Paper Mario Board Game Locked Away for 20 Years Gets English Translation

A dedicated Paper Mario fan has brought a forgotten piece of the franchise's history back to life. iQue Míngxīng Qí, a board game released exclusively in China and published by iQue, has been translated into English and recreated as a playable mod for Tabletop Simulator on Steam.

The original board game was designed to introduce players to the Paper Mario world. According to YouTuber Paper King, who spearheaded the English recreation, the game "functions a lot like the mainline Mario Party games but with some minor differences." The board featured a story setup mirroring the original Paper Mario, with Bowser stealing the wish-granting Star Rod. Players could choose from three characters: Mario, Peach, and Bowser.

Paper King expanded the playable roster in his recreation to 27 characters, adding figures from Paper Mario sequels like Goombella, Koops, and Vivian. The recreation includes two modes. The original objective mode requires players to be the first to reach a star station and purchase a star. A bonus "Mario Party" mode changes the winning condition to whoever collects the most stars overall, bringing it closer to traditional Mario Party mechanics.

Paper King shared the project's history and rules in a video published on his YouTube channel, crediting the Chinese Nintendo fan account for providing scans of the original game and the Super Mario Wiki for translations of the cards. This marks the second time Paper King has used Tabletop Simulator to preserve obscure Paper Mario media, having previously recreated Paper Mario Ponjan Club 22, another board game from Japanese toy company Takara.

The mod makes the game playable for the first time outside China, preserving a lesser-known chapter of Paper Mario history that most fans had never encountered. The recreation is available through Tabletop Simulator's Steam workshop.