Meeples Café
Pandemic Party Profile: Meeples - European Boardgame Café
by Ken Tidwell, 5 December 2014
Meeples may well be one of the cutest little gaming cafes in the world. This bustling hive of gaming happiness will not be satisfied with one day of Pandemic Partying. Nor even two! Their party will crank up on December 6 and carry on through the end of January!Meeples Café is in Subang Jaya, Malaysia - a suburb about 20 miles outside Kuala Lumpur. The neighborhood boasts six colleges. And the kids have discovered board games!Log Cheng and Jing Jing Yew, the owners of Meeples, discovered their first board game - Settlers of Catan - back in 2009, when they were on holiday in Melbourne, Australia. They started the cafe a few months later with the aim of bringing a new, fun, healthy, and socially engaging entertainment to the Malaysian public, especially the younger generations. Log handles PR, business development, and social outreach while Jing deals with hiring for the cafe and managing their distribution business. They have a staff of play coordinators who can teach more than 400 games to visitors. And Meeples is the largest distributor of board games in Malaysia, too. They work hard - Log emailed me at 5:00am his time, still up from the night before!
And all the hard work pays off. Visitors are mainly casual players who see it as a social entertainment outing
(similar to going for a movie, or sport). 90% of the visitors are young adults ranging from 16 to 30. The cafe is also a popular site for company team building events. They host kids’ birthdays and family gatherings, too.Before Meeples Cafe, the general perspective of board gaming in Malaysia was very traditional and a bit boring - Monopoly, Risk, Chess, Snake & Ladders, and such. Now, going to Meeples for board gaming is a happening activity. Visitors proudly share photos and comments on their Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.The Pandemic Party will be Meeples Café’s first charity event. They’ve gone all out: decorated with posters, printed the new roles and scenario cards, and laid in a fresh stock of Pandemic and Pandemic: The Cure.When asked about Ebola, Log said, “I’m less concerned about an Ebola global outbreak. But more concerned about the people who are dealing/fighting with the virus now in Africa (the patients & the doctor etc.). I’m glad we can help with the Pandemic Parties!”Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) agrees,
In all three of the worst-affected countries, there are still not adequate facilities in which to diagnose and care for patients, and there are major gaps in all other elements of the response. In Liberia, most of the operational beds are concentrated in the capital Monrovia, while remote rural areas are benefiting from little international support. In Sierra Leone, there are still not enough additional case management facilities for the increasing number of infections across the country: most patients currently in MSF’s case management centres (CMCs)[2] in Bo and Kailahun come from other districts. In Guinea, there are only a handful of CMCs open and running, eight months after the epidemic was declared. Across the region, there are major gaps in all other elements of the response. Only a small number of international actors are carrying out these activities and not all of the affected areas are covered.
Join in the fun at the Pandemic Party hosted by Meeple Café
... and don't forget to donate on our donation page!
How can you expect to win if you don't play?
Pandemic Party
December 6, 2014 through January 31, 2015
Meeples - European Boardgame Café
64-1, Jalan SS15/4D
47500 Subang Jaya
Selangor, Malaysia
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/63wFk
The party announcement: https://www.facebook.com/events/784129188318146
Twitter: https://twitter.com/meeplescafe
Website: http://www.meeples.com.my/
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/klboardgames/
Want to have your upcoming party profiled? Let us know via Facebook, Twitter, or email us at pandemicparties@gmail.com