The Quezon City government and The Gaming Library roll a critical hit with the holding of the All aBOARD 2025 Expo sa QC, a four-day celebration of board games and geek culture.

The Gaming Library has been holding board game conventions since 2013, but this is the first time that it has mounted something of this scale.

City Administrator Mike Alimurung, Gaming Library CEO Hans Kenner Fernandez and Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte. Jeeves de Veyra 

During the opening ceremonies, Gaming Library CEO Hans Kenner Fernandez shared his aspiration to make Quezon City the board game capital of Southeast Asia.

Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte responded to this by acknowledging the 8,000 preregistered visitors and projecting that the total number will balloon to 12,000 due to walk-ins.

She also committed to holding this every year in Quezon City as board games align with her advocacy of promoting mental health, alternative entertainment that avoids social media and screens, and encouraging niche tourism.

David Gordon of Asmodee teaches Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte  a new game. Jeeves de Veyra

A gamer herself, she shared that she plays Ticket to Ride and Catan with her family, saying that adults and kids can enjoy the hobby. She stayed at the expo to try out some games and pick up some games at the gift shop at the exit.

The partnership with the Quezon City LGU was very visible. Banners and billboards were seen all throughout the city promoting event with the use of Quezon City’s M.I.C.E. Center inside the LGU complex as the venue. Quezon City residents even get in for free.

The board game community is lucky to have a representative within the QC LGU in the person of City Administrator Mike Alimurung. An avid board gamer himself, there was no better LGU Project Lead to work with than Fernandez and his team. He cited Spiel Essen, the largest global board game convention held yearly in Germany as the inspiration and aspiration for the event.

Journey Pass. Jeeves de Veyra 

With over 300 games from the 18 game publishers in attendance, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all that was to see and play at the expo. A nice touch was the use of Journey Passes and Battle Passes which are like curated to-do, to-visit, and to-play lists.

Special guests from abroad. Jeeves de Veyra 

On hand were visiting of the gaming industry celebrities including Korean game designer Yohan Goh, who recently won the French As d’Or Game Design award for his game Odin; David Gordon and TAM of Asmodee promoting Lego Monkey Palace; and Hiroyoshi Takayashi who was inviting attendees to the 2026 Board Game Business Expo in Osaka.

Manolis Trahiotis of AEG Games. Jeeves de Veyra 

Manolis Trahiotis, licensing director of AEG Games, is a frequent guest of the Gaming Library throughout the years and has seen the rapid growth of the Filipino board game market first-hand.

He attributes the Filipino’s English fluency as most games are published English. For other countries, they must localize the game materials which take a lot of time and money.

He added that the board game scene in other countries like the UK took a much longer time to get to a point where they had a gaming convention with an attendance this large.

Megaladon Games. Jeeve de Veyra 

There were Filipino game publishers and designers, as well, like Megaladon Games showing off their Halo-Halo card game and a pizza card game that they’re prototyping. They had a social role-playing game by Titus Villanueva, and a Dungeons & Dragons module by Cara Vianca Funa which features fighting monsters from Philippine mythology.

Greasy Snitches. Jeeves de Veyra 

Speaking of Dungeons & Dragons, there was a dedicated corner run by the Tabletop RPG Group Greasy Snitches that will be running games for those who’re curious to try it out. The group has turned this passion into a livelihood as they organize large gaming events and even play role-playing games as corporate team building. Look for them on social media (@greasysnitches) to find more info about their regular D&D sessions.

Warhammer miniatures. Jeeves de Veyra 

Besides the games, there were jigsaw puzzles, tournaments, painting of miniatures, and even workshops focusing on leadership and game design. Gaming Library’s full inventory, as well as the games brought over by the exhibitors, were available at the gift shop at the exit.

Gaming coach volunteers. Jeeves de Veyra 

It literally takes a city to mount an event this huge. The Gaming Library got the support of the local community. The volunteer gaming coaches from gaming groups deserve a shout out as they continually called visitors to come to their gaming tables, try out their games, and teach the rules and mechanics of the games. 

Moving forward, Mayor Belmonte announced that Quezon City will be happy to host the event every year. She further cited that they are actively promoting board games starting with the employees of the LGU.

On a much a grander scale, she cited that Quezon City has the youngest population and the largest number of public-school students in the country. She announced an initiative to promote board games, particularly during summer months when the students have nothing to do. 

With all these initiatives, support, and the All aBOARD gaming expos to come, Quezon City will definitely find itself on the world board game map.

The All aBOARD EXPO ‘25 sa QC will be oprm from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day until June 1 at the M.I.C.E. Center inside the Quezon City Hall Complex. Admission is free QC residents with the QC ID, 50 pesos for non-QC residents. Guests are encouraged to pre-register here. Walk-ins are welcome.