Episode 311

Episode 311: Pauline & Marie, Hot Banana Games

Published on: 10th September, 2024

Recognizing the absence of authentic Asian-themed games created by Asian designers, Pauline & Marie founded Hot Banana Games to bridge cultural gaps and foster understanding through board games. Their mission is to craft culturally rich games that evoke nostalgia or ignite curiosity about Asian culture, delivering more meaningful and engaging experiences to every table.

Their first board game, Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum, raise over half a million dollars on Kickstarter and was a fusion between their passion for cherished family traditional meal and the board gaming hobby.

Pauline Kong is a Canadian-born Hong Kong girl. She grew up playing Atari and Nintendo games such as Super Mario and Zelda on gameboy to playing Mahjong, Gomoku, and Novuss. Her day job is an ICU and ADC nurse. She is also a retired magician/producer as her focus has been shifted over to board gaming with her interest towards worker placement games like Lords of Waterdeep & polygamino games like Planet Unknown.

Marie Wong was born in Hong Kong and raised in Canada. Her day job is a UI/UX designer with skills that can easily transition to use in board game design. She grew up playing Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and many other JRPGs on PlayStation. Her addictions to board games started after Pauline introduced Carcassonne to her. Her favourite type of games are tile placement and occasionally Euro games such as the classic Castles of Burgundy!

You can check out their newest Kickstarter for Moon Bunny here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hotbananagames/moon-bunny

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About the Podcast

Board Game Binge
Bingeable board game content from across the industry.
Do you love board games? I do! But do you ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes?

How do meet-up groups get organized? What is the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign? How do publishers get their games to market? How are people reaching their market in an ever more competitive market? What type of social media personalities are springing up in support of this industry?

James interviews experts from across the industry and takes a peak under the hood in his quest to understand this far reaching community. Each episode is bite-sized, clocking in around 30 minutes, so you can take nibbles, or binge several episodes at once.

About your host

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James Staley

James is the president of Tin Robot Games, the publisher of 4 successful board Game Kickstarters; Tanks, but no thanks!, Queen of Scots: The Card Game, and Nutty Squirrels of the Oakwood Forest.

James is also the host and creator of the Board Game Binge Podcast, a short-format podcast dedicated to showcasing the personalities and professionals from across the board game/tabletop industry.

You can listen to past episodes of the Board Game Binge podcast on Spotify, YouTube, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast, iHeart Radio Podcast, TUNE IN Podcast, and Stitcher Podcast. You can also join the podcast live on the Board Game Binge YouTube channel most Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6 pm EDT.

Look forward to many more exciting and fun games to play with friends and family, or even solo!