Some of his schoolmates were roughhousing each other and, during the scuffle, one of them bumped into an uninvolved student, ruining both his nasi lemak meal and his uniform.
Enraged, the now-involved student did the only thing he could think of, and the nasi lemak packet went flying across the canteen.
In turn, the tasty projectile landed on another student, who threw his own food into the melee. You can easily imagine where things went from there.
This little schoolyard incident would, strangely enough, become deeply embedded in the mind of the aforementioned 13-year-old. Now 32, James Choong has drawn inspiration from this childhood memory for one of his latest projects.
A professional educator, Choong happens to be a game developer on the side. “Kantin Wars” is the name of his newest card game, designed and produced with his team at Classroom Adventures, an education group.
This is the group’s second game, its first being “The Cikgu Life”, a card game that gives players insight into the everyday struggles of Malaysian teachers.
Also an educational game at heart, “Kantin Wars” can be played by teens and young adults alike, who just may chuckle at its juvenile humour.
The goal is to “stay clean” while hurling food at your opponents, and to remain the “cleanest” player by the game’s end. Between four and eight persons can play, and each round lasts up to 15 minutes. (“The shortest game I’ve seen lasted just two minutes,” Chong said.)
The deck is home to 69 cards of three types: food cards, with which you target fellow players; special cards, which allow for certain abilities; and the rare, game-ending teacher card.
In round one, each player will be given three cards. The first player can then play a food card and a special card.
Once you have made all the plays you want, end your turn by drawing a card. You can only have five cards at most.
Each food card has a “mess” value, between one and four, indicated in the top-left corner. When playing a food card, you must first select the player you wish to target. Then, you must roll a six-sided die with four options: left, right, miss, and hit.
Hit and miss mean exactly what they mean. Left and right, however, mean that the player to the left or right of the target will be hit instead.
If playing a food card puts you on the offensive, then playing a special card puts you on the defence. Most of them involve providing yourself a degree of protection, or increasing the chances of your next attacks finding their mark.
Finally, there’s the dreaded teacher card. It can be played at any time and, as soon as a player puts it down, the game is over and whoever is the cleanest wins.
In the event the teacher card never shows up, the game ends when a player is splattered with food cards with a total mess value of 10 or more.
Speaking with FMT Lifestyle, Choong said his interest in game design began as a “fun” side project with his fellow educators.
“It started off as a joke but, as we talked about it, we realised this was something that sounded really cool,” he said.
According to him, the idea for “Kantin Wars” had been formulated in 2017, but the first prototype was only made two years later.
The game is a relatively simple one by design. “We’ve tried it with young kids as well. Primary schoolchildren can pick it up, no problem.”
Choong said this was due to a simple fact: “Malaysians don’t like reading. Every friend group has that one guy who reads the rules and everyone simply depends on him to teach them.”
Hence, he and his team worked to create a game with rules that could be explained and understood in about two minutes. “Throw food, throw a die, and watch what happens!”
Looking to hurl nasi lemak and nuggets at your frenemies? Get your copy of ‘Kantin Wars’ here.