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Dale Yu: Easter Eggs in Boardgames
Well, it’s almost Eastertime here… Spring should be in full bloom, but I’m still trying to dig out from the ten to twelve inches of snow that fell here over the weekend! But, thinking about Easter got me thinking about Easter Eggs!
Not the kind that the kids will search for in the grass (assuming the snow is gone by then!), but the hidden things that you can find in games and videos. The term “Easter Egg” is used to refer to a hidden message, graphic or other feature that can be found in a game, book, or movie. One of the earliest examples may be seen in the artwork of Al Hirschfeld – it became well known that he hid the name of his daughter, Nina, within the line art of his drawings. They are also commonly found on DVDs – as hidden menu choices or areas that can only be accessed with a series of clicks on your remote.
The first videogame Easter Egg that I can remember was in the Atari classic “Adventure”. At the time, Atari was not in the habit of crediting the designers of their games… However, the designer, Warren Robinett, managed to hide a secret passageway to a secret room where his identity as designer was revealed to the player. Two other well known videogame Easter Eggs come from the original Nintendo Entertainment System. First is the “Minus World” in Super Mario Bros. This is a secret world which can be reached from World 1-2 by passing through a wall (which you shouldn’t be able to pass through!). The second one is the “30 Lives cheat” in Contra where the player could press a designated sequence of buttons to then start the game with 30 lives instead of just three. This Easter Egg code has become so popular that it has entered the general lexicon: Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start. You can even find this sequence on T-shirts and mugs now!
There are many many more examples of Easter Eggs out there – and I’m sure that some of you will tell me your favorites in the comments below… But, are there Easter Eggs hidden in boardgames? Hmm, that’s a much harder question to answer because the Internet isn’t as much help – but I think I’ve found a few examples to get the list started! What else have I missed? It’s harder to find them in boardgames because a lot of them require some serious insider knowledge to even know that the Easter Egg exists!
1. I’m The Boss – this remake of KK&K had pictures of Sid Sackson’s family members used for the investor cards
2. Heroscape – there are a few possible Easter Eggs here in the names of the characters. The 2006 Gencon giveaway, Sir Hawthorne was named after one of the playtesters. It’s also suspected that Sgt. Drake is named after one the designer’s children and that some of the other strange sounding names are anagrams of real names – though I have been unable to confirm this last bit.
3. Mini-Inkognito – in the card game version of the great deductive game, you’re trying to discover the phone number of “a powerful, mysterious personage”. As it turns out, one of the possible combinations is said to be the phone number of the game studio where the game was developed.
4. In Princess Ryan’s Star Marines, if you look closely at the board, you will find “A Hill Called Avalon”, a somewhat clever reference to the game’s publisher
5. In Stratego Legends, one of the Dragons is named “Oppolifnas” which seems like a strange name indeed. Except that it’s the last name of one of the game developers spelled backwards!
6. The cover of Paris Paris has artistic references to other Michael Schacht games.
7. The names of the buildings in Bus are all game-related (ok, maybe not exactly an Easter Egg as it’s in plain sight) – but the name of Axis and Alloys for the breaker’s yard is great!
8. In Cartel, two of the companies are named Djoli Rubber and Xanadu Leisure – both of which refer to Prince Joli Quentin Kansil who helped with the game in some manner
9. In Kingsburg, it is reported that the designers of the game are pictured as nobles #6 and #7.
10. Wordwild – sometimes the names of the designer’s friends/family/playtesters are used in the examples in the rulebook. If you read the rules closely to this Andrea Meyer design, you’ll find the names of the playtesters used in the examples (including yours truly).
11. In Antiquity, the names of playtesters are written on the headstones provided in the game.
12. Agricola – There are a number of Easter Eggs to be found here – the most clever being depictions on some of the house tiles of Agricola being set up on a table. You might also find the farmers playing something that looks like Bohnanza as well! Additionally, the artwork has a number of cards which used real life celebrities as models. There was, in fact, a contest at the 2007 Essen Spiel to try to determine who the models were for a number of cards.
Would I be involved in the Agricola Easter Egg hunt? Maybe. I might as well be – I was disqualified from winning after all… But I’ve not written much about Agricola in the past, have I? While you go look for a clue, I’m going to go drink some pumpkin seed oil and check out my preorders at Gamesurplus.com and Boulder Games.
Until your next appointment,
The Gaming Doctor
Posted by Dale Yu on Mar 12, 2008 at 01:00 AM in Columnists, Dale Yu / 1806
Comments:
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"Burg Appenzell” has a Cheese on the Cover with the Text “Käsino Royale”. It came out by the Time of the James Bond Movie “Casino Royale”.!! Also you find Bondtheme in “Volle Wolle”, the card with the number 0-0-7 has a sheep in the normal Bond position with the normal Bond Background on it. Instead of a gun the sheep holds scissors Posted by Andreas Buhlmann on Mar 12, 2008 at 04:30 AM | #
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Mr. Jack
Expansion
Posted by Andreas Buhlmann on Mar 12, 2008 at 06:04 AM | #
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The old Avalon Hill game Blitzkrieg had a map with terrain features named after company personnel. For example, “Lake Pinsky” was named after Larry Pinsky. I think the S. Lawrence and N. Lawrence rivers may have been named after him as well. And of course, there was the Great Koufax Desert up on the northern coast. Posted by Eric Brosius on Mar 12, 2008 at 06:04 AM | #
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SPI’s Swords & Sorcery also had terrain features and units named after people (e.g., Gygax Dragonlord), although in that case I don’t think I’d call them Easter Eggs. A better case would be SPI’s Freedom in the Galaxy, where a number of characters had names which were anagrams or reversals of names of SPI designers (Senator Dermond, Drakkir Greb, etc.). Posted by Dan Blum on Mar 12, 2008 at 09:50 AM | #
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Also more or less in plain sight are the character names in the Friese/Meyer deduction game Schwarzarbeit, which are all juxtipositions of famous game designers. The illustrations are also related to the designers named. I’ve always been surprised that more people don’t mention the game references on the Bus gameboard. You hear far more about the “amateurish” nature of the drawings (which is just a style), but I’ve always thought they were charming and very clever. And for any non-fans of American baseball who didn’t pick up on Eric’s last Blitzkrieg reference, it’s to Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax. Posted by Larry Levy on Mar 12, 2008 at 09:53 AM | #
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Diamant tunnels often have little easter egg items in them, including a fedora and a bull whip (Indiana Jones), and a little comic book or pulp fiction novel with the apparent title of ‘Adventure!’. What about the characters in ‘Fearsome Floors’ which seem to be references to various groups of monster hunters? Posted by Chad Bergeron on Mar 12, 2008 at 11:18 AM | #
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Weird… I was just about to post about Diamant and Fearsome Floors… but about different things!
Diamant also has a tiny picture of the 2 designers (Mr. Moon and Mr. Faidutti) on the center board, in the campsite.
Posted by Peter Dahlstrom on Mar 12, 2008 at 12:18 PM | #
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On the Thurn and Taxis Board, Nurnberg has the logo of the Nuremberg Toy Fair in the town square. Posted by Chris Johnson on Mar 12, 2008 at 04:35 PM | #
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Ah the easter egg hunt ;-) Fiji: You will find both Friedemann Friese and Maura depicted as one of the shrinkheads (yes, I can tell you maura does look that crazy) Formidable Foes: has a reference to the movie Full Metal Jacket (The words “Born to Kill” next to a piece sign on the helmet of Joker) as one of the character has the same depicted on his shield. The Longest Day: Randall Reed managed to snug in a village named St. Randall Reed onto the map… Posted by Klaus Knechtskern on Mar 12, 2008 at 06:07 PM | #
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How about naming one of the stocks Sackson in the ‘99 edition of Acquire? Posted by Jonathan Franklin on Mar 12, 2008 at 07:34 PM | #
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My daughter and I had just finished playing Villa Paletti and then got out Dawn Under. She was delighted to find that the game we just played was pictured in the bottom of one of the tombs of Dawn Under’s gameboard. Posted by Rob Cannon on Mar 13, 2008 at 06:08 AM | #
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In O Zoo le Mio, the participants in the rulebook have rather well-known names, I think they are Klaus, Reiner, Alan and Wolfgang… The ships in Atlantic Star also have some special names Posted by Patrik Strömer on Mar 13, 2008 at 08:06 AM | #
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Nice article Dale. Its got me running to my game collection to look at some of these. Posted by Jason Matthews on Mar 13, 2008 at 08:18 AM | #
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While not a boardgame, Decipher put a lot of Easter eggs in their SWCCG, some more obscure than others. They also had a tendency to make the names of some of the characters by rearranging the names of various members of the staff. It’s a shame they stopped doing it about halfway through the run of expansions. Posted by Stephen Smith on Mar 13, 2008 at 08:27 AM | #
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We always like outbreaks in Essen when playing Pandemic. Must be the Not Goin’ to the Spiel Blues. Posted by Jonathan Franklin on Mar 13, 2008 at 10:59 AM | #
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Here’s a few of my favorites: Many companies, including Mayfair, include their staff as players in game examples. Compare the credits list in a game and player names to see find out who’s included (and those that aren’t are usually wives/SOs or kids). Uncle Will in BANG! is a dead ringer for Will Niebling, former CEO of Mayfair. There is a snit (Awful Green Things...) hiding in the 1st edition D&D Monster Manual (look up Rakshasa). I think it’s harder to NOT find Herr Friese in one of his games than otherwise. He and Maura are also lurking in Fische Fluppen Frikedellen as shopkeepers. Reiner has a tendency to pop up in his games as well - Traumfabrik is the obvious one (as the -1 actor), but he’s also the portrait angering the king on a Figaro card. On the CCG side, a fun activity is to find the pyramid (stylized or otherwise) on every card in the Illuminati: New World Order base set. Due to cropping of art (I suspect), there are less than 5 cards that do not conform to that, IIRC. There were also messages printed on the bottom of the POP displays, including under the glued-down flaps on the bottom… Posted by Alex Yeager on Mar 13, 2008 at 11:26 AM | #
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Power Grid has a statue on the board on Friedman Friese’s hometown. Posted by S. Deniz Bucak on Mar 13, 2008 at 01:53 PM | #
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Showmanager has Troisdorf, the home of Queen, as the smallest city for a show. Posted by Jonathan Franklin on Mar 13, 2008 at 01:57 PM | #
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Speaking of Showmanager, what’s the story behind the choices for the musicals in the game? King Lear, the Musical? Ballet? Which ballet? Is Queenie supposed to be a tribute to the publisher or is there a hidden meaning? And I don’t understand Wolf at all. I would have thought that they’d satirize popular musicals of the time, but I’ve never understood what references (if any) were being made here. Does anyone have an inside scoop? Posted by Larry Levy on Mar 13, 2008 at 04:14 PM | #
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I assume Wolf is a reference to Peter and the Wolf, but otherwise I am as baffled as you are. The shows in the original db-Spiele version were more obvious, and had appropriately-named roles - Miss Hanoi, Katz, Die Miserablen, and Freudi. Well, OK, I don’t know what the last one is supposed to be (the roles in it are “Don Parker,” “Isabella,” and “Mark Winner"). While we’re on the subject, I note from pictures (it’s been years since I owned a copy) that this version included a “Sid Saxon” as one of the performers. The weird shows in the Queen edition are almost enough to make me wish I still owned the db-Spiele edition. The poor db-Spiele card quality is more of a deciding factor, though. Posted by Dan Blum on Mar 13, 2008 at 04:30 PM | #
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I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned that classic Magic: The Gathering card Phelddagrif yet. It’s an anagram of Garfield, PhD - a reference to Richard Garfield, of course, who invented the game. I think there was a later card called Questing Phelddagrif as well. Less of an Easter Egg (since it’s a well-known practice) is letting the winner of each year’s Magic Invitational help design a card - and then using their likeness on the card. pk Posted by Patrick Korner on Mar 13, 2008 at 09:27 PM | #
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