Hawker Wars and the Rise of Food-Themed Tabletop Card Games
Alex J. Coyne © Gifts for Card Players 2026
Food and card games are two things that can always bring people together around the same table whether they’re friends or foes: it’s no surprise that there’s a crossover between card games and games about food!
Singapore is an area particularly known for its street food, and it’s given rise to some of the most interesting games you could hope to play. Hawker Wars and Durian Dash are uniquely fun incorporating speed and strategy while also testing your knowledge about food.
Starting with Hawker Wars by SYNT Studios, here are some of the best food-themed tabletop card games on the market.
Know Your Food
Pre-existing knowledge of Singaporean food and terms isn’t a requirement for playing most of the games on this list. Singapore’s tabletop and card design scene has exploded in recent years, a phenomenon seen in both regional board games and the Virts’ Singapore cardistry revolution. Whether learning regional slang or mastering dish combinations, these games offer a smooth learning curve for every player.
If you’d still like to read up about some of the dishes and ingredients, you can try the searchable Singapore Food Dictionary.
If you might want to cook some authentically Singaporean dishes, visit MySingaporeFood or Singaporean and Malaysian Recipes.
One more thing: slang terms and various local-isms can be looked up at Singlish.
Have fun!
Hawker Wars
Singapore is famous for its street food scene, and it has become so synonymous with Singaporean culture that its industry is recognized by UNESCO.
Hawker Wars is the game of street food cuisine, where players take on the role of street food vendors to compete with others. Players first must choose a hawker card which designates one of four food categories (Chinese, Indian, Malay, Or International).
Each turn, players will draw cards for ingredients and dishes. Players can also draw cards to improve their own game, or worsen their opponent’s odds. Some of these cards include, most creatively, bad reviews and power outages.
Can your food be the best? Published by Indi Game Publishers SYNT Studio, known for creating and publishing local card games like The Singaporean Dream and Hawker Wars, SYNT Studio specializes in game design, IP licensing, and experience activation aimed at connecting people and communities.
[YT: How to Play Hawker Wars: Easy Tips & Tricks]
Singapore Shiok Food Card Game
Shiok is a Singaporean term that means delicious or fantastic.
The Singapore Shiok Food Card Game is predominantly a guessing or memory game, and players have to guess out of 50 local Singaporean dishes for them to be the winner.
If you know anyone who is particularly great at food trivia, this might be the game for them.
Can you tell Satay from Laksa?
Chope! The Card Game
Chope means to reserve your seat, usually by placing something like a napkin on top to indicate that someone’s already sitting there. This might also help to explain exactly why this food-related game has a pack of napkins on its cover art!
Chope! The Card Game is best introduced with its own description:
“Singaporeans love to eat.
But where there is love, there is war.
Seize your food and capture your table in this fast-paced family game! We always want one more plate, but will you be able to chope tables before the other players? Or will the dreaded mynahs foil your plans again?”
Imagine a game of musical chairs, but without the music, and with other players trying to claim your seat. It’s like a busy gathering made into a card game, and it turns out that it’s a lot of good fun.
Oh, and this is a mynah bird.
[YT: I’m a Chicken, Says This Talking Mynah Bird]
I Love Hawker Food
I Love Hawker Food is another great guessing game that tests your knowledge of Singaporean food – but it can also be used to learn more about Singaporean food if you’re a beginner.
Available from Rysel Toys, this is meant for 1 to 10 players: it’s the perfect game if you aren’t sure how many players will show up.
Happy Dim Sum
The term dim sum originates from Cantonese, and means “to touch the heart,” while the dish itself often refers to dumplings of which you could guess there are different types.
Happy Dim Sum is a game for 2 to 5 players where the goal is to feed your friends while filling your own hand. Very creative, the game has a feel of being competitive without being too competitive. (We all know someone who is a horrible person at Monopoly.)
You can find Happy Dim Sum from Capital Gains Studio.
Here’s how to play:
[YT: How to Play: Happy Dim Sum]
Hotpot Havoc
Hotpot Havoc was made by Mercat Games, the same studio who made the convenience store-themed dice game Check Out!
In the case of Hotpot Havoc, 2 to 5 players have to choose their eating utensils – “which will give points based on the amount of food you put inside it.”
Here’s how to play it:
[YT: How to Play: Hotpot Havoc]
Oh, and here’s what you should know about a hotpot if you’d like to try it yourself.
Durian Dash
The Durian could easily be one of the most notorious Asian fruit: it’s known for its custard-like taste, but accompanied by a smell that’s often described as musty socks.
Most of the world’s fruit only hate you with their outsides: pineapples have spikes, coconuts have hard exteriors, but the durian has both spikes and eminates hatred from the inside.
However, the taste is worth it.
Watch Uyen Ninh about the hidden secrets of durian:
In case you’d like to try it for yourself, Year of the Durian has a handy online durian buying guide – including where to find the King of Fruits.
Durian Dash is available from Origame, where players have to collect durians to win the game while watching out for other players’ spikes. (Yup, we told you durians are spiky.)
