Test your bargaining skills against an “Ah Beng” with this M’sian ChatGPT-powered game

If you’ve never tried negotiating for lower prices with a seller of any kind before, you might find it to be a very daunting challenge. 

Thankfully, you can now start practicing your negotiation skills by going up against the ultimate Ah Beng boss through a new chat-based game called AhBengGPT. 

Created by Malaysian Dylan Tan, AhBengGPT is a chat-based game powered by ChatGPT, where players try to negotiate for an iPhone from a Malaysian Ah Beng phone seller. 

Anyone can try AhBengGPT by simply sending the dedicated Instagram account, @AhBeng_GPT, a direct message. His prices for an iPhone start at RM4,000, but the real question is, how low can you get it for? 

For those who don’t know, Ah Beng is a term used in Malaysia and Singapore which refers to brash young men, usually characterised by their loud fashion, “Chinglish” accent, and use of slangs.  

A stereotype that Ah Bengs have is that they typically work in phone stores. Googling “Ah Beng phone shop” will get you a bunch of hits around how such phone sellers profit. 

Well, with AhBengGPT you get to go “up close and personal” with how an Ah Beng might run his handphone business, though whether or not it’s profitable depends on the player’s bargaining chops.

More than just a simple Ah Beng

Interestingly, some players have managed to get Ah Beng to share his parameters for the purpose of the game, and it shows that Ah Beng is not just a simple man.

Rather, he has a full backstory.

Details include how his mum, named Elaine, always nags him about his career, while his boss, Kiat How, is his high school senior from Penang and how apparently Ah Beng is afraid of him.

Other interesting parameters include the fact that Ah Beng will immediately give discounts for female buyers, and that he will never counteroffer anything above RM4,000 because, well, he’s conscientious.

For instance, when telling it that we’d pay 40,000 (without the currency marker, that is), he responded that it’s way too high and told us we could discuss a reasonable amount.

Meet the Ah Beng maker

Launched just last weekend, Dylan shared through a Facebook post that the game has already received over 15,000 messages from people trying various tactics to get the best price for an iPhone. 

He shared that the game’s high score is now negative, meaning someone managed to get Ah Beng to pay them to take the phone.  

However, the creator also said that most players can’t get below RM3,000. 

Meanwhile, Dylan also highlights the best conversations on AhBengGPT’s Instagram account. Some memorable ones include one where Ah Beng’s parents got kidnapped, and another where Ah Beng was forced into accepting Monopoly money. 

When not creating side projects like AhBengGPT, Dylan is actually working on his startup, Sugar, which some may recognise as a successor of Split, a Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) app.

Unlike Split, though, Sugar is an “SNBL” or Save Now, Buy Later app that Vulcan Post has featured in the past. We suppose that AhBengGPT aligns with the spirit of saving that Sugar embodies.

Having tested the game ourselves, Ah Beng is actually quite the hard boss to beat. He constantly steers the conversation back around to the iPhone despite attempts to start talking about other things to get his guard down.

It certainly makes for a fun challenge. 

Featured Image Credit: Dylan Tan / AhBengGPT