Steam Up serves up a dim sum board game for Chinese immigrant families

Many Americans associate Sunday brunch with waffles and pancakes. They also enjoy bacon and eggs. But for my family, and millions of Chinese immigrants, Sunday brunch means just one thing: It’s time for some dim sum. There’s a new game called Steam Up: Dim Sum Feast, published by Hot Banana Games, has adapted the tradition of dim sum — small portions of flavorful food steamed inside bamboo baskets — into a novel new board game. While it’s not the first tabletop game to center Chinese traditions at its core, it offers one of the most endearing board game experiences I’ve had in a long time.

It just so happens that the launch of Steam Up coincided neatly with my 婆婆, or grandmother, Belle Yee’s birthday celebration in Vancouver, where the game was made. My mother Brenda Ford and my cousin Eric Lee joined me, along with my cousin Kimberley, Kimberley’s husband Sing Yue Lam, to play a few games. Steam Up — an appetizer, if you will — before the big birthday dinner. We found a deceptively simple game, with a lot of moving pieces to track.

It looks just like the dim sum tables at restaurants, complete with steamers that hold the pieces, and a turntable. The player’s turn is to choose between two options: choosing a dim sum token; drawing a card of fortune and rotating the table if desired; playing a card and rotating the table if desired; swapping two cards for one token or purchasing a steamer using tokens that match exactly the pieces within.

A player scores points if they buy a steamer. The characters receive different points for the different dim sums. At the end of each round, fate cards are drawn, with their effects resolved. After each steamer is purchased, a tracker counts down, and once the tracker reaches the end — or all fate cards have been drawn — the game ends, and the player with the most points wins.

Photo: Hot Banana Games

Steam UpThe standard edition and the deluxe version are available. There are only minor differences in the aesthetics. The Deluxe Edition replaces the flat tokens of punch cards with wooden ones, and prints both characters and scoreboards on a higher quality cardstock. Most importantly, it replaces all flat pieces of dim sum punch cards with rubber dim-sum squishies.

The squishies deserve highlighting, as they delighted all the members of my family, especially my 婆婆, who quickly recognized siu mai (pork dumpling), lo mai gai (sticky rice), har gow (shrimp dumpling), fung zao (chicken feet, but literally translated as “phoenix claws”), and char siu bao (pork buns). These premium squishy pieces were more useful than cardboard chits. It was much easier to pick them up from the bag, and move them around during the game than it was with the flat pieces. Even my 103-year-old 婆婆 found the squishies easy to handle.

Kimberley and Sing Yue were forced to leave the room when their 2-year-old son tried repeatedly to grab at them. They’d probably be in his stomach without intervention — they just look that good.

The family was also delighted, especially my 婆婆, by the manual and the game layout. Some of dim sum’s customs, like serving tea to others before yourself, are described. The artwork is also stunning and cute, and my 婆婆 loved flipping through the manual and seeing the dim sum stereotypes that make up the various characters you can play — the loyal customer, the food blogger, or the seafood lover to name a few. Each character is associated with one of 12 Chinese animals.

Unfortunately, the complexity of the game also meant my 婆婆 wasn’t able to directly take part. The turntable, fortune cards and fate cards all had a lot of different effects. We had to go back and check for effects we missed, particularly fate cards. Second, the design of the game was a problem. Eric, who was the only person to use it efficiently, was the one that was able to do so. My mother and I were deprived of steamers when we needed them at certain key points.

Steamers and dim-sum squishies can also be fussy. While the squishies were easier to handle and definitely better aesthetically, they could cause steamers to tip if squishies weren’t placed perfectly inside. Steamers can also cling to each other and spill dim sum.

Ultimately, my mother emerged victorious with her “loyal customer” character quickly adding up bonus points, which is tied to one of the game’s issues. Some characters are easier to play. They are marked by a teacup symbol to indicate that they are easy to play.

Steam UpThe show is aimed at Chinese-Americans. The familiarity of dim sum squishies and the character archetypes is something that felt welcoming, especially to 婆婆, who pronounced it “very cute” and “just like real dim sum” — even if competitive eating flies in the face of real-life Chinese politeness.

Steam UpIt’s a little niche, but the Kickstarter success of this project shows that its creators are adept at creating niche products. We were satisfied with the overall experience, but we are eager to sample more of its many variations. In short, it’s the quintessential dim sum experience.

Dim Sum Steam-UpThe Deluxe Edition is currently available. If you’re intrigued by it, opt for the Deluxe Edition at $66. Although the current stock is sold out, there should be more available to pre-order in the near future. Standard Edition feels less special, and you will only save a little money with $47.