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Dan M
United Kingdom
Worthing
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This all started when I read in a newspaper that Aussie rockers AC/DC have just released their own brand of wine. Not very rock and roll, eh? They're not the only old rockers at it, following in the grape-crushing footsteps of Iron Maiden, Whitesnake, KISS, and erm, Cliff Richard.
This started up a conversation about odd rock band merchandising, and sandwiched between the KISS coffin, Misfits fluffy slippers, and Ramones pasta sauce (all of which are real), I found a couple of boardgame gems. First up was KISS checkers, nothing too unusual there compared to some of the other KISS merchandise on offer. But then I found this official Metallica game, alongside the Master of Puppets pillowcase (again, real):
Yes, that's correct, these heavy metal behemoths and corporate giants have released an officially licensed version of Monopoly: Monopoly: Metallica Collector's Edition. I see someone's already got in with a 1/10 rating!
This got me thinking about other bands who have put games out in their names. I remember a very odd video game I played at university where Aerosmith and I had to shoot and evade zombies (the game wouldn't allow you to shoot members of Aerosmith, however), but aside from the usual bland collectors editions of Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly and the like, I wondered what else is out there.
And as you know, BGG rarely fails to deliver. Here are a few of the band-licensed games that made me chuckle:
Aqua Around the World: "You are Aqua's manager and supposed to plan the coming world tour - a task that takes both overview and planning!
You compete for becoming the player that first completes their Aqua world tour by visiting all cities, assigned at game start. During the game you will encounter chance-cards, where you will try your luck and thus you may get an extra dice throw or miss your next turn.
You will also have to answer questions about the group and the group members."
Vanilla Ice Electronic RAP Game: "Players play rhyming cards to complete rap lines on the game board. Each card played scores points. Every time a rap line is completed, the player raps it out loud to the rhythm of the electronic beat box mike. When all the rap lines on the board have been filled, players count their points. The player with the most points wins, and raps the entire board, using the beat box mike."
M. C. Hammer's Rap A Round Game: "The game where you rap to win. The rap game that's played to music. Players move around the board as they follow instructions from rapper M.C. Hammer on a cassette tape. The players attempt to finish rap songs with their own lyric lines.Includes a colorful board with a spinner, cards, cassette tape, 6 tokens, plastic storage insert, and a boom box card holder."
Duran Duran: Into The Arena: "Players move around the outer circle of the board trying to collect five matching pairs of disc tiles (upon which are the group's singles). For each pair the player also takes the matching video tile which is worth additional points. Once a player has five matches they can move to the inner circle where they try to collect and play a band member tile for each of the five band members. Once this is accomplished, the game is over. The person with the most points wins."
Any others you're aware of? How about Public Enemy's The Game of Life, Fudge Tunnel Pandemic, Settlers of Slipknot, or Def Leppard's Coloretto? If they're not real, they should be . . .
This begs the question: Should I try to convince New Wave Of British Heavy Metal mainstays Saxon to officially license a version of my upcoming Dark Ages game Dux Bellorum, what with the connection between my Saxons and their Saxons? Worth bearing in mind, methinks, it could open up a whole new audience to gaming.
Huge thanks to the BGG members who added these games, took the time to photograph the games, and for the descriptions I've used above, they brought a real smile to my face as I trawled through the listings.
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. And tying it into the ability to play, Munchkin-style, is super smart too. When the post of Dux Bellorum Merchandising Manager is advertised, I know where to come . . .
