A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan will be released in January 2025, inviting players to take part in a hypothetical Chinese invasion 20 years from now, amid renewed threats from Beijing .
China has increased military activity near democratically ruled Taiwan in recent years, including deploying naval forces around the island this month.
The new game, titled “2045”, tasks gamers with dealing with the troubles of war by playing colorful action cards and playing characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
This includes members of Taiwan’s armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents, and pro-China politicians working to sabotage the island’s defense, as well as civilians taking up guns to defend their homeland.
China claims Taiwan as its own and has never refrained from using force to bring the island under its control. The President of Taiwan and his government strongly objected to China’s sovereignty claims and said that only the people of the island can decide their future.
Taiwanese board game maker Mizo Games began crowdfunding for the game in August. Within two and a half months, the company had received more than T$4 million ($121,966) to finance the project.
“As we speak, it is not at all peaceful around the island of Taiwan and the western Pacific,” Chang Shao Lian, founder of Mizo Games, told Reuters in his Taipei office.
Chang said he wanted “the players to feel like they want to win and think about what they’re going to do to win”.
The game, which is also scheduled to go on sale in the US and Europe at the end of the year, has been developed at a time when Taiwanese authorities have stepped up preparations for scenarios including a China conflict.
Last week, Taiwan’s presidential office held its first “tabletop” exercise, involving government agencies beyond the armed forces, simulating a military escalation with China.
The exercise included scenarios including the island being “on the brink of conflict” to test the readiness of government offices and civil society.
Players who participated in testing of “2045” said they learned what could happen in the event of a Chinese invasion and that they hope the game can help people understand the implications of war.
“I’m not very knowledgeable about military matters, so through this game I learned where the army can land and attack,” said Kalin Lai, 23, who tried the game.
Mizo has previously created two other Taiwan war-themed board games – one about surviving air raids in Taipei and the other about the bombing of Kaohsiung during Japan’s colonization of the island between 1895 and 1945.
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