Taiwanese board game invites players to imagine an invasion of China By Reuters

By Fabian Hamacher and Angie Teo

TAIPEI (Reuters) – A new board game set against the backdrop of an armed conflict around Taiwan will be released in January 2025, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to take part in an imaginary Chinese invasion. 20 years from now.

China has increased military activity near democratically-ruled Taiwan in recent years, including a large naval deployment around the island this month.

The new game, called “2045”, deals with players dealing with the challenges of war using colored cards, with role-players stepping into action 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. .

That includes members of Taiwan’s armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians working to undermine the island’s security, as well as citizens who take up arms to defend their homeland.

China claims Taiwan as its own and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. The president of Taiwan and his government strongly oppose the claims of Chinese sovereignty and say that only the people of the island can decide their future.

Taiwanese board game maker Mizo Games began supporting the game in August. In two and a half months, the company had received more than T$4 million (121,966 dollars) to support the project.

“There is no peace around the island of Taiwan and the Western Pacific as we speak,” Chang Shao Lian, founder of Mizo Games told Reuters from his office in Taipei.

Chang said he wants “players to feel that they want to win and think about what they are going to do to win”.

The game, which is also scheduled to be sold in the US and Europe later in the year, has been developed at a time when Taiwanese authorities have strengthened preparations for situations involving war with China.

Last week, Taiwan’s presidential office held its first “table” exercise involving government agencies that go beyond the armed forces, akin to a military escalation with China.

The exercise included conditions, including that the island is “mau and conflict”, to try to prepare government offices and civil society.

Players who took part in the “2045” test said they learned about what could happen if the Chinese were attacked and hoped the game could help people understand the meaning of war.

“I don’t know much about military affairs, so in this game I learned where the army can sit and launch an attack,” said Kalin Lai, a 23-year-old who tried the game.

Mizo has previously created two other Taiwan war board games – one about surviving an air raid in Taipei and another about the bombing of Kaohsiung during the Japanese colonization of the island between 1895 and 1945. ($1 = 32.7960 Taiwan dollars)