Dad's Gaming Addiction

For those of you not familiar with the fairy tale, “Emperor’s New Clothes” is about two swindlers who create clothes for the emperor so grand that they are invisible to anyone unfit for his position, among other things.  The emperor dons the invisible clothes and suspects something is amiss, but doesn’t want to appear unfit or “stupid” himself by saying so.  While his ministers and the townsfolk also go along with the pretense, one little boy (who is innocent of such things) decides to speak up and point out that there really is no special clothing on the emperor.  It’s this classic tale by Hans Christian Andersen that inspired the development of “Emperor’s New Clothes”, a board game by Jonathan Liu (from “GeekDad”).

Emperor’s New Clothes

As of 3/11/13, the game has exceeded its Kickstarter goal and still has twenty-one days left to go.  I must admit however that this campaign is probably the most unusual I’ve ever seen.  Take a moment and have a look…

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/springboard/emperors-new-clothes

A bit cryptic, no?  The links to the rulebook and print and play pages are blank, the components from the tutorial video appear to be blank…but are they really?  Could this all be some elaborate hoax or trolling session?  The game itself is powered by GameSalute and in a recent update, Jonathan assures his backers that this campaign is not a hoax.  If it’s the real deal, then what is it?  Perhaps this might help (*snicker*): 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0qGqCRB7EQ&feature=player_embedded#!

I’m not sure about you, but this tutorial video reminds me of when Captain Kirk attempted to teach “Fizzbin” to the gangsters on Sigma Iotia II.  (There’s a reference you kids are sure to get.)  At any rate, Jonathan promises a big reveal on April 1st.  It’s worth noting again that the game is inspired by the classic fairy tale of the same name…perhaps there’s more to it than meets the eye?

Whatever the case, it’s worth checking out.