The Story of the Game

… is something I would never have given away at that time! It seemed so red hot to me that, after each revision, in strict observance of safety precautions, I locked it away in my secret closet, next to my chewy candies and my savings in the amount of 6.50 German Marks (a rough estimate). But I think that now, after almost 20 years, I can disclose the secret. So, once again …

The Story

Three or four players are playing the role of Kuni of Kuniburg. Four players playing the same character wasn’t something I regarded as problematic then. Thanks to cloning, a couple of years later Dolly the sheep would be in the making anyway.

The objective of the Kuni clones was to save a damsel.
“Not so bad, that story,” I thought to myself. “But there’s more to it!” And so the 3-4 Kunis were also given the task to collect as much gold as possible along the way and eventually find a treasure.
“What a stroke of genius!” I thought and rubbed my hands with delight. “Now the storyline is done!” I felt more than satisfied. Knights and the whole topic of “Middle Ages” were a top issue for me and, in my view, equally attractive for the rest of the world.

The Game Mechanism

Now it got down to the nitty-gritty – the game mechanics. In an issue of the Mickey Mouse comic book series, a game had been presented once where the players roll the dice, move their meeples, and face all kinds of odds, such as “Goofy got stuck in the sink with his long nose while he was brushing his teeth. Now the plumber must come for help. You lose one turn.”
The first one to reach the finish wins the game. Common knowledge.

My game was to revolutionize all conventional rules! So I opted for a 3-sided die instead of a 6-sided one.
“That’s quite something for a start,” I thought while I was sitting in my room, probably hunched over in a position similar to “The Thinker” by Rodin. I knew, however, that this alone wasn’t enough. Therefore, I developed the “Kuni coins,” which allowed the players to skip a field. I was quite certain to have discovered a game element without precedent – at least it hadn’t occurred to the game designers of the Mickey Mouse comic book.

Find the Treasure and Get Rich!

Elaboration

I labeled the special event fields with symbols. For example, the Kunis could periodically stumble over shrubs and roots, which caused the player to lose a turn. Players who lost their coins had to go back three fields.
All things considered, the players arrived at the top of the castle with 2-3 Kuni coins in their pockets. Even in those days, one wouldn’t have been able to buy more than a tin bedpan for it.

“Now there’s only one problem left – who’s gonna write the game rules for me?” Before I reached school age, my brother had already taught me some letters, but my accuracy on a typewriter strongly reminded of throwing darts after having ingested 8 cans of beer. So I finally decided to ask my brother. However, I made it clear from the start that profit sharing with him was not an option for me. His docile and cheerful acceptance looked extremely suspicious to me at the time.

Lastly, I put my 4 plastic Kuni meeples, the paper Kuni coins, my brother’s game rules, and the hand-drawn, DIN A4-format game map into an oversized package (the game components would have fit in it 50 times) – and my creation was accomplished! By the way, it was called “Find the Treasure and Get Rich!” Quite witty, wasn’t it? I guess “Save the Damsel, Look for as Much Gold as Possible Along the Way, and Find the Treasure!” was simply too long for me, notwithstanding the package’s size.

Marketing

Now I only had to somehow launch the game. So I tucked the box of almost my own size under my arm and went to my father. Had there been PowerPoint at that time, my presentation would certainly have taken a slightly more professional course. Given the situation, however, we restricted ourselves to a test game.

After about 2 turns, I already asked him if he was going to take it to an editorial, and what chances he was seeing for the game. I vaguely remember him mumbling something about an ice cream in the refrigerator. When I kept insisting, he said that he recalled already having seen a similar thing somewhere else, but that the approach was really good. With a little bit of editing, one could probably find a slot for it someday. I was actually quite pleased with that! Since then, I haven’t received any updates though …

Now that I think about it – it’s a good moment to go and ask!

Benjamin Teuber

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People have asked me different versions of this question all my life. Everyone who has ever used a rolling pin more or less knows how a baker works, and you don’t need to have a green thumb to know how the workday of a gardener might look like. But in the case of a game inventor this seems to be different. I can actually relate to that – after all, a man doesn’t invent board games all day long.

And that’s why, over the years, people have asked me a certain type of questions time and again. Not that this would bother me. And as we all know, there isn’t such a thing as a stupid question. But there are questions you were asked so many times that it makes you either yawn or laugh.

Yawning might occur when I give my “normal” answer, i.e., the correct answer – which, of course, is the answer I mostly choose, because I want to provide information. But when I offer version 2 of the answer, people are often amused. Since I usually convey the message rather drily, it sometimes takes a few seconds before the uncomprehending frown gives way to an understanding smile.

Well, now you are better prepared for this, dear reader. Below you can find both versions of my answers to my “Favorite FAQ.”

FAQ 1: How does your father work – does he sit at the desk all day long, mulling over new ideas?

The yawn-provoker:
No – he also does a lot of back office work, such as making phone calls, writing e-mails, crafting prototypes, going on business trips, etc. Sometimes I think that he’d rather dedicate more time to the creative part of his work, but the other things also need to be taken care of.

The smile-provoker:
That’s exactly the way it is. He gets up at 8 a. m. in the morning and sits down at his desk. There he rests his head in his hand and simply ponders all day long. On one occasion, I briefly thought, “It’s happening – he just became one with the desk.” But it was only because of some glue that had leaked out of a tube.

FAQ 2: As a child, were you forced to test new games?

Informative:
No, that wouldn’t have made sense. Even when sitting down for a test game, you should be in the mood for it, much the same as when you’re sitting down to play a regular game. There were neither fixed “game days” at home, nor did we have the obligation to join the game. If you didn’t feel like it, you just didn’t participate.

Sometimes I say, as drily as I can:
Yes, on a regular basis. There was a so-called “game laboratory” in the cellar, where we were locked in every day for 6 hours to test new games, without being able to see the sunlight. Naturally, that was a real pleasure. We examined the logical structure and entertainment value of the games, using a check list. I believe that this substantially contributed to the games’ success.

Game test: Benjamin, Klaus, and Guido Teuber

FAQ 3: Do you also like to play other games, or can it only be games made by Teuber?

A Ferrari among the yawn-provokers:
I think that the family of a writer doesn’t only read his books either. Our family loves to play other games, and we always try to at least get to know the novelties of the year. It’s more a question of how much time is available for that.

On a less serious note, I say:
Are you joking? As soon as my friends arrive at the entrance door of our house, my parents search their pockets for non-Teuber games. Finds go directly to the recycling bag, no exceptions made. At the age of 16, I once got caught playing a round of “Risk” – result: pocket money canceled for the time being!

FAQ 4: You surely have invented a game yourself, haven’t you? Do you want to follow in the footsteps of you father?

Run-of-the-mill answer:
You never know what might happen. At some point, I made a couple of attempts, but they somehow fizzled out – it either comes to you or it doesn’t; you can’t push it.

With a touch of irony:
Sure! Everyone knows that game inventing is something you inherit, so what choice do I have?

However, there also are questions I still like to answer in exactly the same way, even after the 1,000th time. Sometimes there’s just no alternative.

FAQ 5: When you were a child, how was it like to have a game inventor as a father?

Great! All the time, we had new games on the shelf, more than we could ever play. Most of the time, there was also someone to test them. A child could hardly wish his father had a better job!

Benjamin Teuber

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