by Saigo

Editor's note: Game Market took place in Chiba Prefecture in the greater Tokyo area on May 17-18, 2025, and Saigo — who translates game rules between Japanese and English and who tweets about new JP games — has translated two reports about this event by Takuya Ono, who runs the Table Games in the World blog. Mr. Ono has given permission to reprint the photos from his post. Many thanks to Saigo! —WEM

Report 1: The Venue

Game Market 2025 Spring took place at Makuhari Messe in Chiba Prefecture on Saturday, May 17, and Sunday, May 18. With 1,187 exhibitors and 27,000 attendees, the event set records for the second-highest participation and attendance. The highest records were 1,219 exhibitors for Game Market 2024 Autumn and 29,300 attendees for Tokyo Game Market 2019 Autumn. It was the second time the event was held at Makuhari Messe since moving from Tokyo Big Sight. The 27,000-square-meter venue was filled with the passion of board game enthusiasts.

Makuhari Messe is located in Mihama Ward, Chiba City, and can be reached directly from Tokyo Station via the Keiyo Line. However, it takes ten minutes to walk from the platform of the other trains to the Keiyo Line platform at Tokyo Station. Then, it takes another fifteen minutes to walk from the nearest station, Kaihin-Makuhari Station, to the venue. Therefore, moving such a distance while carrying board games makes the trip quite strenuous. Furthermore, it rained on the morning of the first day, and it became hot and humid on the second day. Many of the 2,600 early entry ticket holders waited under umbrellas for the venue to open.

The route to the venue was mostly covered by roofs, so it was possible to walk there without needing an umbrella so much
Early entry ticket holders waited for the venue to open
At 11:00 a.m., when the opening was announced, the attendees began to enter. They were divided into two lines and entered through the passageways between Halls 5/6, as well as between Halls 7/8. This allowed everyone to enter within ten minutes. Long lines formed at booths offering venue-exclusive items, presales, and limited-quantity games.

The number of exhibitors, approximately 1,200, easily surpassed the 950 exhibitors at SPIEL Essen. Since booths are not divided by detailed categories, it is practically impossible to visit them all in two days. Therefore, attendees (especially those who enter early) gather information in advance from the Game Market catalog and websites. Similarly, advance publicity heavily influences sales for exhibitors, especially first-time exhibitors.

Visitors were divided and entered through Halls 7 and 8 on the left, as well as Halls 5 and 6 on the right
Immediately after opening on Sunday, long lines formed around the Arclight booth and the booths of popular production groups in Halls 5 and 6
On Saturday afternoon, the lighting in Halls 7 and 8 was brighter than in Halls 5 and 6. Some said it was even cooler there.
The layout in Halls 5/6 and Halls 7/8 was well-planned. Block booths were arranged around standard booths and wide pathways were provided. The only exception was one side of チャック横丁 ("Zipper-Bag Game Shopping Street"), which was located against the wall.

First, let me refer to some of the block booths that stood out with their unique decorations.

Engames set up a dome reminiscent of the Osaka Expo. It was actually made of cardboard boxes.
CMON Japan, with some concerns about its parent company, said that they would keep striving to put customers first, especially during their challenging time
Grounding released Machi Koro: Revised Edition with an expansion
Hits & Outs, released from itten, is a baseball game that can be played in 15 minutes
Here is Saashi of Saashi & Saashi, whose games have been growing in popularity overseas. Their latest title is The Great Evening Banquet.
Jun Sasaki of Oink Games: They had a presale for Wriggle Roulette, which they designed in collaboration with Bruno Faidutti
Allplay, an exhibitor from the U.S., released Japanese versions of their six titles for this Game Market
TANSAN Inc. organized 着るボドゲ展 ("Wearable Board Game Exhibition"), selling T-shirts that could be played as games by attaching fabric pieces or writing on them at the booth of a mystery-solving game apparel brand TokiQil
Gamestore Banesto is quick to import and sell board games from overseas publishers
SUUNY BIRD presold their edition of Seven Prophecies, a trick-taking game in which players predict their ranking in each trick from the open lead colors of all the tricks
GP Games demoed the Japanese version of The Gang, a hot title from SPIEL Essen 24
JELLY JELLY GAMES presold Quiet House, a co-operative puzzle game from Korea
Creators of board game-related goods exhibit together at the Toukasai booth. This year, they featured hairpins themed around board games.
At チャック横丁 ("Zipper-Bag Game Shopping Street"), exhibitors participate by selling games without boxes in small quantities. There seemed to be some disparity between the booths facing the aisle and those near the wall.
There were many standard booths with notable games to report:

Kawasaki Factory released a remake of Traders of Carthage
Gomi Kokusai, a group from Hiroshima Prefecture, released the large box game BACON and EGGS after receiving favorable responses at the Nagoya Boardgame Rakuichi Market show
Thinking Factory exhibited overlays and inserts to make some popular games easier to play and to store
LAKE IN THE GAMES exhibited Sprit Path, a rondel game with graphics and components reminiscent of a Japanese-localized overseas game
Puninokai released 涅槃に入る ("Entering Nirvana"), a Buddhist-themed murder mystery game for up to twenty players
A quarter of Halls 7 and 8 was designated for a stage, a free play area, and a food court. The food trucks in the food court attracted steady streams of people. In addition to the food available at the convenience store in Makuhari Messe, the food trucks offered reasonably priced, hot, delicious meals.

At the row of food trucks, I had a Nagasaki Kakuni (braised pork) burger on the first day and a meat-wrapped rice ball on the second day
The special guest on stage was Vital Lacerda from Portugal. He began designing games after uploading a Portuguese map for Age of Steam on BGG. His debut game was Vinhos.

Despite having released several heavyweight board games, he said he does not intend to make them complicated. He prefers to create games with meaningful actions that lead to the next ones. In the game Kanban EV, the factory manager, Sandra, is named after his wife. His favorite designers are Martin Wallace, who artfully combines history and game design, and Stefan Feld, who incorporates dice into games in magical ways. He recommended researching themes you like thoroughly, extensively playtesting, and spending two to three years creating each game while avoiding chasing trends. Attendees asked numerous questions about his games, to which Lacerda responded enthusiastically.

Vital Lacerda answered questions during the special stage interview
On the second day, Jun Kusaba, the founder and former organizer of Game Market, organized a local game area featuring 投扇興 (Tōsenkyō), a traditional game in which players throw a folding fan at a target on a stand in an attempt to knock it down. Other local games included Goita (from Noto, Ishikawa Prefecture), Go-nin-Kan (from Aomori Prefecture), Hikone Carrom (from Shiga Prefecture), Unsun Karuta (from Kumamoto Prefecture), Ita Karuta (from Hokkaido Prefecture), Tou Hachi Ken (from Tokyo Prefecture), Yasugi Ken (from Shimane Prefecture), and Ban-Sugoroku Backgammon (from Kyoto Prefecture).

In contrast, the used board game flea market area, one of the highlights of this Game Market, had few participants and was deserted. This reflects the changing times, considering that the early Game Market focused on recycling used games.

Tōsenkyō was played in the local game area, with masters demonstrating their fan-tossing skills
At the 本当に面白いユーロゲームの世界 ("Really Fun World of Euro Games") booth, visitors could play famous games and receive instructions for free. All six tables were almost always full. I spent the entire afternoon of the second day here teaching Sky Team. It was a pity that Sugorokuya, the publisher of the Japanese edition of the game, was not present at this Game Market.

A bonus supplement for pre-orders of 本当に面白いインディーボードゲームの世界 vol.1 ("Really Fun World of Indie Board Games Vol. 1") was distributed at the booth
Mike DiLisio, from the YouTube channel The Dice Tower, visited Game Market for the first time as a guest. He helped promote the English edition of ito, as well as crowdfunding projects from Japan.

The wish list he showed me was not a list of games he was asked to purchase, but rather a list of games he wanted. Using translation sites, he found information and uploaded photos of the games he booked and bought. He said trick-taking games particularly attracted attention. Vital Lacerda also mentioned this. If the cards are language-free, then in many cases, someone would upload English rules.

Mike DiLisio mentioned how impressed he was by the passion and dedication of the creators, which can be felt in the small number of indie games released at the Game Market.

Mike DiLisio shared his personal wish list. He said it would be great if games purchased at the venue could be shipped overseas from there.
The Game Market Management Office has announced the dates for the next two Game Markets. Game Market 2025 Autumn will be held on November 22 (Sat) and 23 (Sun), and Game Market 2026 Spring will be held on May 23 (Sat) and 24 (Sun).

I left Makuhari Messe. See you again in November!
Report 2: The Games

Over five hundred new titles were released at Game Market 2025 Spring, held over two days, May 17 and 18, at Makuhari Messe in Chiba. Here are some of the titles that caught my eye while I was walking around the venue. The game title is followed by the publisher/group name in parentheses. Some of these titles are still available after Game Market, so try searching for them if you are interested.

▪️ Trick-Taking Games

In Quashars (from Kentaiki), players each look at their hand and predict how many times they can fulfill the four conditions presented at the beginning of the game.
In Lunar Trick (from SYNKA Games), the suits and trump are determined by the numbers on the initial cards played. The objective is to win an odd number of tricks in each round.
In Tsumooo! (from PaixGUILD), players create their hand and draw decks for each trick. Players can also draw from other players' decks to fulfill the tricks they have declared they would win.
In My Own Sunny Day (from Mashikamaru), players perform the "open the umbrella" and "close the umbrella" actions during tricks. The goal is to win an equal number of tricks before and after these actions.
In Angelian (from Hugame), players play cards face down and declare which cards they played. If a player's bluff is challenged and revealed, they lose points. However, depending on each player's situation, blatant lies are sometimes accepted because the victory condition changes.
In Bargain Rush (from Shima Games Lab), players play cards of suits other than those played in previous tricks (if available), while aiming to collect a single suit.
▪️ Climbing/Shedding Games

Tabletop Climber (from Hallelujah Rockboy) is a card-shedding game inspired by Fischen. In each round, players draw powerful reinforcement cards. However, the lower your rank, the more cards you can draw.
In Ratel (from 6jizoGames), once everyone has passed, you draw or discard cards based on the card you played. The stronger the card, the fewer cards you lose.
In PAYBACK (from Spieldisorder), rather than playing against the card played by the previous player, each player plays against the card they played in their previous turn. When a hand is made, some of the cards in it are launched to the left or right, disrupting the other players.
In Inchiki Daifugō ("Cheating Daifugō") (from Shinohara Yugi Juko), you can play a number of cards of the same color that match the lowest-rank card with a strength equal to that of the highest-rank card in them. The card "2" can also be played sideways as a "12".
▪️ Poker Games

In Mushroom Sort (from Ayatsurare Ningyoukan), players deduce and take face-down cards in front of them to form stronger poker hands. The arrangement of the cards and the colors on the back of the cards help players deduce them.
Style of Texas (from Saispiel) is a Texas Hold'em game with two cards in hand and a betting limit. Effective hands and card strength are determined by community cards, which are added one at a time.
▪️ Auction Games

In 拉麺競競/"Ramen Seri Seri" (from Taro Koubou), players compete to grab toppings through simultaneous blind bidding in order to complete recipes. The money spent in the auction is then shared among the other players.
Jams-Taking (from Atobor Games) is an auction game with trick-taking elements. Players use money cards to gather the members needed to create songs. Players can increase their betting money even by taking on debt.
▪️ Word Games

クソデカ短歌/"Extraordinary Tanka" (from Azb.Studio) is a word game in which players combine exaggerated words to create tanka poems on an extraordinary scale.
In Marlo's Holiday (from SpiralAI), players take turns talking with the AI-powered Princess Marlo on their smartphone up to two minutes. They use topic and keyword cards to guide the conversation. Players' scores are determined by how much they make the princess enjoy their conversation.
Familta (from Todonotsumari), released in spring 2024, is a karuta game in which players race to take a family member card, which is determined by combining two cards. For example, for the combination of the cards "son's" and "son", take "grandchild".
▪️ Race Games

In Icefall (from Smart Ape Games), players engage in simultaneous blind bidding while trying not to cancel each other out. They each control a pair of sibling climbers who scale an ice wall. You can create shortcuts by having one sibling climb first and using screws to pull the other up.
White Runner (from White Runner) is a cross-country ski race game in which you choose ski cards for animals with different characteristics and move forward based on the total dice roll. Choose cards that are suitable for the current speed and slope.
▪️ 3D Games

Quattle (from KYO-DO GAMES) is a two-player game in which players each stack cubes to create ordered patterns when viewed from their side.
Sky Totems (from Mirror House) is a 3D component game in which players stack pedestal cubes to place totems, gain various abilities, and compete for points with their altars. The game received 230 pledges on Kickstarter.

Tales of Kunugi (from Frenchy Kuma) is a dexterity game in which players attach branches to a tree trunk and adorn it with decorations to achieve their personal goals.
Funeral Staff (from Pentasufide Studio), released in autumn 2024, is a press-your-luck dexterity game in which players stack meeples representing corpses and transport them to the neighboring box.
▪️ Thematic Games

In Board Game Creators (from Sutekina Yama), players battle for majority control over the elements that make up board games (mechanisms, artwork, theme, and components). Then they compete to sell all copies of their games at the "Board Game Market."
In the self-published 今日、僕が船を出さない理由/"The Reason I'm Not Sailing Today", players roll dice to collect fish. However, each time you catch a fish, the environment deteriorates. If you don't take adequate breaks to rest the waters, the number of fish you can catch decreases.
▪️ Euro Games and Others

Ukiyo-e (from Sato Familie) is a remake of Michael Schacht's two-player set-collection game, Crazy Chicken, from 2003. The card composition was modified and this game now accommodates up to four players.
In the self-published POLYGOM, players battle for territory by moving pins and capturing territories divided by rubber bands.
In Alfheim Fairies (from COLON ARC), players arrange tiles in front of them to form patterns and lure fairies. While the fairies are worth points, they also block spaces, so it is important to carefully consider where to place them.
Kodoku (from SHAKE UP GAMES) is a dice game in which players predict the rules chosen by the leader. Players then roll one of their dice, which have varying numbers of sides, to compete for the best roll. Players base their predictions on the leader's dice, but the leader may trick them.
See You in 10 Years (from Mysboard Games) is a co-operative game in which players follow clues and card instructions to exchange cards in front of them, aiming to get the same combination as everyone else.
Irozato (from sarusuberi) is a 30- to 60-minute worker-placement and set-collection game. Players try to determine the preferences of a Tayu, a top-ranking courtesan, and create kimonos that match those preferences.
Brasilia 1955 (from Yirli'kumde) is a 60- to 90-minute strategy game in which players draft combinations of cards and actions to construct buildings in the new capital and earn points.
Kafuna (from OLD GAME CYCLE), released in autumn 2024, is a territory-building game in which players play cards of the same color or character to place tokens and compete for group and terrain points.
Aqua Garden, Sky Garden, and Dino Garden (from uchibacoya) is a trilogy starting with the hit game Aqua Garden. The Kickstarter campaign for the trilogy will begin later in 2025.
Compress, Lose Well, and Black Candle (from Panpas) are new titles from Jun Sasaki of Oink Games and his family.