Happy Hawker Card Game

 

Game Rules

 

Following the launch of the Singapore Bicentennial this year, the commemoration kicks off a year-long series of events marking the 200th anniversary of the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech in 2018 said that the island's rich hawker culture will be nominated by the Republic for inscription into Unesco's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. He said that putting Singapore's hawker culture on the list of intangible cultural heritage will "help to safeguard and promote this unique culture for future generations. It will also let the rest of the world know about our local food and multicultural heritage."

Singapore's hawker culture is a reflection of our multicultural society. It serves as "community dining rooms", where friends and families interact and bond over their shared love for food. They also serve as vibrant communal spaces that promote social cohesion and foster a common national identity.

In this respect, SCCL has formulated a table top activity known as the "Happy Hawker Card Game" to promote local hawker cuisines.

 

Card Game Materials

Each game pack consists of a deck of 36 cards illustrating 9 different types of Singapore Hawker Cuisines. Each hawker cuisine is represented by 4 cards – 1 card is illustrated with a complete picture of the dish, with 3 other cards illustrating the matching ingredients. The 9 cuisine selections are:

1. Chicken Rice, Ingredients (1: Rice; 2: Chicken meat; 3: Cucumber)
2. Laksa, Ingredients (1: Noodle & Soup; 2: Egg & Taupok; 3: Shrimp & Fish cake)
3. Nasi Lemak, Ingredients (1: Coconut rice; 2: Egg & cucumber; 3: Ikan bilis & peanuts)
4. Beverages, Ingredients (1: Milo; 2: Bandung; 3: Coffee)
5. Fried Hokkien Mee, Ingredients (1: Noodle; 2: Prawns; 3: Lime & Chilli)
6. Satay, Ingredients (1: Skewers; 2: Sauce; 3: Cucumber & Onions)
7. Nasi Briyani, Ingredients (1: Rice; 2: Cucumber & Rendang Curry; 3: Chicken thigh)
8. Parent-child creation – 4 cards
9. Parent-child creation – 4 cards

 

Number of players
2-4 players, ideally 4 players.

 

How to play the game?
Emulating the Happy Family Card Game, our Happy Hawker Card Game aims to promote the Singapore multicultural heritage and incorporates the unique traditional cuisines of the different ethnic groups into the theme of the game.

Method 1: Request method

Gameplay：

Step 1: The dealer deals out all the cards so that every player gets an equal number of cards. The player to the left of the dealer will start the game by asking any players for the card needed to complete the cuisine.

Step 2: If the asked player has the card, he must produce the card to the requester.

Step 3: The requester could then ask the 3rd player for any missing card. If the asked player does not hold the missing card, he will reply "no" and the 1st player would have to discontinue his request. The 3rd player will then commence with his round of requests.

Step 4: Before requesting for any missing cuisine card, the requester must first hold a card to the corresponding cuisine.

Step 5: When all the 4 matching cards have been collected, the player must display them on the table for all the players to see.

Step 6: The game will end when the cards of all the 9 cuisines have been matched. The player who collected the most number of matched cuisine cards will be the winner.

  
Method 2: Draw Card method

Gameplay：

Step 1: The dealer deals out all the cards so that every player gets an equal number of cards. The player to the left of the dealer will start the game by drawing a card from the player to his left.

Step 2: The rest of the players will proceed to draw a card from the player to his left and so on.

Step 3: When a player has collected all the 4 matching cards, the player must display them on the table for the rest to see.

Step 4: The game will end when the cards of all the 9 cuisines have been matched. The player who collected the most number of matched cuisine cards will be the winner.

 

Method 3: Memory matching method

Gameplay：

Step 1: The dealer shuffles the 36 cards and lay them faced-down on the table (6 x 6 layout).
Step 2: The player to the left of the dealer goes first and the play then moves clockwise.
Step 3: On his turn, each player turns over 2 cards from the face-down pile. When the 2 cards matches the same cuisine, he may take the cards away. Otherwise, he would have to face down the cards in their original positions.
Step 4: The game will end when all the cards have been taken. The player who collected the most number of matched cuisine cards will be the winner.

Step 5: The game could also be simplified by selecting only 2 matching cards corresponding to each cuisine, and lay them faced-down on the table (6 x 3 layout). The gameplay remains the same.

 

Method 4: Simplified Request method

Gameplay：

Step 1: Only the 9 complete-cuisine cards will be used in this game. The dealer deals out all the cards so that every player gets 3 cards. The player to the left of the dealer will start the game by requesting any player for the card he wants.

Step 2: If the asked player has the card, he must produce the card to the requester.

Step 3: The requester could then ask the 3rd player for another card. If the asked player does not hold the card, he will reply "no" and the 1st player would have to discontinue his request. The 3rd player will then commence with his round of requests.

Step 4: During the gameplay, if the requester successfully collected his desired card, he would have to lay it on the table for all the players to see.

Step 5: The game will end when all the 9 complete cuisine cards have been collected. The player who collected the most number of complete-cuisine cards will be the winner.