A funny example is the game “Coda” which was renamed “Da Vinci Code” to tie in with a certain bestseller. Unfortunetly the book was named “Sakrileg” in German…

Thanks for yet another great read Jeff.  Enjoy it thoroughly :)

Thanks for the great article.  I’ll just point out that Juliet said those lines, not Romeo.

Thanks, Thomas--good catch.  I had a second thought on that after I submitted it...I su, but too late...I suppose it’s been awhile since I last read or saw the play.

Nice article, Jeff.  As I learn more German, I understand more and more how the Germans try harder to work plays on words into the names of their games.  Though that might also have to do with the fact that a LOT of German words are related by their roots.  It’s also easier to rhyme words when all the verbs end in an “n” sound.

Isn’t Pat Braun German?  And then there’s me, but since I was born in Canada I guess I don’t count. ;)

I do a fair bit of freelance translation, and one of the most difficult tasks by far is when the publisher also asks for suggestions for an English name.  So many German words have double meanings and phrases and idiom are so often used in game names that any English attempt just tends to sound, well, off - to me at least.

A classic example is the Amigo game “Ziegen Kriegen”.  Kriegen in this can mean either “go to war” or “obtain”, giving the game a double meaning of “Getting Goats” or “Goats go to war” (which really don’t work in English - although ‘Get your goat’ is sort of close).

And, well, how “Rette Sich Wer Kann” turned into “Crocodile Pool Party” is something I’ll probably never figure out.

pk

I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you or Pat Braun yet, Patrick:)

I was actually making reference to a skit from the comedy show Saturday Night Live that’s popular in the U.S.

I don’t envy you in your translation work, although I had it happen the other way around with my play on words for “Scalpus Maximus"--nothing with that kind of wordplay really worked in German.

Nice article!

It certainly helps to sell a game if it is presented in the language of the customer. Instead of just calling Agricola something like “Agriculture” we have to stumble around the farming soda pop Agri-Kola and feel stupid.

If you don’t want to sell games in America, keep it up. It’s not like games are considered dorky enough without having an additional stumbling block in the way. Smell the sarcasm.

I understand if the artist wants to remain the artist, but latin isn’t big in the States. I appreciate foreign films and music, but the majority of people are not going to get down to Die Macher as much as Axis and Allies because sight unseen they know what the latter is about.

So I hope that publishers take note and consider this when publishing for the American market. I think Rio Grande has already figured it out (Keltis = Lost Cities board game).

Just as Germany changes their names, so should the American publishers… because most Americans don’t know what Thurn and Taxis means.

My first question, William, is have you and Ryan Bretsch been drinking from the same glass of Kool Aid?

My second is, do you really think a game with the sexy name of “Agriculture” would sell many more copies than “Agricola”?

Okay, your point about names is taken and I’m certain that a game called Ticket to Ride sells much better in the States than one called Zug um Zug (even though in this case, the English name came first).  But for the niche games like Agricola and Die Macher, I can’t imagine it matters much.  The people likely to enjoy those games are the ones who know about them ahead of time.  When we start seeing Agricola in Toys R Us, I may start changing my mind, but for now, there’s really no reason to change the titles.

And what else would you call Thurn and Taxis?  “Mail Delivery Service”?  It’s a nice historical theme which is explained on the back of the box and if it’s a turnoff to Americans, then the game itself probably will be as well.  And if you change the theme, RGG might as well have done the game on their own, at double the list price.  Sometimes, a game is what it is.

Finally, it’s good that Jay is changing the name of Flussfieber, the new 2F-Spiele game.  But I’m not sure that the new title, Fast Flowing Forest Fellers, is any improvement!

Larry -

I know Agriculture isn’t sexy, but it isn’t my game or my investment so I’m not gonna put the juice behind renaming it. I just don’t think it hurts to try renaming.

As long is there isn’t anything contractually prohibiting the change, I would give a serious consideration to the printing/art changes vs. the potential profit of renaming and/or re-theming.

There is a bit of elitism that goes in this which isn’t lost on me. Latin might say something about your education, but is it necessary? Will it help you sell games? Nope. It may prevent some sales that you might have had. Well, maybe other elitists might want the foreign language bling sitting on their shelf.

Regardless, I am getting a copy of Agricola after 3 plays. I like the game and it won’t prevent me from enjoying it.

I enjoy most of these “funny named games"… and I hope there are always PLENTY of players near me that enjoy them as well.

I don’t really know the specifics of the profitability of game publishers, William, and probably wouldn’t understand it all if I did.  All I know is that the model championed by Rio Grande was to piggyback onto the German versions of the games, changing only the language of the text and rules.  This approach allowed them, and others who followed the same process, to flourish.  Publishers like Mayfair, who initially redid the graphics and themes, struggled, because the prices they had to charge were too high (and also because their graphics were inferior).  So it’s this history that makes me dubious about US publishers making such changes.  It’s entirely possible that the market has changed sufficiently to make something like this profitable, but there are smart people behind these companies and I tend to assume they know what they’re doing.

Does the use of a Latin title represent elitism?  I don’t see how; Lookout was only looking for an appropriate name which would maximize sales and that’s the title they chose.  Designer Uwe Rosenberg has discussed the process of naming the game, along with the various choices that were considered, and the gamers they checked with had the most positive response to Agricola.  Maybe this is a reflection of differences in subject matter in secondary schools in Europe and the US.  I know next to no Latin, had never heard the word, and didn’t know what it meant or how to properly pronounce it.  But it didn’t seem to hurt the sales of the game in Europe, as they sold out in Essen last year.  By the time Z-Man got the English language rights, the game was so wildly popular that he would have been a idiot to change the name.  His market for this design is experienced gamers, not families, and their awareness of the title was a much greater factor in their buying than any turnoff over the use of a Latin word.

I’ve never met Rosenberg or Hanno Girke, the owners of Lookout Games, but I’ve corresponded with them and both seem to be very down-to-earth guys; not the sorts who would subconsiously use an high falutin’ term to inflate their self-importance.  I HAVE met Zev Shlasinger, who owns Z-Man, and he seems to be about as non-elitist as a person could be.  All three are also all businessmen and I can’t imagine any of them sacrificing sales for the purpose of showing off their language skills.  Each decided, for different reasons, that Agricola was the title that would allow them to sell the most games and, given its incredible success, I see no reason to doubt the wisdom of their decisions.

My impressions of all those mentioned is the same as Larry’s--definitely no elitism going on here.

In addition, students in the U.S. rank lower than most European (and many Asian) countries’ students these days, so perhaps we should be focusing more on our education system in this country rather than the “elitism” we tend to flaunt in other arenas, notably the Olympics.

I like fun(ny) and exotic sounding game titles released in America! And I’ll add it was also interesting to search out what the hell Agricola meant when I was looking into the game for the first time. I obviously inferred it from the title that it was about farming anyhow. m

When you get into whole sentences in German as a title - I do agree that perhaps finding a clever English term to shift to is sound marketing sense.

I don’t, however, get title changes that would have made no difference to American gamers, like “May Flower” becoming “New World”...I mean, respectfully, what was the rationale behind that??

I think I may have misspoken a bit. What I was inferring is the perception of some to regard such naming as elitist, not that the names in any way were. And, again, if there isn’t money to make the changes, then this is a moot point of discussion.

I think that when the names were tossed around to people to name Agricola, it was people that knew the game already and it wasn’t a concerted effort to see what would fly in America. I can’t argue against the fact that costs will sometimes outweigh the benefits, but when they do not, let’s give a little thought to the market and see beyond those niche game stereotypes.

Grandma Jenkins might show up to that place where Jimmy likes to buy games, but is she going to pick up Thurn and Taxis or Race For the Galaxy? “Those people look funny… what’s that name? Adel Verplech… I think I’ll just get this Hoity Toity… it looks like the same thing.”

I think designers and manufacturers can name games whatever they want. I don’t think it is ever an elitist decision, more of a “what sounds cool and different?” decision. I mean Agricola sounds much cooler than The Farmer to Americans in-the-know.

I try to choose the name that best describes the game and its flavor. If it is a bit funny or sexy and those labels are appropriate for the game, so much the better. I personally don’t see it affecting me, but I wouldn’t mind a pronunciation and definition in the English rules. But I am pseudo-in-the-know… Grandma Jenkins will buy Jimmy the “American game.”