El Cruncho ist Polyglotastic

The crunch is now being felt abroad: As of today, Crunch is available in 5 new foreign tongues. None of them English! So if you live in one of these funny gobbledegook lands, this will come as awesome news.

Over the past 5 months, Crunch has been painstakingly translated into Spanish ("Crisis"), French ("Krach"), German ("Crunch"), Italian ("Crisi!") and .... (drumroll, please) .... Estonian ("Masu").

In fact, this is TerrorBull Game's first ever licence deal so it's exciting times and another small step towards inevitable world domination. We're especially humbled that so many people have put their faith in us and in Crunch - especially since, you know, we are in a recession and times are tough. (Incidentally, did you hear the news yesterday about the secret emergency loans given to HBOS and the RBS by the Bank of England last year? You hear stuff like this and think 'but surely that can't be legal?'. What really gets us though is how the banks have recourse to any manner of help, regardless of their behaviour and yet when you go and ask for a loan because you've genuinely hit upon tough times, you're made to feel like a naughty and irresponsible 5-year-old. But we digress ... )

Another small step towards inevitable world domination Edge Entertainment in Spain take a lot of the credit here for having the vision and producing a lovingly re-worked version of our game and for sourcing the German and Italian manufacturing partners. Esticorp in Talinn, Estonia got in touch with us separately and showed brass Eastern European balls by licencing the game without even seeing it. Thank you, everyone, we know there were many more late nights than we know about and now it feels like we're a proper, grown-up business. Here's to the recession!

So, you're welcome, oversees chums. We envy you, being able to enjoy our contrived and tired puns in your native tongue. It must be a veritable joy.

TerrorBull Games on Tour

It's that time of year when we are forced against our better judgement to leave the safety of the bunker to meet our public. So listen up, proles, we're hitting the road and could soon be in a neighbourhood near you. That is, if you live in either London or Cambridge. Never let it be said that we don't push ourselves.

Wednesday 25 November Deutsche Bank, London
Don't ask us how, but we've managed to wangle a spot inside the Deutsche Bank HQ in the City to flog our games to the staff there. Silly banker outfits are mandatory. We'll either be embraced or chased out of town.

Saturday 5 December Mill Rd Winter Fair, Cambridge
(Don't be put off by the photo of the creepy misery-clown) The annual independent fair takes place on the first Saturday of December. There's always good food, street entertainment, lots of events and plenty of independent trades folk. Would go again. A+++

Sunday 6 December Instore at Playin' Games, London
It's our second visit to Playin' Games too. This is such a great shop, with genuinely knowledgable staff; if you've never been, get yourself down there. You could do far worse than source your entire Christmas shopping list here. We'll be demoing both War on Terror and Crunch

Saturday 12 December Instore at Borders, Cambridge
We return to our local Borders for another day of fun and games. They've recently taken a big step and 'come out of the closet' about War on Terror. Instead of "the other game", WoT is now being referred to by name on their website. (We actually prefer the shadowy menace of "the other game").

EDIT - best not mention Borders, eh? But we have got the following booked at a local shopping centre. Get in!

Saturday 19 December Lion Yard Shopping Centre, Cambridge
Last shopping Saturday before Christmas and we've managed to get into our first ever shopping centre. They must, literally, be desperate. Time to break out the megaphone.

So there you have it, every chance to pick up a game or two for your nearest and dearest. Remember, the greatest gift this Christmas is shock and awe. Kind of like Jesus and his miracles.

John Pilger praises the War on Terror (board game)

The hawk-eyed among you will have noticed from our recent blog gallery that there's something different about the new* War on Terror boxes - namely a sticker on the front, proudly displaying a few choice quotes, including one from the legendary John Pilger:

"Through the fog of an often collusive and compliant media comes this extraordinary game, achieving, with its black humour, its own truth about the pernicious War on Terror" - John Pilger

It's really not a joke, as some have assumed, John Pilger genuinely likes our game. When we first sent him a copy we didn't really expect a reply, but the encouraging email he sent upon receiving War on Terror has been stuck up on the TBG office wall ever since. Many months later, we cheekily asked for a quote for the new print run of WoT. Again, Mr. Pilger humbled and surprised us by replying with his generous remarks.

Here are the other quotations we've used on the same sticker. We think they make a nice little selection:

• The tip of the sharp tongue of satire - BBC
• Legendary - Der Spiegel
• Spectacularly controversial - Forbes
• One of the most thought-provoking games we've seen in years - Playboy
• New satirical heights - The Nobel Peace Center
• Excellent - New International
• Somebody has gone too far - Andrew Lansley, MP

Personally, I was introduced to John Pilger by Andy T lending me The New Rulers of the World when I was in my mid twenties, still painfully emerging from that vestige of adolescence, the ego-cocoon. It was this book that utterly destroyed the notion that "we" were the good guys. The real picture was far worse than anything I could have imagined and guided by Pilger's outstanding sense of justice and unforgiving conscience, I was spurred on to read others: Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman, Howard Zinn, Edward Said, Norman Finkelstein ... In essence, reading John Pilger started a revelatory transition for me from internal and philosophical to external and political. I've admired him profoundly ever since.

If you're new to Pilger, if nothing else, please get your hands on one of his powerful and insightful documentaries. Many of these have never been shown on mainstream TV. Year Zero (about Cambodia, the covert escalation of the Vietnam war there and the West's secret co-operation with Pol Pot's murderous regime) and Death of a Nation (about the financial and military support given to Suharto's brutal dictatorship in Indonesia by the World Bank, UK, USA, Australia and others in the genocide of 200,000 East Timorese) are both great starting points. Don't expect to feel too great afterwards though.

There's not much left to say but, thanks, John, you've made our day!

- - - - - - - - - - -

* Talking of new stock, we should be clear that this latest reprint is exactly the same as the other games, except for that sticker. Sadly the 2nd edition of WoT is still a way off and we don't really have a projected release date yet. We know we've tentatively given one in the past, but demand keeps overtaking us and finding the time to re-tool and reprint is always an issue. That said, there's nothing stopping you playing the current edition with some tried and tested, souped-up rules.

'War on Terror' no. 5 in the Independent's Top 50 Board Games

The Independent magazine have included War on Terror in their list of '50 Best Board Games' - at no.5, no less! "A game with attitude ... "

More than the fact that it's our game, it makes me happy to see this kind of thing getting a mentionThe list's getting a bit of a panning online in the comments section, most likely from Board Game Geek purists that want the entire world to wake up to the rational and balanced beauty of German games. They have a point - there are many undiscovered gems that never get the exposure they deserve and this for them is a wasted opportunity. But the criticisms seem a little harsh - the 'Indy Best' lists never claim to be definitive and because of their desire to cater to everyone, are always full of glaring omissions.

We have to admit, we'd normally join in the sneering - or not even bother. But the inclusion of WoT is a pretty radical move, even for the Independent. Compared with the other games in that list, WoT is a truly independent release, fairly subversive, relatively hard to find and not to everyone's taste. More than the fact that it's our game, it makes me happy to see this kind of thing getting a mention.

And to right the wrong, here is a short list of some great games that you might want to try with your family if you're wondering if there's life outside Monopoly:

• Settlers of Catan
• Junta
• Pandemic
• Puerto Rico
• Khet

File under: "Unlikely but Great News".

Kandyse McClure digs our games!

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Of course, if - like us - you don't watch the Sci Fi channel, then you won't know that Kandyse McClure is better known as Lt. Anastasia Dualla on Battlestar Galactica. For those people, all we can tell you is that Kandyse is a charming and unpretentious lady who seemed very (if you forgive the pun) down-to-earth. She also likes our games.

For everyone else, prepare to worship us like the gods we are because at the recent Movies, Comics, Media (MCM) convention in London, Kandyse stopped by our booth after an intensive bout of signing and purchased both War on Terror and Crunch. Kandyse joins a small (we prefer the term, 'elite'), but steadily-growing, list of famous-types who have rated our games: Nick Park, Graham Linehan, Colin Baker and even Chris Morris (edit: AND John Pilger!) have all reacted enthusiastically to War on Terror at one time or another. We are currently taking applications to our elite celebrity endorsement club, if any happen to be reading ...

As for the rest of the convention, it was a bit like a small-scale Lucca but with English weather and a younger average age. In fact, stepping outside the Excel convention centre at lunchtime and seeing hoards of screaming kids running around, high on caffeine and Japanese sweets, having sword fights and practising synchronised dance routines wasn't unlike stepping back in time to our old school playground. Still, they're having fun and they're not shanking anyone and if teenagers these days have to cover their faces then undoubtedly this is a far better choice than a hoodie. So good on 'em.

We're exaggerating for comic effect, of course (which only works if the effect is comic, so yeh, must try harder next time). Truth be told, the audience at MCM was about as varied as the acronym itself. After all, it's hard to think of things that don't come under the banner of either "movies", "comics" or "media".

Still, they're having fun and they're not shanking anyone We honestly loved seeing all the costumes. They ranged from staggeringly creative and effective, to downright absurd, to just kind of plain wrong (young school girls dressed up as, well, fetishised young school girls did trip the internal "Oh my god, did the police see me looking?" panic switch on more than one occasion). The fondness amongst the waaaaay too young for carrying around "Free Hugs" signs didn't help any.

We cheered when we saw something we recognised (Ronald McDonald, Winnie the Pooh, Battle of the Planets, Cheetarah and the Tardis being the complete list) and marvelled at the bizarrity of those we didn't. (Fat, old zombie man with giant, angry teddy bear friend, we're looking at you).

This all made for a very sociable and fun atmosphere, which made the convention feel less commercial than it actually was. Kudos to the kids there, because they've made it their own.

To get a better idea of the true, mind-boggling, ultra-colourful, playtime atmosphere, check out the video below (courtesy of MCM):