Recognizing the absence of authentic Asian-themed games created by Asian designers, Pauline & Marie founded Hot Banana Games to bridge cultural gaps and foster understanding through board games. Their mission is to craft culturally rich games that evoke nostalgia or ignite curiosity about Asian culture, delivering more meaningful and engaging experiences to every table.
Their first board game, Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum, raise over half a million dollars on Kickstarter and was a fusion between their passion for cherished family traditional meal and the board gaming hobby.
Pauline Kong is a Canadian-born Hong Kong girl. She grew up playing Atari and Nintendo games such as Super Mario and Zelda on gameboy to playing Mahjong, Gomoku, and Novuss. Her day job is an ICU and ADC nurse. She is also a retired magician/producer as her focus has been shifted over to board gaming with her interest towards worker placement games like Lords of Waterdeep & polygamino games like Planet Unknown.
Marie Wong was born in Hong Kong and raised in Canada. Her day job is a UI/UX designer with skills that can easily transition to use in board game design. She grew up playing Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, and many other JRPGs on PlayStation. Her addictions to board games started after Pauline introduced Carcassonne to her. Her favourite type of games are tile placement and occasionally Euro games such as the classic Castles of Burgundy!
You can check out their newest Kickstarter for Moon Bunny here: Moon Bunny
