Hip-hop turns 51 in August and now fans can play a new board game to celebrate an influential hip-hop group, according to Chill B Games co-founder Tiffany Campolongo.
Shaolin: A Wu-Tang-Inspired Board Game fuses Wu-Tang Clan trivia with a battle mechanic that immerses players deep into 30+ years of the group’s history while educating them on its cultural impact.
“The Wu-Tang Clan has often been described as the Rolling Stones or Beatles of hip-hop. While there are board games themed around these classic rock groups, no board games explored the legacy of a hip-hop group until now,” said Campolongo, the designer of Shaolin.
Shaolin is the first board game to focus exclusively on a hip-hop group or artist, filling a void in the board game market.
It was the vision of Campolongo and her husband, Mike, who brought the game to life and published it through their company, Chill B Games. Their mission is to create board games that pay homage to classic hip-hop icons.
In Shaolin, players take on the roles of students training in the 35 chambers of the Shaolin Temple, with the ultimate goal of creating the 36th chamber – a nod to the 1978 martial arts film The 36th Chamber of Shaolin.
The film was one of the key inspirations for the Wu-Tang Clan, with its influence being immortalized in the title of their debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).
By answering Wu-Tang trivia questions, players earn “cream,” which are coins that can be exchanged for fighting styles, such as Tiger Style and Shadowboxing.
The fighting styles can also be won by opponents through duels as players battle their way through the Temple to demonstrate their worthiness to create the 36th chamber.
The game includes high-quality materials such as metal “cream” coins and fully painted player pieces inspired by the Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) album cover and poses from classic martial arts films sampled throughout their music.
The game’s artwork features Chinese calligraphy by Shifu Shi Yan Ming, founder of the USA Shaolin Temple and close friend of RZA, one of the founders of the Wu-Tang Clan.
The game includes easy, medium, and hard trivia modes which can be mixed and matched to make questions accessible to all players. In addition, the battle mechanic and thematic action cards help to balance gameplay so that the game’s outcome is not necessarily decided on the trivia alone.
Recently, Campolongo gave a presentation on utilizing board games as a medium for telling hip-hop stories at the 8th Annual Can’t Stop Hip-Hop Conference held at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
“Board games are a unique way to tell stories because they can bring people together for an engaging and educational experience,” said Campolongo.
Stories have been told and re-told through various mediums throughout history to preserve the legacy of people, places, and events.
“By bringing this game to market, we hope to establish board games as a medium for telling the stories of hip-hop artists, helping to preserve the legacy of hip-hop as it journeys through its next 50 years,” said Campolongo.
Shaolin can be purchased directly from Chill B Games’ official website, or from various other retailers including Get On Down. It’s also available at RZA’s online shop 36 Chambers.
