Internationalridicule.co.uk

If you've been looking at the gallery or the pics, and are thinking (hopefully) 'Wow! I want one of those' or 'That'd make a great gift for Auntie Beryl' or some such similar, then please get in touch.

 

However, if you are thinking of having your very own personalised custom-themed set designed from scratch, you might want to consider the following points first….

 

• What do I want as a 'theme' for my board?

This is possibly the most obvious question of all, but it's not a stupid one. When I first started designing these as gifts for friends, numerous themes and attempts were scrapped, reworked, scrapped again and then confined to a folder full half-finished ideas that just wouldn't play out.

 

Some themes just will not work. Others need a lot of thought to make them work as a fully playable set – please remember that it's not just the board itself, but all of the accompanying cards and pieces too.

 

A good example is that I've been working on a Spinal Tap set, on-and-off for 7 years now - you'd think that a movie (and indeed band) that is so rich in characters and material would be a doddle. It's not. It's surprising how many reworkings I've been through on this one. It'd be easy to bung some pics on a template and hope it looks pretty. In my (humble) opinion, things like that are already available on the market. For me, it should have some heart put into it. It should have references throughout the entire set – cards, pieces, everything! – in order to do such a well-known and much-loved (and quoted) piece justice. To the point that if I ever do actually find a way to make it all gel together, it'll have a normal 6 sided dice, and a 5 sided dice (because they'll go up to 11!)

 

On the flip side of the coin is to deviate from popular culture, and to want something truly personal. I've designed boards based on people's lives, relationships, likes and dislikes….which is fine, if they have something of interest to base it on. If you've read this so far, and are thinking "It'd be really awesome to have one…based on my cat!", then you've either not been paying attention, or you'd better hope that your cat has had a really interesting nine lives…. things like this cannot be researched. I can't read the book, watch the movie/show or indeed, read your entry on wikipedia, etc. – i.e. all of my research has to come from you! If it's a gift for a partner/family member/parole visitor, then you need to give me as much information, photos, anecdotes etc in order for me to feature their favourite places, holidays, nights, lifetime achievements etc and what doesn't suit the board can possibly be incorporated into the forfeit/reward cards. I'm not psychic, and have never claimed to be..

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• OK. Got that. How do I know that my theme will fill a whole board?

Well, consider the amount of space first. There's the centre-piece, 28 property squares that can be bought plus 4 corners, 2 fines and 2 things that you would like to use as the forfeit/reward spaces. On top of that, there are the contents of the forfeit/reward cards themselves. Most TV shows, films, bands etc are fairly easy to piece together. If you are going for a film, band or TV show, it would be an idea to let me know if there are any particular characters or songs that you would like featured.

 

However, for personal ones, it really does help if you can give me an insight into the recipient's life – anecdotes, career history, etc – whatever defines them, really. Also, obviously, I need photos for the board and cards. These can be sent by email or file-sending devices like yousendit. There is no minimum size or resolution, as most digital cameras these days take images large enough for me to use. If you do have any queries regarding this, please contact me. All of your photos remain your copyright, and will not be used for any purpose outside of your game. If you have any particular events or photos you wish to be included in your game, please include this in your details – it's not always possible to incorporate every single event, but if I have a list of key features, it helps me to shortlist the essentials.

 

The hardest thing to think about is the content of the forfeit/reward cards. Good examples for the cards are things like nights out that the recipient has had or things that they may have done ("You miss the last bus home – pay £25 taxi fare" or "Dave's stag night at the casino wins big – collect £50 from every player" ), work things ("Your boss promotes you – Collect £45" or "Your computer crashes 5 minutes before you have to give a presentation – go back 3 spaces"), etc – if it's for a partner, it's not uncommon to have the board consist of places you met, holidays, etc – it's up to you. The more information I have, the better (and more personal) I can make your board – but please don't try to send me intimate photos or graphic details of things best left off a family-friendly boardgame, unless you really do want to give Granny a shock at Christmas!

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• Fine. So no dodgy stuff. How long will my board take for you to create?

There is sadly no definite answer to that. It all depends on the theme and the research needed. Some boards have taken me as little as two weeks, other have taken me as long as five months! The sooner you can get the details to me, the better it is. If it is a short-notice job, then I will do my best to accommodate you – again, it all depends on the theme. TV shows, movies and bands I can research. What you got up to on your hen night, I cannot. As much information as soon as you can get it to me, and I'll work my darndest to get it done as soon as possible.

 

It may help you to download a board plan and a fines & rewards list to help you plan your board

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• Can you personalise any board?

Certainly. I can personalise any board for free. You have the option to assign a 'unique number' to your board, usually in the form of a birthday or anniversary or special occasion. The number takes the form of date, month, year – so if you wanted it for someone born on the 12th July 1970, it would read as 120770. This number will be incorporated in a 'Limited Collector's Edition' box that will sit somewhere within the centrepiece of your board (to see examples, please use the navigation in the gallery). We can also put your own photos into the gamecards or even on the board itself – so if you (or a recipient) has ever met some of the stars of the theme, or been to set locations, or even cos-played as a character from your chosen theme, then we can add those into the game somewhere – one example is our Ghostbusters game, where the wife of the man it was for sent us a photo of her husband outside of the actual Ghostbusters Fire House location, giving him an extra surprise when he played the game and turned over that game card! You can also include a little dedication to go onto the back of the rulebook, if you so wished. E.g. "To the best son in the world, happy 14th birthday, love Mum & Dad x"). Send me the wording, and I will incorporate it, no matter how sentimental you may think it is ;)

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• What do I get in each set?

Each set comes boxed, and contains a fully playable board, professionally printed, matt-laminated and mounted onto rigid 5mm foamex board, which can be personalised if you wish (see above). Please note that the boards do not fold, as this is a nigh-on impossibility for me to do with limited print runs and one-off sets. Each board is made to order, and not mass-produced. Besides, it looks nicer not having a crease down your centrepiece. So to speak.

 

You also get:

• 32 themed forfeit/reward cards

• Themed properties

• Themed property 'upgrades'

• 5 counters

• 2 dice

• Themed playing money

• Themed property cards

• Rulebook (personalisation/dedication optional. See above)

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• Ok, now the big question. How much does a set cost?

A standard set is £150 plus shipping via courier - by 'standard', this relates to boards themed solely around researchable subjects such as films, tv shows and bands.

 

For personal boards (based on you or your family, friends, etc) the price varies, depending on how much research and work is required. Please contact me with as much information as possible for a quote.

I can quote shipping cost once I know where you would like it sent, and I do ship internationally if required.

 

All prices cover printing costs for the board, the lid and all the paper parts, the sourcing of pieces and barely a fraction of my time in designing and putting it all together. We do occasionally have deals on our stock, non-personalised boards - for news on those, it's best to follow us on Twitter or like our page on Facebook.

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• I'm buying one as a gift, but I have no idea what theme I want as the recipient is in to everything! Can you help?

You're damn skippy we can help. For that tricky-to-buy-for friend or family member, we also offer a gift-card service. Our gift cards are professionally printed credit-card sized plastic cards, which come with an encasing wallet brandishing the International Ridicule logo and full instructions on how to contact us: Each card has its own unique code number - upon receipt of the gift card, the recipient can decide in their own time what theme they would like for their very own board, email us with the code printed on the card and tell us their theme. We'll then work with them, sending them board plans, game card lists and proofs of each stage in order to create a boardgame that they will love themed to their very own specifications - and they'll have you to thank!

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