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Watch out! He’s gonna toss the game board and cut your head off!
War On Terror board game seized by police
A War On Terror board game designed in Cambridge has been seized by police who claim the balaclava in the set could be used in a criminal act.
[…]
War on Terror, similar to games like Risk, revolves around creating empires that compete and wage war. But there is a twist – players can poke fun at the rhetoric of world leaders like George Bush and Tony Blair.The game was born from the frustration of its creators as they sat watching the news in the run up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Each player starts as an empire filled with good intentions and a determination to liberate the world from terrorists and from each other. Then the reality of world politics kicks and terrorist states emerge.
Andrew said: “The terrorists can win and quite often do and it’s global anarchy. It sums up the randomness of geo-politics pretty well.”
In their cardboard version of realpolitik George Bush’s “Axis of Evil” is reduced to a spinner in the middle of the board, which determines which player is designated a terrorist state. That person then has to wear a balaclava (included in the box set) with the word “Evil” stitched on to it.
Kent police said they had confiscated the game because the balaclava “could be used to conceal someone’s identity or could be used in the course of a criminal act”.
This is the result of people wearing knit hats.
I don’t know where you live, Mr. Ketchup, but in much of the northern US and Canada, running around in the winter without a warm hat (knit or otherwise) leads to frostbite or worse.
The board game seizure is just plain stupid. The next thing that’ll happen is someone will ban clothing because gangsters wear clothes…and then we’ll really have some frostbite.
And now… the rest of the story.
“The satirical board game was confiscated along with knives, chisels and bolt cutters, from climate protesters during a series of raids near Kingsnorth power station, in Kent, last week.”
So lets see, the coppers aren’t confiscating the game off the store shelves, they only confiscated one from some protesters at a power station along with other ‘protester tools”. Makes sense.
Uncle Dave needs a new name. How about Uncle Titillation. Or Uncle Out of Context. Or Uncle Sensationalism. Or maybe Uncle Stir it Up. Or Uncle Trying to be Funny.
So, #3 is willing to assign dastardly design to every item carried by protesters. Let’s see, that means dangerous shoes, dangerous GPS (one of the worst), and the inevitable dangerous thoughts.
Like most cul-de-sac species, fear is the most important trait of conservitus Americanus.
#2 – Hey Pink, certainly that was tongue-in-cheek.
So they took the game along with:
“knives, chisels and bolt cutters”… items other wise known as kitchen implements, woodworking tools and pliers!
#4 moss
Go back to growing on the north side of a tree. You fail at exaggeration.
#3, Phoney,
So everyone must remove anything that could possibly ever be used by a terrorist or criminal mind? So I guess that means we’re back to eating with our fingers.
#8 Mr. Star Gas Process
Yeah that is exactly what I said, not.
Mr. Faker, that they took the other stuff is irrelevant. Read the last paragraph of the excerpt I posted were the cops specifically mention why the took the game. Perhaps it’s time to change your name to include ‘idiot.’
#10 Uncle Dave
Perhaps you need to exhibit some reading comprehension. The ‘idiot’ would be the cop who made the statement. The ‘idiot’ would be the guy who posts a misleading, sensationalized headline for a topic.
In fact for liberal who is against ‘scary’ police state actions you demonstrate an eerie similarity in technique to the very same propagandists you claim to despise.
Stick a finger up and tell us which way the liberal wind blows today Uncle Idiot.
OmFg, mY lOnG lOsT uNcLe!
Well, I took “an unbiased look” at the link. I think the police acted totally appropriately.
Its a bit hard to tell, but the raid was to collect items that could be used in a terrorist attack. Certainly a face mask regardless of its source would be such an item.
I question if they really took the board game in, or only the mask FROM the board game. The association of the board game with the mask is really irrelevant, which kinda does go along with the headline, which makes the whole thing seem silly=====until you “think” about it.
Its not what the cops police took, its what they gave. They gave a probably stupid ass game worldwide publicity.
Priceless =)
#s 1 – 14
You should know by now that the Prime Directive for headlines on dvorak dot org slash blog is to make the thing as sensationalist as humanly possible, to drive up the hit count. I’ve even heard Mr. C. Dvorak on one of his media outlets (No Agenda, perhas) speak admiringly of National Enquirer headlines, as they pull in the readers. Accuracy, and relevance to the actual story are secondary (and optional). Bring in the eyeballs, drive up the hit count, THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERS, BOYS! (or girls, in Helz’s case). The freakier, the better!
As to the actual story, I don’t see much of a problem with what the cops did. It’s not like they confiscated the game from Buffy and Brett, as they were en route to play a few rounds with Grandma. As Mr. Harvey points out in #3, they took it away from potential eco-terrorists along with knives, chisels and bolt cutters. Sheesh. WTF is wrong with you people. They ban hoodies in some stores, banks, etc. Is everyone who wears a hoodie an armed robber? Of course not. Is everyone carrying a balaclava a terrorist? No. But when you find the balaclava among the posessions of self-admitted “protesters” who also just happen to be carrying tools good for little else than criminal mischief, better safe than sorry.
Christ, it’s not like they confiscated a house or a Lamborghini. It was a fricking $5.99 board game. Kinda like confiscating the bandana Jesse James used when robbing banks, because it “could be used in a criminal act”, after catching him with six-shooters, maps of the bank vault, etc.. Big woop.
Ach Mein Gott! I agree with mustard for once. Quick pass me a bratwurst.
I never even heard about this game until I read about it on slashdot, waited 24 hours for the slashdot effect to wear off the site, and get a chance to see it. I’m always a fan of Risk-based games, but when I saw the US price tag I figured I’d hold off for now.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the game itself in my mind, in fact, it’s a decent satirical game with a bit of a twist on the old-school rules of Risk.
My take is that the officers saw it as tasteless, injecting their political ideals into how the enforce the laws on the books, and cited the balaclava itself being a danger to society, despite them being sold elsewhere and easily accessible.
The most insidious aspect of the “War On Terror” board game is that sometimes the terrorists win, and anyone who even allows for that possibility gives aid and comfort to our enemies. We should probably start making a list of people who own the game.
#17 Freyar. I’m with you. Now I’m interested in the game. Not to mention buying some knives, chisels and bolt cutters, taking off my clothes to prove I’m not a terrorist (ala #2 & #4), and running around my neighborhood.
IF it was a yamika (sp?) israel would cry as always and the creators would have been shot.
Hmmmm… seems like the terrible, misleading, sensational headline gave you guys a lot of entertainment arguing with each other. Isn’t that pretty much what DU is all about?
#21–hopper==From what JCD has said==this site is to “point out” the ludicrous and silly, not be that itself.
#21 – hhopper
If attention-grabbing headlines are the primary goal of the site, maybe you should try some like “Wooly Mammoth Brought Back to Life F&cks John C. Dvorak in the *ss With Huge Prehistoric Dildo”. Bet that would get a lot of clicks! Even if it never happened.
In any case, I realize that [Eds.] have to do what they’re told to do, and what they’re told to do is to come up with sensationalistic headlines in order to draw in the eyeballs and the clicks.
You’re busted, so let’s move on.
Hey, I read the shit no matter how goofy the headline.
I’ll see if I can work your headline in somewhere.
#23: Actually, we have very little direction other than occasionally what not to do. John does like good, attention grabbing headlines so people read the articles, but what exactly about this headline is incorrect? Based on what the cop said, isn’t it true?
“War on Terror, similar to games like Risk, revolves around creating empires that compete and wage war. But there is a twist – players can poke fun at the rhetoric of world leaders like George Bush and Tony Blair.”
The true terror weapon: a sharp, well-turned cutting remark…
#25 – Unc D.
Yeah, yeah, I’m just busting your b*lls, Unc.
Other than the fact that what was seized wasn’t really a “knit cap” (it was a full-face balaclava, commonly known among bank robbers, murderers, rapists, thieves, and terrorists in America as a “ski mask”), the headline wasn’t all that bad.
Uncle Out of Context seems to fit Uncle Dave like a snug balaclava.
I mean weren’t you guys declaring that the USA is now a police state because of what happened to the famous “Don’t Taze Me, Bro” guy?
oh no.. seize my mother! People can use her pantyhose, pull that over their heads, and commit criminal acts it too!