Tom, I have the pleasure of sharing a relationship with this game’s creator, and this review was the absolute funniest thing to experience. Cathartic almost. You’ve expressed every sentiment I’ve had about the game (and the creator)
I dont mean to be so offtopic but does anybody know a way to get back into an Instagram account?? I was dumb forgot the password. I appreciate any help you can offer me
Can't believe there was a successful Kickstarter campaign for this project. In the appeal video, the designer leads off with "You look at all the games out there, and they're all politically correct ... there's no winners and losers." I don't even know where to start with that one.
7 years later. Now, to be fair, if you ignore the outliers in the game market that include winners and losers(which is literally EVERY GAME IN EXISTENCE) there would be no games that have winners and losers.
I assumed that the whole game was designed to be an anti-capitalist parable, and intentionally knocked-off Monopoly as a meta joke in reference to its inspiration, The Landlord's Game, which was itself created to teach about the dangers of monopolization. But then I read the website and realized none of that's true.
While I'm not a fan of 'politically correct' censorship, at this point I tend to have a worse view of anti-pc whiners. Nobody's making anybody be politically correct. You're just going to be judged if you don't do it. That's life. deal with it.
@@llyrghmnghyll A literal quote form the game's website and one I agree having read the page and listened to Tom's review: "I've been called recalcitrant, incorrigible, fatuous, and sophomoronic (as well as other unprintable adjectives) - with good reason."
I don't know why everyone is trying to defend the designer in these comments. This guy sent Tom the game to get it reviewed, its not like this was the designers private game design that he only plays with his friends and then Tom went and acquired a copy of it with the sole purpose of calling the designer a moron. He willingly put his design up for public scrutiny, and scrutiny was given.
Great review, with one disagreement. I think the minimalist design of the box is actually alright, it works for a dark-humored party game theme. However, everything inside of the box is embarrassingly awful. Terrible gameplay, sprinkled with lowbrow d-bag humor that I suspect might appeal to the Duck Dynasty audience.
At least the look is very, very consistent. Limited color palette, eveything recilinear, same typeface, no unnecessary visual cluter .... managed to avoid many of the sterotypical amateurish design mistakes ... and yet still look awful.
I'm so confused, why are there a good amount of people defending this game in the comments? I don't even play board games, but it doesn't take much more than basic logic and thinking skills to see how absurdly broken and unbalanced this game is. It doesn't matter if its self published, a poorly designed piece of garbage that isn't worth your time is a poorly designed piece of garbage that isn't worth your time. It doesn't matter how hard someone tried in the slightest if this is the end result.
The best part is that "forever" is not hyperbole, that is granting that the players are "playing to win" (which I suspect few actual players would bother to by the point it matters, if they even get there)
some of those cards would be considered hazing on most college campuses, some raw bully sounding stuff too! I am glad you let them have it Tom, the game designer really needs to get out more. sounds like monopoly and cut throat caverns had a baby and Burnie Madoff was the play tester/publisher.
This is, perhaps, the best review that Tom has ever done. Period. At the end where he loses it and throws the box, I could just watch that and it would still be the Best. Review. Ever. I know you wasted your time Tom but, it was worth it for us :)
"Pay $1,000 fine or do 25 pushups as a penance. I guess I'll pay the money." Classic Vasel quote. On par with "You challenge me to a game of knuckles, you automatically win, buddy."
you shouldnt really be approving of someone who isnt capable of doing that physical feat - sorry but all the Dicetower nerds need to go outside and do something PHYSICAL for a while rather than dissing someones attempt at a game
@@skyblazeeterno You're comment is pretty pathetic to be honest. Taking shots at "nerds" because you have a problem with the fact that this game is thought of as absolutely terrible? There are plenty of non-"nerds" who could probably use some more exercise if they want to be the pinnacle of health. Though no one needs to be that so long as they are healthy overall, do they? Beside that, however, this game is very, very bad and says very bad things about people and what is considered funny. I hate the type of jokes that this game goes for, they are disgusting and far from funny, and they deserve to be called out for what they are. Trash. Tom has every right to be mad at it, and much of his video was for comedic purposes, even if he does truly hate the game.
I would argue that Oregon Trail Card Game is moreso the Big Rigs of boardgames since that game can be at least enjoyably bad for like one or two plays.
Hahaha that was terrible. Not the review, but the game! I think doing the review was a great move and made so many good points that I could not even count them. These lessons are occasionally needed.
Quote from the website: Patricia continues: "We really got into it. My husband (a CPA and head of purchasing for the town of Ridgefield) drew a nasty money card that made us all move to the left and play each other's hand. I inherited his awful hand with zero stock and hardly any money, then he promptly forgot who was who and moved my piece on his turn. I didn't discover it until my turn. My daughter made him go back and undo everything he did on that turn (he bought stock and all kinds of things). It was pretty funny. And that is one of the game's charms, it brings out "fun" things in people. How the hell is that bringing the fun out in people? www.oneupmanship.com/
Umm, Tom... Did you really play this with Sam? I... would like to hear his opinion on this "game" too. Please. I consider offering a payment. Please :O
He needs to review it. How about we all just assume he likes it better that Twilight Imperium unless he does review it. That might push him into reviewing this thing :)
Gamers Grind Although the idea is funny, it might be too crass and laughably to take serious. We have to think of something better.... Every day he doesn't review it we buy one copy of the game to feed the designer money? Of course we use it for the chimney, not actually play it...
Only reason to get that game is if you get into a debate with someone on what a horrible game is and you can pull this one out as proof of what a truly horrible game is like.
They want $50 for that POS?!?!? I mean you can buy monopoly all day long for less than $15. You can buy Agricola, Puerto Rico, Dominion, etc. for less than what they want for this! The sad thing is this is what $5,000 from kickstarter bought you! REALLY!!!!! $5,000!!!!! OMG!!!! What did he spend the $5,000 on?!?!? Hey bottom line, just because it sounds cool on kickstarter doesn't mean it's going to be cool! Only contribute to time tested kickstarters, like....oh....IKD.......DICETOWER! Thanks again Tom for a honest review.
I am seriously stunned here. Someone actually may of topped my attempt at coming up with the World's Worst Boardgame (W.W.B), at having something worse. I am not sure what else can be said here about it.
I'm sure there is a serious health code violation with including those "bitter pills". Not to mention I didn't see a single choaking hazard label for the dice and other small objects in the game. This is not only the worst game ever but a lawsuit just waiting to happen. What makes me think he didn't incorporate before releasing this game?
VisionThing did it occur to you while writing your comment that an unmarked prescription bottle in a game sets a bad precedent for children? Or that, maybe, it's a BAD IDEA IN GENERAL?!
Games like this actually hurts this hobby more than you think. I'm pretty sure that games like this probably will end up in an office or something. And all non gamer people is going to think that boardgames haven't progressed at all. I hate this kind of games! They hurt the hobby so so much!
These games don't hurt the hobby. They won't even get much past his local town for sales. They will just take up garage space in the guys garage. That would be like saying bad movies hurt the movie industry. A ton of bad movies have been made but they still make good ones and people still go see them.
This is such a messed up industry when the most popular game of all is more than 100 years old, and some new clueless designers try to emulate that terrible 100 years old game. The equivalent would be filmmakers trying to make a career with black and white slapstick films in 2014.
The game you're referring to isn't terrible. It's antiquated, sure, but there's a solid, and fun, trading game core to it that's simply within a rusty framework. And if you don't play with house rules it's broadly balanced in such a way that the game drifts towards the end condition of it's own occord. I wouldn't say it's good, but, certainly not terrible, and I'd hesitate to even say it's bad. This one, on the other hand? Based on that review... Yeah, no.
It's so odd. I don't think I've ever seen a product made by someone that exposes so much about the kind of person they are and the values have without providing at least a scrap of something to empathize with. I genuinely can't look at this game and feel anything but mild distaste for the game and its creator. Like, this game has a rule that means that the game only ends when people give up and don't want to play anymore, and most of the mechanics are indirectly based around the desire for domination and power over others. It's brutish, cruel, and extremely afraid of the idea of being vulnerable while in a position of power. I really, really dislike the implications of the victor being determined by who gets tired of being in the environment that this game puts you in last. Also, this game was recently featured in a youtube video by an account named Kam Sandwich, who is running a tournament for bad boardgames; your video here is one of the few sources of information on the game that I can find.
Read in AVGN music tone :He rather have monopoly, playing checks with thumbtacks into his ears, he is the angriest boardgamer you've ever heard, he is the angry monopoly nerd, he is the angry boardgame nerd!
Wut...the...heck, Why does this exist? Why was this thought to be funny. This isn't even a good parody game or troll game. It took some afternoon with word i'm sure. My designed game looks like TI3 compared to this, but then again anything would be. Nothing makes sense at all. I as a hopeful designer would consult and playtest everything from the idea to the components. My head hurts now
For a few minutes I thought it must be April Fools and Tom is playing an elaborate joke. I can't believe someone would find this game enjoyable in the slightest. I wouldn't even give it to someone I don't like for fear they might want to play it with me someday.
This is just a really horrible mashup of two old games Monopoly and Stock Market Game (Published in 1968 by Western Publishing Co.) with a few stolen party game rules. Neither core games are great games but I would play Stock Market over Monopoly, but this mashup is disgusting.
17:11 Even the newer video games that are retro styled to look like they're from an 8 bit or 16 bit console apply modern game design. The good ones, at least.
Skyblaze eterno has to be the designer of this game, nobody could be this invested or butthurt with this to post this many replies. Get over it man! The game sucks!
Correction: It aspires to one day suck but that will require a 40 pg errata that no one will ever read. Forget that, this entire game *is* one giant errata. It should have just been named: "Cautionary example."
I came here to watch the review because the dudebro who made this game finally saw this review, 7 years after it was posted, and issued a statement about this review and boardgamers in general that is just as shitty as his game. Watching this review hurt me on so many levels. I was thinking of getting as a joke. But, jokes are funny, this game looks hideous. I also don't want to give the dudebro that made it any money.
You mean the pretentious twit who made this thing actually managed to discover a place where actually good games exist and he still can't figure out why his game is trash? *sigh*
Thank you for making this video. The game really seams terrible. Some people are defending it, but anyone can enjoy a game even if it is terrible. I would rather play Monopoly even though that isn't a good game either. I enjoyed how the video was turned into a what not to do video. Keep up the good work.
Those pills are SUCH a stupid idea. Forget mechanically, just imagine someone buying that game in a garage sale 20 years from now and go to swallow the bitter pill whatever it is. I am actually surprised the FDA doesn't smack this guy down for having candy or whatever it is without telling people what it is.
Gamers Grind They could also contain a experience-enhancing substance which could improve the expirence of playing the game. Joke aside - it's probally the dummest idea ever used in a board game. FDA would probally do something if they knew, but I don't think they expect board games to contain "bitter pills".
You wouldn't believe the intro to this game in their website: "ONEUPMANSHIP is a beautifully-designed grownup board game that's not only wicked, cutthroat fun, it's also a witty and irreverent lifestyle accessory/wry political statement." "Beautifully-designed"? Hahahahahaha.......
Just an overall feeling of sadness for this guy. More importantly I feel so bad for his wife, kids and family who he forces this game on unable to accept that it's a pile of garbage while they have to pretend to be having fun. Let it go man, play good games. Don't torture those you love.
Excellent video Tom. I love that Tom said several times he wasn't kidding about the rules. I thought he was kidding a few times before I remembered. Steal someone's stocks! Buy as much as you want for the lowest and KEEP THE CARD! Bankrupt to make other player get bankrupt!? I was also frightened by your anger at the end. I can't imagine how angry my friends and I would be if we had played this game. I've only gotten mad at 2 games ever and it was something similar to "if this one thing happens, you win the entire game".
Why do I feel like this was meant to be a parody of bad game design? The similarities to Monopoly are too strong for me to believe this was legitimate.
I got that impression too - Tom doesnt get the joke and only sees Monopoly in this which is the kicking boy for modern gamers who somehow think its crap
skyblaze eterno I would think that i "get" the joke. I just don't find it the least bit funny. And bad game design is still bad game design. Harshly punishing the person at the top never feels good, and giving people the chance to just say "nope, you don't win" is not good game design either. It's just annoying. Also, while a bit of randomness is fine in a game, for a longer game, when it mainly just comes down to chance it just ends up being frustrating. You need a degree of "controlled" randomness, the ability to manipulate the odds, otherwise you might as well not play the game. There is a reason why the straight up roll & move game is a dying breed outside of games aimed at a very young audience, and that's because people have found better ways of making games. Game design evolves, and ideas that don't work well gets thrown to the wayside, while good ideas gets implemented in more games.
AFnord roll and move is STILL a legitimate game mechanic - "better" is just an opinion Chess has been around for ages yet has NO randomness...sorry but your opinions are just that...opinions
Tom quit playing this game and I lasted about 7 minutes into the video to get a laugh about it, but it ended up just being really sad. Awful mechanics, art and materials and ripped off monopoly's look. If this game had been a home brewed alcohol it would have killed someone. Was it a joke?
Hahahaha on the component drop I couldn't help buit laugh out loud. This looks like prime "Print & Play -> Straight to the trash" material... but they asked money for this? Seriously? Also, usually I find it funny and like seeing Tom get angry, this time he looked like he was not even playful angry. Genuine hatred for a game. Scary. But thanks for the review Tom! I'll try not to design my game that way then :D
I always come back to watch this video Tom, cause since i saw it i thought i can do better than that, and i ve been trying in my spare time to do it. I am testing my game today i hope it does well thank you for this video and all your effort, its the passion that you had in this video that inspired me. thank you.
I've been working on a game myself. At the moment, it's still in rough draft/test play phase. And by rough draft test play phase, I mean that I have been using playing cards in sleeves with Post It notes for the new information. From what I have seen of Oneupmanship, those Post It notes are a massive step up. I have to admit that I'm glad that Tom reviewed this if only so it can serve as a lesson to game designers out there about what not to do.
but reviewing a SELF PUBLISHED game is far different from reviewing a game from an established publisher Want to know why games have well designed boxes and components? Because its been financed, its been invested in - a tiny self financed game CANNOT compete in terms of presentation - simple fact
skyblaze eterno A well-designed game does not mean a nice box and wooden components all over the place. Mechanisms are the be-all-end-all of board games, components come only after. Once you understand this, your designs might get better in the future.
skyblaze eterno "it's self published, it's self published, it's self published" so fucking what? We should make exceptions when a self published "game" like this essentially plagiarizes a game from the 70's? If that's your argument then here's my rebuttal, piss off.
The stockmarket slider mechanic, complete with stocks that go up and stocks that go down indifferent directions, is direct from John Sands "Stock Market Game."
At first I thought it looked like a cheap monopoly clone then when I saw the components I thought I was caught in a time loop back to the 1970's - shudder
Even the money and cards in Monopoly's WWII pack looked nicer than the ones here, and _those_ were plain and cheap _on purpose_ because of the war shortages.
JoeyjojoShabadoo7 actually I think thats poor advice....there IS a reason why modern gamers HATE Monopoly...its been HYPER successful...oh they can bleat about game design and original mechanics...but NOTHING new has shifted units like Monopoly - despite its flaws still has many features that game designers SHOULD emulate...near universal appeal, simple to understand goal, cutesy components...zero reliance on some nerd sub-culture threme
JoeyjojoShabadoo7 but thats only YOUR opinion and its not even a constructed argument at all (hardly surprising) - if Monopoly was soooo bad it would NEVER have shifted so many units Here is WHY Monopoly has sold and done so well - 1 - universal theme which ironically gets specialised for countries and regions and even other licenses 2- it has a simple to understand objective...monopolise the board and grind your opponents bankrupt 3 - cutesy pieces there IS something about the pieces the houses and hotels... 4 - its simple to grasp...so simple its at brain dead level 5 - it cuts across all age groups so it has a roll and move mechanic - big deal - its a GAME ffs - part of a game is accepting the randomness of it Now if you look at modern games which have been big too thats only Catan and Ticket To Ride they have similar aspects Hate Monopoly all you want its probably going to be around for another 100 years while the current hip flavour of the month has disappeared into further obscurity
Wow...sorry to offend LOL...take it easy. I'll have to respectfully disagree, however. Monopoly is outdated. Plain and simple. So many better games nowadays. The only reason people still play it is because of its past success, or because they are young, or because they haven't been introduced to better, more complex strategy games yet (or some combination of these).
Also, the point Tom was trying to make, and that I agree with, wasn't necessarily that Monopoly is a bad game (though I think it's boring and simple), but rather that this creator essentially mimicked Monopoly almost entirely in every way, with a bunch of new (and terrible) rules added.
The fact that this game was produced gives me a lot of hope that one of my ideas may be a real game someday. If that guys publisher needs something to make up for this one, tell them to give me a call.
Michael Murphy thats what I hate about this review - Tom is basically dissing the presentaion - which is admittedly a bit crap - I'd like to see OTHER people publish a game for that low amount - Its SELF PUBLISHED FFS - you want decent non copyrighted artwork - you have to pay for it - you want decent mone/notes again you have to pay for it
skyblaze eterno There are free art programs like GIMP and Inkscape, in which one could at least design a decent looking game, and not something that was lazily made in one hour.
I could probably design something better in Excel and print it out on my $30 photo printer. Actually I kind of have done that. Just didn't print on quality card stock. Shoved the plain paper into sleeves for a prototype.
+skyblaze eterno One he took others money to put this out two the game is still bad in all ways and 3 self made does not mean lack of art 50 shades got some stander art so why not this
"Stop playing this game, go play poker, and then come back." Okay, rule #1 for game designers: Don't require your players to go play a different game in the middle of this one! If they wanted to be playing poker, THEY WOULD ALREADY BE PLAYING POKER!
wait: This deluxe version includes 4 custom pawns, a Scarlet Letter "B" pin, and a vial of "Bitter Pills". Nice package. Wait a sec... we're also going to throw in a limited-edition "Man Up." t-shirt. Deluxe edition. It's a deluxe edition... oh god.
flaming tomtato for those who read this comment and wonder what the custom pawns are, they are as follows: A plastic soldier A shell casing from a bullet A bottle cap A rock
The only thing I can think is this is game is meant to be satire of some sort. Like, it's making fun of Wall Street, or trying to say something about how pointless stock trading and financial markets are... But in reality they just made a really terrible game.
"Get the humour?" ... ... Um ... ... No. This reminds me of one good piece of humour, though, on the back of the box for Dominion. It says, "Your parents wouldn't be proud, but your grandparents, on your mother's side, would be delighted."
I made a monopoly full of inside jokes for Some friends. I actually did design it all in word and excel but even I managed to at least print the money in different collors lol, what is this?
The legend says it was Tom himself that designed this game, then trashed it so much in this video to give it infamous cult status, then watch the price go up and sell it at auctions while twirling his mustache (I'm kidding of course)
I had to google this game to see if Tom got trolled or not but no he has a full website. The one positive review he quoted was from apparently is local town paper. which plugged a special discount coupon code so it smelled more of an infomercial of a sort. But a lot of great games came out of the 70s including Cosmic Encounter among others. I doubt this thing would have done well in the 70s either.
I feel like this is some kind of meta-practical joke, like the designers really hate board games so they created this so they could laugh at us for playing it...but that's probably giving them too much credit.
Tom, this is not a game. It's a kind of a prank,really, it's not supposed to be played but is supposed to be satire on the culture of the super rich and the 1%. I would guess that they just googled 'boardgame reviewer' and sent it to the top one who came out as a joke, thinking there's no chance you really would take it seriously. On their website, in the video they explain the rules they say: "the bottom line is size matters, money and greed is good, being a winner is much better than being a loser so come and be part of our wonderful capitalist world" and start cracking up. I think you should consider removing the video. Not because you didn't 'get it' - not at all. I think you're an earnest guy and this video shows how seriously you take your job and how much you love boardgames. But I think it's misleading to treat this as a game and to think that there's any aspiring game designer that would anything like that, I don't think the lessons to be learned here are about game design.
Tom, I have the pleasure of sharing a relationship with this game’s creator, and this review was the absolute funniest thing to experience. Cathartic almost. You’ve expressed every sentiment I’ve had about the game (and the creator)
He’s a total “bro” isn’t he? Lol
@@caseydraven not saying that I would, but doesn't his face seem punchable?
Oof. Scathing.
Kinda torn here, I like me some good box inserts.
I dont mean to be so offtopic but does anybody know a way to get back into an Instagram account??
I was dumb forgot the password. I appreciate any help you can offer me
😂😂😂
@misaelzahir75 Fake comment scam lol.
Oh hi Tom! This is "The Room" of boardgames. This is tearing me apart.
That actually made me lol. Good job.
I was already smirking during the video, but this totally got me. =D
Can't believe there was a successful Kickstarter campaign for this project. In the appeal video, the designer leads off with "You look at all the games out there, and they're all politically correct ... there's no winners and losers." I don't even know where to start with that one.
7 years later. Now, to be fair, if you ignore the outliers in the game market that include winners and losers(which is literally EVERY GAME IN EXISTENCE) there would be no games that have winners and losers.
Dude's clearly never played a game of Red Dragon Inn with my family we get RUTHLESS
I think they still make games with winners in them lmao
I assumed that the whole game was designed to be an anti-capitalist parable, and intentionally knocked-off Monopoly as a meta joke in reference to its inspiration, The Landlord's Game, which was itself created to teach about the dangers of monopolization.
But then I read the website and realized none of that's true.
+David Andersson That website gives d-bags a bad name.
I saw a video featuring the creator. apparently, he got tired of the "politically correct, water down games" out in the market now.
While I'm not a fan of 'politically correct' censorship, at this point I tend to have a worse view of anti-pc whiners. Nobody's making anybody be politically correct. You're just going to be judged if you don't do it. That's life. deal with it.
@@llyrghmnghyll A literal quote form the game's website and one I agree having read the page and listened to Tom's review:
"I've been called recalcitrant, incorrigible, fatuous, and sophomoronic (as well as other unprintable adjectives) - with good reason."
Hey, wussy doesn't start with p.....ohhhhhh...
Don't confuse the designer's sociopathic and twisted values for attempts at humor.
I am really glad you did this review. It has brought me such joy over the years. I watch it at least once a week.
Steven Loomis LOL!
"The only winning move is not to play."
I don't know why everyone is trying to defend the designer in these comments. This guy sent Tom the game to get it reviewed, its not like this was the designers private game design that he only plays with his friends and then Tom went and acquired a copy of it with the sole purpose of calling the designer a moron. He willingly put his design up for public scrutiny, and scrutiny was given.
Because the designer is a genius.
This was one of the actual oneupmanship Kickstarter Stretch Goals:
"At $10,000 - Are you kidding me? We'll take the money and run!"
I actually hope they had done that rather than making something like this...
So that's where all the humor went! The poor guy didn't have any left for the actual game.
Genius
The stock price mechanic is lifted straight from the Stock Market Game from the 1960s. The stock price movement squares even look the same.
Great review, with one disagreement. I think the minimalist design of the box is actually alright, it works for a dark-humored party game theme.
However, everything inside of the box is embarrassingly awful. Terrible gameplay, sprinkled with lowbrow d-bag humor that I suspect might appeal to the Duck Dynasty audience.
At least the look is very, very consistent. Limited color palette, eveything recilinear, same typeface, no unnecessary visual cluter .... managed to avoid many of the sterotypical amateurish design mistakes ... and yet still look awful.
We're coming up on 10 years since this was published, meaning Tom will have to talk about this game again in his Lookback videos...
10 year loockback on this game just dropped
I'm so confused, why are there a good amount of people defending this game in the comments? I don't even play board games, but it doesn't take much more than basic logic and thinking skills to see how absurdly broken and unbalanced this game is. It doesn't matter if its self published, a poorly designed piece of garbage that isn't worth your time is a poorly designed piece of garbage that isn't worth your time. It doesn't matter how hard someone tried in the slightest if this is the end result.
Time: forever
Gametype: Not
LOL that is great!
The best part is that "forever" is not hyperbole, that is granting that the players are "playing to win" (which I suspect few actual players would bother to by the point it matters, if they even get there)
some of those cards would be considered hazing on most college campuses, some raw bully sounding stuff too! I am glad you let them have it Tom, the game designer really needs to get out more. sounds like monopoly and cut throat caverns had a baby and Burnie Madoff was the play tester/publisher.
This is, perhaps, the best review that Tom has ever done. Period. At the end where he loses it and throws the box, I could just watch that and it would still be the Best. Review. Ever. I know you wasted your time Tom but, it was worth it for us :)
7 dislikes from the designer and family lol
And now we don't even get to see them... thanks TH-cam
As far as I’m concerned this is a TH-cam classic.
"Pay $1,000 fine or do 25 pushups as a penance. I guess I'll pay the money." Classic Vasel quote. On par with "You challenge me to a game of knuckles, you automatically win, buddy."
you shouldnt really be approving of someone who isnt capable of doing that physical feat - sorry but all the Dicetower nerds need to go outside and do something PHYSICAL for a while rather than dissing someones attempt at a game
skyblaze eterno
Chill out bro.
skyblaze eterno lol you seem to be supporting this game. Are you the designer by any chance? :P
skyblaze eterno the key word here being "attempt". Timmy boy failed HORRIBLY at his attempt.
@@skyblazeeterno You're comment is pretty pathetic to be honest. Taking shots at "nerds" because you have a problem with the fact that this game is thought of as absolutely terrible? There are plenty of non-"nerds" who could probably use some more exercise if they want to be the pinnacle of health. Though no one needs to be that so long as they are healthy overall, do they?
Beside that, however, this game is very, very bad and says very bad things about people and what is considered funny. I hate the type of jokes that this game goes for, they are disgusting and far from funny, and they deserve to be called out for what they are. Trash. Tom has every right to be mad at it, and much of his video was for comedic purposes, even if he does truly hate the game.
This was absolutely brilliant.
How to annihilate something in a review without coming across a dick head. Well done :).
Wow, angry Tom at the end there! I felt genuine fear then! :P
This is the Big Rigs of boardgames.
that damn fly though.
What happens when you go in reverse?
IUnderstoodThatReference.gif
themaster408 i.imgur.com/XS5LK.gif but did you?
I would argue that Oregon Trail Card Game is moreso the Big Rigs of boardgames since that game can be at least enjoyably bad for like one or two plays.
Hello! I’m from the future! The dude bro-ness of this game is crazy annoying and unfunny.
Not even worth proper component drop...
Hahaha that was terrible. Not the review, but the game! I think doing the review was a great move and made so many good points that I could not even count them. These lessons are occasionally needed.
not really its like comparing a go-kart made by an individual to a Rolls Royce
skyblaze eterno Wrong analogy. In both of those vehicles you can have fun. However in this game... mostly improbable.
Quote from the website:
Patricia continues:
"We really got into it. My husband (a CPA and head of purchasing for the town of Ridgefield) drew a nasty money card that made us all move to the left and play each other's hand. I inherited his awful hand with zero stock and hardly any money, then he promptly forgot who was who and moved my piece on his turn. I didn't discover it until my turn. My daughter made him go back and undo everything he did on that turn (he bought stock and all kinds of things). It was pretty funny. And that is one of the game's charms, it brings out "fun" things in people.
How the hell is that bringing the fun out in people?
www.oneupmanship.com/
The pill bottle was just the icing on the cake.
I hope to see this game in the intro to the next "Board Game Breakfast" ....being placed in the toaster....or microwave.
So, did they even bother to change the stock values for the game they ripped off. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3887/stock-market-game
Tom, what have you done! This review could turn this game into a cult success. Like an Ed Wood movie. It's so bad you have to play it once.
Usually I would agree, but this is bad-bad, not B movie bad.
Derrick Marais who is Ed Wood?
He was a movie writer and director with more passion than ability. Or budget. Search out "Plan 9 from Outer Space".
Tor Iver Wilhelmsen good god, just the NAME sounds atrocious.
So right, part of me wants to buy this game now, Damn you Tom and your passionate rage making this game so alluring!
Umm, Tom... Did you really play this with Sam?
I... would like to hear his opinion on this "game" too. Please. I consider offering a payment. Please :O
OMG Sam's reaction would been pure gold if Tom got this angry at a game.
Yessssss. Please, Sam, tell us what you think about this game :o
He needs to review it. How about we all just assume he likes it better that Twilight Imperium unless he does review it. That might push him into reviewing this thing :)
Gamers Grind Although the idea is funny, it might be too crass and laughably to take serious. We have to think of something better.... Every day he doesn't review it we buy one copy of the game to feed the designer money? Of course we use it for the chimney, not actually play it...
Only reason to get that game is if you get into a debate with someone on what a horrible game is and you can pull this one out as proof of what a truly horrible game is like.
They want $50 for that POS?!?!? I mean you can buy monopoly all day long for less than $15. You can buy Agricola, Puerto Rico, Dominion, etc. for less than what they want for this! The sad thing is this is what $5,000 from kickstarter bought you! REALLY!!!!! $5,000!!!!! OMG!!!! What did he spend the $5,000 on?!?!?
Hey bottom line, just because it sounds cool on kickstarter doesn't mean it's going to be cool! Only contribute to time tested kickstarters, like....oh....IKD.......DICETOWER! Thanks again Tom for a honest review.
afk9dude WARNING: TAKE A SEAT. FINAL WARNING.
The official website... is charging $99.
Best
Review
Ever
(but actually, I quite like the box....)
I like it to... If the game was a serious skill game with elegant design it might fit....
Why couldn't this have been a Miami Dice review? Sam would have reached through the camera and strangled the designers.
I am seriously stunned here. Someone actually may of topped my attempt at coming up with the World's Worst Boardgame (W.W.B), at having something worse. I am not sure what else can be said here about it.
I'm sure there is a serious health code violation with including those "bitter pills". Not to mention I didn't see a single choaking hazard label for the dice and other small objects in the game. This is not only the worst game ever but a lawsuit just waiting to happen. What makes me think he didn't incorporate before releasing this game?
James Mathe Watch out so you won't choke on the dice or die of the pills! Dangerous world.
VisionThing did it occur to you while writing your comment that an unmarked prescription bottle in a game sets a bad precedent for children? Or that, maybe, it's a BAD IDEA IN GENERAL?!
Games like this actually hurts this hobby more than you think. I'm pretty sure that games like this probably will end up in an office or something. And all non gamer people is going to think that boardgames haven't progressed at all. I hate this kind of games! They hurt the hobby so so much!
These games don't hurt the hobby. They won't even get much past his local town for sales. They will just take up garage space in the guys garage. That would be like saying bad movies hurt the movie industry. A ton of bad movies have been made but they still make good ones and people still go see them.
This is such a messed up industry when the most popular game of all is more than 100 years old, and some new clueless designers try to emulate that terrible 100 years old game. The equivalent would be filmmakers trying to make a career with black and white slapstick films in 2014.
The game you're referring to isn't terrible. It's antiquated, sure, but there's a solid, and fun, trading game core to it that's simply within a rusty framework. And if you don't play with house rules it's broadly balanced in such a way that the game drifts towards the end condition of it's own occord. I wouldn't say it's good, but, certainly not terrible, and I'd hesitate to even say it's bad.
This one, on the other hand? Based on that review... Yeah, no.
Length: Forever
Game Type: Not
Best part by far.
Nice, I missed that :)
17:50... worth watching for that moment Vasel. Wow
It's so odd. I don't think I've ever seen a product made by someone that exposes so much about the kind of person they are and the values have without providing at least a scrap of something to empathize with. I genuinely can't look at this game and feel anything but mild distaste for the game and its creator. Like, this game has a rule that means that the game only ends when people give up and don't want to play anymore, and most of the mechanics are indirectly based around the desire for domination and power over others. It's brutish, cruel, and extremely afraid of the idea of being vulnerable while in a position of power.
I really, really dislike the implications of the victor being determined by who gets tired of being in the environment that this game puts you in last.
Also, this game was recently featured in a youtube video by an account named Kam Sandwich, who is running a tournament for bad boardgames; your video here is one of the few sources of information on the game that I can find.
Read in AVGN music tone :He rather have monopoly, playing checks with thumbtacks into his ears, he is the angriest boardgamer you've ever heard, he is the angry monopoly nerd, he is the angry boardgame nerd!
Wut...the...heck, Why does this exist? Why was this thought to be funny. This isn't even a good parody game or troll game. It took some afternoon with word i'm sure. My designed game looks like TI3 compared to this, but then again anything would be. Nothing makes sense at all. I as a hopeful designer would consult and playtest everything from the idea to the components. My head hurts now
For a few minutes I thought it must be April Fools and Tom is playing an elaborate joke. I can't believe someone would find this game enjoyable in the slightest. I wouldn't even give it to someone I don't like for fear they might want to play it with me someday.
This is just a really horrible mashup of two old games Monopoly and Stock Market Game (Published in 1968 by Western Publishing Co.) with a few stolen party game rules. Neither core games are great games but I would play Stock Market over Monopoly, but this mashup is disgusting.
Hmmm, price is down to $30 on amazon. Was $50. Could it be time to buy this before it goes out of print?!
Dan Shuman I must own this !!!
No
The "official website" is selling this for $99. How about... piss off with that price. Here's 10, that just about covers the budget and then some.
@@Lugo428 I wouldn't take this game unless you paid me. Then I'd just turn around and toss it in the recycling bin.
@@Alittlefruitgoesalongway recycling? Screw that. Trash it.
17:11 Even the newer video games that are retro styled to look like they're from an 8 bit or 16 bit console apply modern game design. The good ones, at least.
No way of really knowing, but I almost think it was made just to troll Tom. Made for an excellent show either way though.
Skyblaze eterno has to be the designer of this game, nobody could be this invested or butthurt with this to post this many replies. Get over it man! The game sucks!
Correction: It aspires to one day suck but that will require a 40 pg errata that no one will ever read. Forget that, this entire game *is* one giant errata. It should have just been named: "Cautionary example."
I came here to watch the review because the dudebro who made this game finally saw this review, 7 years after it was posted, and issued a statement about this review and boardgamers in general that is just as shitty as his game.
Watching this review hurt me on so many levels. I was thinking of getting as a joke. But, jokes are funny, this game looks hideous. I also don't want to give the dudebro that made it any money.
Yup! Same. Saw the post on r/boardgames haha!
You mean the pretentious twit who made this thing actually managed to discover a place where actually good games exist and he still can't figure out why his game is trash? *sigh*
Link please, for posterity …
Thank you for making this video. The game really seams terrible. Some people are defending it, but anyone can enjoy a game even if it is terrible. I would rather play Monopoly even though that isn't a good game either. I enjoyed how the video was turned into a what not to do video. Keep up the good work.
Maybe the game would have be muuuch better if you had eaten those pills ;-)
Those pills are SUCH a stupid idea. Forget mechanically, just imagine someone buying that game in a garage sale 20 years from now and go to swallow the bitter pill whatever it is. I am actually surprised the FDA doesn't smack this guy down for having candy or whatever it is without telling people what it is.
Gamers Grind They could also contain a experience-enhancing substance which could improve the expirence of playing the game.
Joke aside - it's probally the dummest idea ever used in a board game. FDA would probally do something if they knew, but I don't think they expect board games to contain "bitter pills".
The Loser’s Reset
Come on Vasel. Tell us how you really feel!
If you read between the lines, you can see that he LOVED this game.
So you have to make $100,000 in order to win...then why are there even any $1 installments in this game?! That's just stupid!
AHAHAHAHH The bitter pill! that was the best part!!! why would anyone put something like that in a game? especially if you don't say what it is!!!
Maybe it's a suicide pill for after you play the game.
Shelby Buttimer Probably designed to reduce the number of bad reviews since they figured that only the losers would complain^^
You wouldn't believe the intro to this game in their website:
"ONEUPMANSHIP is a beautifully-designed grownup board game that's not only wicked, cutthroat fun, it's also a witty and irreverent lifestyle accessory/wry political statement."
"Beautifully-designed"? Hahahahahaha.......
Yeah and on the kickstarter page it says: "ONEUPMANSHIP is a completely original board game..."
Frédéric Méthot that's probably the funniest part of this board game abortion.
Just an overall feeling of sadness for this guy. More importantly I feel so bad for his wife, kids and family who he forces this game on unable to accept that it's a pile of garbage while they have to pretend to be having fun. Let it go man, play good games. Don't torture those you love.
Excellent video Tom.
I love that Tom said several times he wasn't kidding about the rules. I thought he was kidding a few times before I remembered. Steal someone's stocks! Buy as much as you want for the lowest and KEEP THE CARD! Bankrupt to make other player get bankrupt!?
I was also frightened by your anger at the end. I can't imagine how angry my friends and I would be if we had played this game. I've only gotten mad at 2 games ever and it was something similar to "if this one thing happens, you win the entire game".
why get angry? its only a boardgame after all
skyblaze eterno The problem is that it's not a "boardgame".
Gatomon41 in what way is the game NOT a boardgame? just curious
well this is a terrible game and the review was hilarious but I actually like the minimalistic cover art :)
Why do I feel like this was meant to be a parody of bad game design? The similarities to Monopoly are too strong for me to believe this was legitimate.
I got that impression too - Tom doesnt get the joke and only sees Monopoly in this which is the kicking boy for modern gamers who somehow think its crap
skyblaze eterno "Only sees Monopoly"? He only mentions that a couple of times in passing.
Dan Shuman twice is more than enough and as any non obsessive gamer knows the nerds HATE Monopoly
skyblaze eterno I would think that i "get" the joke. I just don't find it the least bit funny. And bad game design is still bad game design. Harshly punishing the person at the top never feels good, and giving people the chance to just say "nope, you don't win" is not good game design either. It's just annoying. Also, while a bit of randomness is fine in a game, for a longer game, when it mainly just comes down to chance it just ends up being frustrating. You need a degree of "controlled" randomness, the ability to manipulate the odds, otherwise you might as well not play the game. There is a reason why the straight up roll & move game is a dying breed outside of games aimed at a very young audience, and that's because people have found better ways of making games. Game design evolves, and ideas that don't work well gets thrown to the wayside, while good ideas gets implemented in more games.
AFnord roll and move is STILL a legitimate game mechanic - "better" is just an opinion
Chess has been around for ages yet has NO randomness...sorry but your opinions are just that...opinions
Tom quit playing this game and I lasted about 7 minutes into the video to get a laugh about it, but it ended up just being really sad. Awful mechanics, art and materials and ripped off monopoly's look. If this game had been a home brewed alcohol it would have killed someone. Was it a joke?
+GQ daddy no just some guy and his friends who think he is funny
What an epic, and well deserved, beatdown of such a horrible game. This was a good case study in what not to do in game design.
I feel like the designer was trying to make Wolf of Wall Street into a board game that would appeal to the most bro of frat guys and failed horribly.
Pills? ...PILLS?! How did this game even make it past the FDA, let alone a publishing house!
Is it OK that I'm more looking forward to these reviews from Tom than the ones of actual games? :P
Only $50 on their website, seems reasonable. Plus if you don't like it they'll buy you a copy of Monopoly (not kidding)
Hahahaha on the component drop I couldn't help buit laugh out loud.
This looks like prime "Print & Play -> Straight to the trash" material... but they asked money for this? Seriously?
Also, usually I find it funny and like seeing Tom get angry, this time he looked like he was not even playful angry. Genuine hatred for a game. Scary.
But thanks for the review Tom! I'll try not to design my game that way then :D
Yeah, love that he couldn't even be bothered to drop it.
I always come back to watch this video Tom, cause since i saw it i thought i can do better than that, and i ve been trying in my spare time to do it. I am testing my game today i hope it does well thank you for this video and all your effort, its the passion that you had in this video that inspired me. thank you.
Yay, go man. It's been 2 years now but follow your passion!
Seriously though, this seems badly designed and extremely sexist.
+dontrestyourhead well the maker did say he wanted to aint pc so that's what you get
dontrestyourhead Sexist? Where?
VisionThing I'm just gonna play devils advocate. "man up" "trophy wife" "another way to show your's is bigger" just to name a few.
I've been working on a game myself. At the moment, it's still in rough draft/test play phase. And by rough draft test play phase, I mean that I have been using playing cards in sleeves with Post It notes for the new information. From what I have seen of Oneupmanship, those Post It notes are a massive step up.
I have to admit that I'm glad that Tom reviewed this if only so it can serve as a lesson to game designers out there about what not to do.
but reviewing a SELF PUBLISHED game is far different from reviewing a game from an established publisher
Want to know why games have well designed boxes and components? Because its been financed, its been invested in - a tiny self financed game CANNOT compete in terms of presentation - simple fact
skyblaze eterno A well-designed game does not mean a nice box and wooden components all over the place. Mechanisms are the be-all-end-all of board games, components come only after. Once you understand this, your designs might get better in the future.
skyblaze eterno "it's self published, it's self published, it's self published" so fucking what? We should make exceptions when a self published "game" like this essentially plagiarizes a game from the 70's? If that's your argument then here's my rebuttal, piss off.
The stockmarket slider mechanic, complete with stocks that go up and stocks that go down indifferent directions, is direct from John Sands "Stock Market Game."
so essentially, Timothy Cataldo, the "creator" of this "game" stole ideas from others and threw it in a toilet to see what would happen?
The tone of your voice when you said "I won't do that" about swallowing the mystery pill had me laughing. Great review!
At first I thought it looked like a cheap monopoly clone then when I saw the components I thought I was caught in a time loop back to the 1970's - shudder
This is my favorite game, I play it 12 times a day, 12 days a week. So much fun! Great component quality!
Laziest troll ever.
Gamers Grind I'm so confused by your comment. Carl Frodge is literally just joking. Like... it's literally just a joke...
YakovPetrovich
Are you new to the internet? You should look up "troll"
The only troll I know about got outsmarted by 3 Billy Goats.
Niclas Lam There's a difference between a blatantly ridiculous joke (12 days a week... come on) and trolling. Stop being so sensitive.
wow...
Apparently at least four people were involved with the making of this game considering the thumbs down votes.
Even the money and cards in Monopoly's WWII pack looked nicer than the ones here, and _those_ were plain and cheap _on purpose_ because of the war shortages.
"Next hint for game designers: DON'T COPY MONOPOLY."
LOL!!!!!!!!!! So good...thanks Tom :D
JoeyjojoShabadoo7 actually I think thats poor advice....there IS a reason why modern gamers HATE Monopoly...its been HYPER successful...oh they can bleat about game design and original mechanics...but NOTHING new has shifted units like Monopoly - despite its flaws still has many features that game designers SHOULD emulate...near universal appeal, simple to understand goal, cutesy components...zero reliance on some nerd sub-culture threme
Sorry...I have to disagree. Monopoly is just BORING. Old and outdated, imo.
JoeyjojoShabadoo7 but thats only YOUR opinion and its not even a constructed argument at all (hardly surprising) - if Monopoly was soooo bad it would NEVER have shifted so many units
Here is WHY Monopoly has sold and done so well - 1 - universal theme which ironically gets specialised for countries and regions and even other licenses 2- it has a simple to understand objective...monopolise the board and grind your opponents bankrupt 3 - cutesy pieces there IS something about the pieces the houses and hotels... 4 - its simple to grasp...so simple its at brain dead level 5 - it cuts across all age groups
so it has a roll and move mechanic - big deal - its a GAME ffs - part of a game is accepting the randomness of it
Now if you look at modern games which have been big too thats only Catan and Ticket To Ride they have similar aspects
Hate Monopoly all you want its probably going to be around for another 100 years while the current hip flavour of the month has disappeared into further obscurity
Wow...sorry to offend LOL...take it easy. I'll have to respectfully disagree, however. Monopoly is outdated. Plain and simple. So many better games nowadays. The only reason people still play it is because of its past success, or because they are young, or because they haven't been introduced to better, more complex strategy games yet (or some combination of these).
Also, the point Tom was trying to make, and that I agree with, wasn't necessarily that Monopoly is a bad game (though I think it's boring and simple), but rather that this creator essentially mimicked Monopoly almost entirely in every way, with a bunch of new (and terrible) rules added.
The money is so wonderful that governments are clamoring to adopt the design as their national currency.
That was epic. Great to watch.
Not only did this waste your time, but it wasted the resources it took to make the game. I can't believe this was actually published. Wow.
The fact that this game was produced gives me a lot of hope that one of my ideas may be a real game someday. If that guys publisher needs something to make up for this one, tell them to give me a call.
I think itwas a $1000 kickstarter. Not that much considering friends and family.
Michael Murphy
thats what I hate about this review - Tom is basically dissing the presentaion - which is admittedly a bit crap - I'd like to see OTHER people publish a game for that low amount - Its SELF PUBLISHED FFS - you want decent non copyrighted artwork - you have to pay for it - you want decent mone/notes again you have to pay for it
skyblaze eterno There are free art programs like GIMP and Inkscape, in which one could at least design a decent looking game, and not something that was lazily made in one hour.
I could probably design something better in Excel and print it out on my $30 photo printer. Actually I kind of have done that. Just didn't print on quality card stock. Shoved the plain paper into sleeves for a prototype.
+skyblaze eterno One he took others money to put this out two the game is still bad in all ways and 3 self made does not mean lack of art 50 shades got some stander art so why not this
"Stop playing this game, go play poker, and then come back." Okay, rule #1 for game designers: Don't require your players to go play a different game in the middle of this one! If they wanted to be playing poker, THEY WOULD ALREADY BE PLAYING POKER!
here from look back march 13,2024 video! probably the best and most hilarious of tom's hate videos, and perhaps the game most deserved of the hate.
wait: This deluxe version includes 4 custom pawns, a Scarlet Letter "B" pin, and a vial of "Bitter Pills". Nice package. Wait a sec... we're also going to throw in a limited-edition "Man Up." t-shirt. Deluxe edition. It's a deluxe edition... oh god.
flaming tomtato for those who read this comment and wonder what the custom pawns are, they are as follows:
A plastic soldier
A shell casing from a bullet
A bottle cap
A rock
Whenever I’m working a game design and get stuck or frustrated, I watch this review.
The only thing I can think is this is game is meant to be satire of some sort. Like, it's making fun of Wall Street, or trying to say something about how pointless stock trading and financial markets are... But in reality they just made a really terrible game.
Tom, I think you held back on that review a bit. Please tell us what you really think!
Loved the energy. Nice one Tom!
I...can't believe they put a container of unmarked pills in the game. In this day and age that just seems irresponsible and ignorant. Wow...
"Get the humour?" ... ... Um ... ... No. This reminds me of one good piece of humour, though, on the back of the box for Dominion. It says, "Your parents wouldn't be proud, but your grandparents, on your mother's side, would be delighted."
I made a monopoly full of inside jokes for
Some friends. I actually did design it all in word and excel but even I managed to at least print the money in different collors lol, what is this?
The legend says it was Tom himself that designed this game, then trashed it so much in this video to give it infamous cult status, then watch the price go up and sell it at auctions while twirling his mustache (I'm kidding of course)
This game has a similar feel to a piece of art that was paint spat on a canvas and costs $100,000... and people will buy it. Oh the humanity!
I had to google this game to see if Tom got trolled or not but no he has a full website. The one positive review he quoted was from apparently is local town paper. which plugged a special discount coupon code so it smelled more of an infomercial of a sort.
But a lot of great games came out of the 70s including Cosmic Encounter among others. I doubt this thing would have done well in the 70s either.
I feel like this is some kind of meta-practical joke, like the designers really hate board games so they created this so they could laugh at us for playing it...but that's probably giving them too much credit.
Tom, this is not a game. It's a kind of a prank,really, it's not supposed to be played but is supposed to be satire on the culture of the super rich and the 1%. I would guess that they just googled 'boardgame reviewer' and sent it to the top one who came out as a joke, thinking there's no chance you really would take it seriously. On their website, in the video they explain the rules they say: "the bottom line is size matters, money and greed is good, being a winner is much better than being a loser so come and be part of our wonderful capitalist world" and start cracking up.
I think you should consider removing the video. Not because you didn't 'get it' - not at all. I think you're an earnest guy and this video shows how seriously you take your job and how much you love boardgames. But I think it's misleading to treat this as a game and to think that there's any aspiring game designer that would anything like that, I don't think the lessons to be learned here are about game design.
Leave it up, it’s the funniest thing I’ve seen all week.