At age 63, when many men are enjoying the sunset of their lives playing games with their grandchildren. Ting Sie Bing has his thinking cap onto find new ways of playing old games.

His Silver hair and beard bears the wisdom of a grandfather, yet his mind is finely tuned into the psyche of young Malaysians. Ting is the founder of Syarikat Permainan Malaysia Sdn Bhd (SPM), a company he set up in 1976 with little more than his conviction that there was a market for Malaysian versions of popular international board games.

It all started, he explains, when one day, he came across some friends trying to play the popular board, game Scrabble, in Malay. "They were arguing about how it could be played and the words that could be used," he remembers with a laugh. This incident triggered his curiosity, because "I'm the kind of person that when you say something cannot be done, I will always support those who say it can!"

And so Ting launched his brand new Malay board game Sahibba in style at the KL Hilton. "I was one of the early customers to hold a press conference launch there," he remembers. "The hotel wasstill very new then." The "noise" created by his launch caught the attention of Malaysians, and sales in the first year were a respectable 6,000 sets. Each set retailed at RM15 then. Today, the company which pioneered the design and manufacture of board games in Malaysia is listed in the Malaysia Book of Records as the largest board game producer in the country.

Following Sahibba, SPM developed Saidina in 1978, Malaysia's first property trading game. Today, Sahibba and Saidina are Malaysia's No. 1 selling board game. Other games available from SPM's collection of 60 include the Congkak, Carrom, Chess, Snakes & Ladders, Dam/ Draughts and GO. It sells over 300,000 sets annually, and says over seven million Malaysians have played one of its games at least once. The games are distributed mainly through the Toys R Us network in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines.

In addition to spelling out the rules of the game, all sets include a short history of the game's origins. For example, did you know that Carrom is an ancient Burmese board game which utilises techniques and skills similar to billiard, pool or snooker? Or that chess was invented in Northern India 1,400 years ago and traders took the game to Persia and North Africa which then led to its spread to Europe?

SPM's record of excellence is borne out by the numerous awards it has received. Last month, it received the special award for Design Excellence 2000 from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti). The award was for his hi-tech design of the age-old Congkak. His winning elements included manufacturing the game using new technology, and the latest packaging, utilising a hi-tech plastic mould, a reasonable price of between RM20 and RM40, as well as a brief history, of the game to ensure that it is not forgotten.

With this ward, SPM set a new record in Malaysia by being the first and only Malaysian company to receive two similar special awards. In 1987, it was one of the first companies in Malaysia to be given the Product Excellence award. Ten years later in 1997, SPM became one of the first recipients of the Malaysia Good Design Mark (G-Mark) award by the Malaysia Design Council for its Carrom board. The board is washable, with micro-dotted surface which technically corrects the "stop-go-situation". Therefore, it needs no powder at all. It has a matt surface which causes no glare to the eyes. SPM Garrom uses advanced mould engineering and plastic technology.

The following year, SPM notched another award when it became the first and only company in the country to be conferred a special award for Design Excellence by Miti. In 1999, SPM scored another first when it was selected by the Selangor government to receive the .first state award for Invention Excellence.

In the age of computer educational games for children, how does SPM plan to keep its momentum going? "As far as I am concerned, it doesn't affect my business," says Ting. "I believe there will always be an interest in playing these games." Despite the computer craze, SPM's business has not suffered any major setback, even riding out the recession quite comfortably. The company's turnover over the last few years has averaged at RM5 million.

While he admits there are material rewards, Ting points out that his greatest satisfaction is the recognition and support he has received from the government. "I have received some RM250,000 in grants from the government to do R & D," he says. "The government has really treated me as a partner in its support of intellectual property work." Ting is also looking forward to the opening up of markets in the region when the Asean Free Trade Agreement takes effect in 2003.

"I see it as complement to what we do, rather than competition," he says. "It gives us a bigger market coverage and is an incentive for us to do better. If everything is close door, then we will end up closing shop!" he remarks with a laugh.