Singapore just got promoted from side quest to main stage. Bushiroad’s Card Game Festival is being staged outside Tokyo for the first time, and it’s not landing in LA or London. Singapore is the first to host an overseas edition right smack in the middle of Suntec Singapore as part of TableCon Quest 2025.
Following its debut last year, TableCon Quest (TCQ) has tripled its footprint to three halls (403–405) and stacked the schedule with everything from high-stakes tournaments to family-friendly cat painting. Yes, hold that thought, we’ll get to that.
The big flex: Bushiroad bets on Singapore
The Bushiroad Card Game Festival is usually a Tokyo-only affair at Big Sight — a sprawling celebration of its trading card games that mixes large-scale tournaments, demo sessions for newcomers, stage events with anime voice actors and idol performers, and exclusive merchandise drops. Think of it as a hybrid between a serious esports tournament and an anime convention, with over-the-top fan service baked in.
For 2025, the publisher chose Singapore for its first overseas staging — with more than 1,000 players expected to turn up for Cardfight!! Vanguard, Weiß Schwarz (an anime crossover TCG featuring series like Attack on Titan and Re:Zero), Shadowverse: Evolve (the physical spin-off of the hit digital card game) and more.
But Bushiroad is more than just cards — popular voice actresses Yuka Nishio (voice of Rinko Shirokane in BanG Dream!) and Aina Aiba (voice of Yukina Minato in BanG Dream!) are among the confirmed guests, giving fans a slice of its anime-music-idol ecosystem that Japanese fans enjoy.
Beyond Bushiroad: triple the footprint
Bushiroad might understandably grab the headline news, but TCQ’s own zones have multiplied:
- RPG Zone – curated by Geekified Games and Alternative RPG Club, complete with a guided beginner-friendly D&D session (“Ruckus at the Reception”).
- Indie Wavemakers Zone – digital and tabletop indies from Singapore and the region showing off their latest builds.
- Creator’s Zone – fan-requested after 2024, a showcase of handcrafted dice, accessories, and game-adjacent crafts.
- Trader Zone – a safe haven for collectors and their binders, primed for trading and chasing missing foils.
Add to that the Carcassonne Singapore Championship — local qualifier for the tile-laying board game classic, with the winner earning a spot at the World Championships in Essen, Germany — sealed-deck Ultraman Card Game tournaments (where players build decks from booster packs opened on the spot), Blitzminis giving out free Star Wars: Unlimited starter decks, and HammerHouse bringing back Beyblade workshops — and you get the sense TCQ is positioning itself as a genuinely inclusive showcase, stitching together competitive play, nostalgia hits, and quirky side quests under one roof.
Speaking of side quests, the Grand Archive Singapore promo card ties into the rising Grand Archive TCG (a newer trading card game that blends Western fantasy tropes with anime-style art). For Singapore, that means a one-off exclusive: a limited card featuring the Merlion and Marina Bay Sands, available only here.
And if you need a break from dice and decks, there’s paint and plastic. The Knight Cat miniature-painting workshop is exactly what it sounds like — grab a brush, sit down for a session, and walk away with your own painted mascot figure (last year’s Wizard Cat sold out fast, so expect queues). Think Warhammer, minus the grimdark — all the paint-by-hand fun, just with cuter ears. Even if you’ve never touched a mini before, it’s the kind of low-stakes hobby therapy that might surprise you.
The cultural play: analogue in a digital world
In 2025, tabletop gaming is simply another way to bring people together — physically. In a world of algorithmic feeds and on-device AI, a room full of strangers playing Carcassonne or rolling dice in D&D is a reminder that the point of games is still face-to-face fun. That’s also why Bushiroad planting its festival here matters: it’s a vote of confidence in Singapore as a hub where that culture already thrives.
Here’s the part you actually need if you plan to show up:
- Dates & venue: 23–24 August 2025, Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre, Halls 403–405. Doors open 10 am to 8 pm daily.
- Tickets: $18 for a one-day pass (on-site only). Two-day and VIP passes? Online only via Eventbrite. Don’t wander in expecting to upgrade on the spot.
- Sign-ups: Want to try D&D, paint a Knight Cat, or secure your Ultraman sealed slot? Registration is first-come, first-served — links live on tableconquest.com.
- Stamp Rally: Pick up freebies (Star Wars booster packs, playmats, merch) by actually walking the floor. Think of it as a fitness tracker, but with trading cards at the end.
Bring a deck, bring a friend, or just bring your curiosity. At TCQ 2025, there’s always a seat waiting.
