The official SGS Magazine 桌游志

I'm back! Before I start posting about the SP characters (which was a lot of trouble to get my hands on the originals), I thought I would tell you a bit about an interesting event which occurred while I was in Beijing.

If you have been keeping up to date with SGS happenings, you would definitely have heard about the new set of characters known as "SP" characters. These character cards are only available when you purchase the magazine called 桌游志 (Board-Games Periodical).

Here's an image of the September issue found on the net.

It looks like any other magazine with some random cutey on the cover, but the SGS fanatic would be able to spot the finer details.

For example: Which character is the cover model cosplaying as? 
(Hint: She's an Official SGS character.)



Answer: Sun Shang Xiang 孙尚香 "SP" Version 


So what's the big hoo-haa about this magazine?

If you've ever gotten your hands on the magazine, you would be stunned by the amount of info dedicated to SGS. The first time I flipped through it, I was stunned that over 60% of the issue was related to SGS in one way or another. Here are a few bits from the September issue.

- Unofficial Game rules (Some of which are very interesting and I will post up a translation)
- Q&A about character trivia (such as why Cao Zhi 曹植 looks like a female in the drawing) answered by the game makers themselves.
- Q version comic strip
- In-depth write-up about Sun Shang Xiang
- Interview with the cute covergirl
- etc.

June issue 2011, Zhen Ji 甄姬 cosplay

In short, I was impressed to say the least.

Since I happened to be nearby Beijing, I thought I would go look them up at their magazine HQ. It was not easy to find them, but the team that met me were incredibly hospitable and warm. As you can probably guess, the magazine is run by a team of staff no older than 40, their office dotted by scattered drafts and tools typical of a high-energy start-up.

I like them already.

It was just a first-time "Hello" and we basically just exchanged views, but I'm happy to say that there is a possibility of this magazine coming into the South East Asia region. Not sure about North America or Australia yet, since the magazine is 100% in Chinese.

All in all, it was great fun meeting the team at Zhuo You Zhi magazine and hopefully all the readers will be able to benefit from their great work.

For my part, that simply means more translations to do.

Up next... SP Characters! Look forward to them!

Have fun and 杀!