SINGAPORE: Move over, Labubu and Sonny Angel. The blind box craze now appears to have reached places of worship, with figurines or amulets of Taoist deities, or their magical weapons, up for grabs.
Videos making the rounds online already show a blind box vending machine dispensing various lucky charms or trinkets at the Sembawang God of Wealth Temple in Admiralty.
And to increase engagement with visitors and devotees, and attract the young, Hiang Tong Keng, a Taoist temple in Tampines, has embraced the trend by rolling out “blessings” blind boxes for Chinese New Year 2026.
The boxes might contain any one of 13 items, including figurines of Guanyin, the goddess of mercy, or Guan Gong, the god of war.
Temple visitors who want to obtain the boxes have to answer questions in a foldable challenge card which is given to them after a $2 donation.
The answers can be found in the temple grounds – for example, one question asks which deity holds a Dragon Head Staff.
For every three tasks, with each task mostly linked to answering a question, participants can collect a blind box. Participants who visit the temple and attempt to answer questions over multiple days can collect up to four boxes per person.
This initiative is part of Hiang Tong Keng’s strategy since 2024 to widen its appeal, especially to young people.
The temple was founded more than a century ago, and was located at Coldstream Avenue in the Siglap area before moving to its current site in Tampines Link.
The temple has increased engagement via social media in English and Chinese, said Master Eugene Choy, one of the temple priests, who often appears in its social media videos.
The 32-year-old said that during a discussion at the temple the idea was conceived to make use of the “stamp rally” culture and blind box trend to introduce the Taoist deities to the young during Chinese New Year.
That is when many young people visit the temple along with older family members, he added.
Based on Singapore’s latest population census in 2020, 8.8 per cent of Singapore residents who are 15 and over identify as Taoists.
But in the 15 to 24 group, this drops to just 4.9 per cent.
The 16-year-old, who will soon start his studies at a local polytechnic, also suggested handing out deity cards akin to character trading cards to those who came to the temple and showed they followed its Instagram account.
Already, visitors of all ages, from eight-year-old kids to people in their sixties, have tried to answer the quiz to get a blind box.
When The Straits Times visited on the morning of Feb 22, teens an
Germaine Neo, a 16-year-old student at Dunman Secondary School who was at the temple to offer prayers with her family, walked around the temple multiple times, looking closely at the statues of various deities.
For her efforts, she drew a blind box which contained a phone amulet.
She said: “It was quite fun. I got to explore around (the temple).”
The challenge even drew visitors who did not normally come to Hiang Tong Keng, such as Sam Zhiquan, who was on his third visit to the temple over the Chinese New Year period in a bid to collect the blind boxes.
The 40-year-old property agent and business owner said his wife had found out about the activity online and they decided to come multiple times.
“It’s interactive and you get to know more about the temple,” he said. - The Straits Times/ANN
