samosa, khinkali, pierogi, ravioli, or xiao long bao, the dumpling belongs to all peoples.
Here be dragons. There be dragons. Dragons everywhere!
Like dumplings, dragons permeate various cultures, religions, and myths from all over the world. These flying, fire-breathing, serpentine creatures are seen as symbols of fortune, drivers of natural forces, or portents of disaster.
In the East, the Chinese Emperor was symbolised by the dragon. In the West, Viking princes had to slay dragons to rescue their brides. What are dragons to you?
© 2023, Dumplings & Dragons. A Fellowship of Starknicked. All rights reserved.