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Mechanical Egg Games

Cyprus Comic Con is proud to introduce to you Mechanical Egg Games, a local board game design company behind a hilariously fun upcoming party game called ‘Rhyme: The Rap Challenge’, which challenges the players to become – you guessed it – the best rapper they can be!

Today we are thrilled to get to have a chat with the mastermind behind Mechanical Egg Games, Andonis Michanikos, to find out more about the game and when we expect to get our hands on it!

First, please tell our readers a little bit about yourself. Who is behind Mechanical Egg Games?

My name is Andonis Mechanikos, I am a lawyer and I am 36 years old. Ι have been involved intensively with board games for over 10 years, starting in 2005 and then never looking back! To me, board games are more than just something to pass the time. They sharpen your mind as playing involves strategy, they encourage you to use your imagination, critical or fast thinking, using your skills and reflexes and many others. Moreover, they provide a way to stay away from computers and phones and socialise with friends, meet new people and have an enjoyable time. All these positive aspects are the reasons that pushed me to design my own games through Mechanical Egg Games Ltd, the company I created for this specific reason. The name of the company is the amalgamation of mine and my wife’s surnames, which I thought was fun and interesting at the same time!

‘Rhyme: The Rap Challenge’ is an extremely fun and creative party game that challenges the players to create rhymes and perform them on the beat! Give us a brief description on how it’s played.

Rhyme: The Rap Challenge is a new, unique, entertaining party game for the whole family which gives players the chance to discover the rapper in them! Creativity, fun and lots of laughter!

Things are simple – players choose words from cards of different categories, write their own verses on any subject, as long as they rhyme, rap them on the beat and collect points. At the end of 4 rounds they will have created their masterpiece – their 16 bar rap song!

The player that accumulates the most points is the winner.

How did you come up with the idea to create a rap game like Rhyme?

Around September 2015, my wife started writing lyrics for rap songs. At the time, I was gathering information and ideas from everything around me, trying to find a good theme for a board game. I had a few ideas but nothing spectacular. And then, one day my wife asked me to listen to her rhymes while she was rapping to the beat and it just hit me! Why don’t I make a game out of it?

What about you, are you good at rap and creating rhymes?

I wasn’t really any good before creating the game but once I started play-testing it that change. I became a little bit better with each successive test. I play-tested the game heavily so after all those sessions I can safely say that right now I am quite good at it!

You participated at ‘Spiel’ in Essen last October, the largest annual board game exhibit. How was that experience for you? Have you participated in any other board game conventions around the world thus far?

Play-testing a game with friends and family is one thing but if you really want to put a game to the test you must take it for a spin. My first presentation of Rhyme was at the national Greek competition for prototype games “Epitrapezoume 2016” at the end of May 2016. There, everyone who played the game were telling me that it was a great and fun experience and something different than usual.

A week later, I was present at the UK Games Expo 2016. Again, people were having the same reaction and excitement while playing and commented how much they liked the artwork. Families also told me that it could be used for educational purposes as it is a very creative game. By the end of the convention I was overwhelmed by the love, excitement and enthusiasm that my game received by so many people.

The biggest test however was Essen Spiel 2016 in Germany, in October. There was nothing that could prepare me for that. Seven massive halls with literately tens of thousands of people – kids, families, grownups, older people – gathered there for 4 days in order to inspect, try and buy the newest board games in the market. A very lively and vibrant exhibition as everyone was in good spirit and ready to enjoy themselves by trying out new board games.

On the other hand, however, Spiel was very demanding as the competition is very high and as a creator you really have to show something different and unique that will catch the attention of people – hard thing to do when you competing with 400 other exhibitors!

Fortunately everything went well. I had the same reaction from people as in Greece and England. The success that Rhyme: The Rap Challenge had in Essen by even more people made me realise that I should take it all the way.

Tell us a bit about your plans for production, is there a crowdfunding page where people can support the game and aid in its realisation?

My team and I are hard at work, preparing for our Kickstarter campaign, with an English and Greek version of the game, that will be launched early 2018, around February – March. We would like all the help we can get from people in order to gather the funds needed for production. So, if you are interested keep checking the Facebook page for updates like the Kickstarter preview page and the date we will launch our campaign.

We want the game to be a unique and fun experience for everyone so we are also experimenting with the way the box and the artwork will look like. Moreover, we are in the process of composing our own music that will be available to download from our website for free and will be used for gameplay.

At the same time the Kickstarter page, the manufacturing and the distribution are being organized. We do not want to leave anything to chance.

Where can someone find out more about Mechanical Egg Games and ‘Rhyme’?

We are in the process of putting the content together for the websites of Mechanical Egg and Rhyme: The Rap Challenge. Until then, people can visit the Facebook page or email me at info@mechanicalegg.com.

Any last words?

This two-year journey has been an absolutely amazing experience and I hope that it will also be a successful journey as it will allow me to realise a very big dream of mine. As a newcomer to the game designer world, I would like to tell everyone out there who has a dream, to never quit because despite the hard work and the patience needed, it is all worth it in the end.