My Virtual Kopitiam

I recently discovered something fun on the internet. It was actually advertised as one of the advertisements on my Adsense, and being the games buff I have always been, couldn't resist clicking the link and found out what it is all about.

It is a sort of management game, which from the look, feel and theme of it, I gather is created by a Malaysian. Malaysia Boleh! and bravo for that. It never ceases to amaze me the things the people in this country are capable of conjuring up, and this game is something quite to marvel about. I mean for a game that you can play online for FREE, I was somehow expecting a game with lousy interface and very poor playability. Well, it IS a management game so there's not much you can ask in terms of playability than the game already offers. I am no games expert but the game's options and variety of play can be rather addictive once you got the hang of how it is played, which also isn't that hard to learn.

The game is called iKopitiam, and the idea is to start and run a kopitiam (which is really a Malaysian-styled cafe or coffee-house. Like Starbucks or Coffee Bean, with an old all-Malaysian, village flavour to it) in a kampung area initially, with the option of expanding the size of it and eventually moving the whole kopitiam to an industrial area for the ultimate business expansion. You have the option of choosing the drinks to sell at your kopitiam, and the types of hawkers to sell food. And money is not the only issue in managing your resources; you also have to consider the space of your kopitiam and a range of other indexes to consider like popularity, cleanliness and the rate of services the kopitiam needs in order to staff it efficiently. I've only discovered the game late Friday night and have gone on to create my own virtual kopitiam called Kopiwan (how original is that?), and I have to say I have been rather hooked playing it since.

The most important aspect of the game it seems is popularity. And among other things, the popularity ratings of a kopitiam can be significantly boosted by VIP visits, which really are virtual visits by friends (or blog readers of mine) and family. You can help me to boost the popularity of my virtual kopitiam by clicking here, or simply click on the 'Visit My iKopitiam' link on the sidebar. You will only be asked to order a drink and a food / service from my kopitiam once you've clicked the link, and presto, my kopitiam's popularity will get a boost!

So come over to my kopitiam. I'm open to suggestions how I can make it better. I am already dreaming of a kopitiam empire in an industrial area!

Virtual kopitiam today. A business empire tomorrow... perhaps!