Mysterious Territory

Photo by Magda Ehlers: Source:

The English version is tranlate by ChatGPT, I will fix it later.

This should be my second time working in Taoyuan.

The first time I came was because of a job assignment at a music school. At that time, I was assigned by the boss to work between two different branches. Honestly, I found it quite interesting and got to know different store employees and guitar teachers. I’m not sure if I had my own biases, but I always felt that musicians were a bit eccentric, unconventional, and their attitudes often changed when it came to their preferences, which always piqued my interest and led me to chat with them.

Sometimes when I look back on that period, I can’t be sure if it was a happy and joyful time or if I was just trying to escape and find another way. But I am grateful that during that short period, I met various people with different personalities, adding some color to my memories.

This time, after a gap of a few months, the nature of the work is different, and it’s the hot summer season.

I got off at Zhongli train station in Taoyuan, just like before. In an unfamiliar place, I wasn’t sure if Taoyuan’s buses were as convenient as those in Taipei, so I foolishly walked from the train station to the meeting place. Fortunately, it wasn’t too hot that day, and even with the time spent finding the meeting location, it took about half an hour to reach the venue.

It had been four months since I bid farewell to the former store manager. My memories of that time are not very vivid, except that there weren’t many customers at the store. On weekdays, cute college students came in to chat, and on weekends, I had a stronger board game partner than me - Ah Fu, who helped me handle the challenges during busy times, and he helped me accumulate the board game experience I lacked for work.

This meeting was not just about routine matters; it also included new products recently launched by the manufacturer. In fact, it was a place for newcomers like me to continuously build experience.

The tabletop gaming industry in Taiwan has a unique scenario where manufacturers call meetings with distributors. The meetings usually involve conveying recent updates and changes from the manufacturer, responding to industry events, and most of the time, introducing more products awaiting sale to downstream distributors.

In fact, similar situations occur in other industries. However, in most cases, they organize promotional events before new product launches and call downstream manufacturers to promote their products, hoping to increase sales. In contrast, tabletop gaming meetings with distributors are held monthly. At least, based on my limited experience, it’s the first time I’ve heard of and experienced such a practice in my life.

Even though this was my third time attending manufacturer meetings, I couldn’t help feeling a bit impatient, especially as it took about half an hour to walk there from the train station. I asked with what I thought was a polite tone but was quite naive, “Why choose such an inconvenient location for the meeting?”

Our cute business contact, Mr. Shu-Tun, answered confidently, “To help everyone get to know different stores!”

In my mind, I thought, “Is that really necessary? Seriously!?”

Unfortunately, the boss of the meeting venue happened to be standing nearby, and I realized I must have said something wrong. The situation became a bit awkward, so I quickly moved to another spot.

I fled to observe three different games at a table, facing strangers I didn’t know, always my first choice when I’m uncertain.

“This game is ‘The Witch’s Brew,’ a game that’s out of print. There are some printing errors in the game, so please remember that.” Another business representative began to explain the gameplay and content of the game step by step. I only remember realizing later that it was a game that messed up other players—a “good” game. You can try to accumulate points in various ways or try to become the maddest dog that makes everyone else miserable.

As we sat at our table, filled with laughter, I glanced sneakily at the adjacent table, watching a large box of a tabletop game that made my heart itch. With several games tried and tested, I confidently walked over to the next table, full of self-assurance in my understanding of the game, waiting for the business representative to explain the game’s content.

“Clank, clank… clank, clank…”

With the sound of the electric train’s friction on the railway, the night gradually descended. The train was gradually filled with students and office workers, and the unique summer smell permeated the carriage, slowly interrupting my thoughts.

“Oh my! It’s getting so late,” I thought. Holding a tabletop game box larger than my bag, I looked at each station as the train made its stops. My mind couldn’t focus, and I was still trying to figure out what had just happened.

I think it must have been around 3 or 4 in the afternoon when I finally had the chance to play after the previous group finished. As I looked at their expressions, some appeared inexplicably tired, some were full of enthusiasm, and some were deep in thought.

I watched them, feeling a sense of unease creeping up my throat. However, curiosity

followed suit, pushing unease down. I tried to convince myself: “It’s just a game, what’s there to be afraid of?” With decades of confidence in my love for games, I quickly reassured myself.

The business representative, Mr. Chih-Tu (without a horse), began to introduce the game to us. I don’t remember exactly what he said, as he spent about half an hour explaining the rules, and my focus, like a deer in the headlights, had already gone who knows where.

“Oh my! What is he talking about?” I kept mumbling in my head, and no matter how hard I tried to concentrate, I couldn’t grasp what was going on. I eventually gave up and used the most common phrase I’ve heard from customers during my board game career: “You’ll understand once you play.” It was a feeble excuse to mask my dwindling mental stamina.

As you might guess, “You’ll understand once you play” is not a suitable excuse for heavy strategy games. In reality, I had to reconfirm the rules step by step with the guidance of the business representative, and even after confirming the rules, I still had no idea what I was doing.

I knew the game was about winning and scoring points, much like a chess game where you try to checkmate your opponent’s king. The problem was, it was like practicing archery. Even if you have a target, you know you need to hit the bullseye to score high. But when you draw the bow, give it your all, and release the arrow, you find that every arrow hits the bullseye perfectly. If only the bullseye was made of air.

To truly understand and remember how to play the game, it took about an hour. And as we entered the second hour, I began to realize that this was a resource management game, not just random digging around the board to win.

And that’s how “Clank!” became my first tabletop gaming nightmare. It entered my life and triggered two new perspectives on the way I run a tabletop game store.

First, never recommend heavy strategy games casually in the store. Second, the revenue source for a tabletop game store should come from the party crowd, mainly college students and working professionals looking for a place to relax.

As I contemplated these thoughts on the train, along with the challenge of hiding this oversized game in the store as a game to avoid teaching, I was actively seeking excuses to escape this unbearable tabletop game trial.

To be continued…