Nubian Jak

This article is about the board game Nubian Jak. For information on its founder, see Jak Beula. For the Nubian Jak UK game show that ran from 2004 –2005, see Who Knows Jak. For the organization that runs Britain only national BME plaque scheme, see Nubian Jak Community Trust.


Nubian Jak Board game
Players 2–24
Age range 11+
Setup time 3 minutes
Playing time Unlimited
Random chance Medium (dice rolling)
Skill(s) required Black History, General knowledge, Fashion, Pop culture

Nubian Jak is a multi-award winning board game combining questions on historical facts with pop trivia, to highlight some of the achievements by people of colour globally.[1]

The game requires players to use strategy and skill, with a bit of luck to “Out Jak” and “Chill Out” opponents, while trying to get their own pieces to separate Home Zone areas on the board. Movement is determined by rolling a dice and answering multiple-choice questions when required to do so.

History

Nubian Jak was created in 1994 by Jak Beula, a singer songwriter and social worker with the Islington Council. After working with some young people who seemed disaffected and marginalized by society, he decided to produce an “uplifting” board game which would look at positive role models of African Heritage in Britain and Europe. He tried patenting the name “Union Black” but his application was denied due to there already being a game in existence which used the word “Union”.[2] Instead he combined the similar sounding words “Nubian” (meaning black) and “Jack” (meaning something that “lifts up” or “flag”) to come up with the brand name “Nubian Jack”. The use of the letter “C” in the word Jak was subsequently dropped.

On 16th November 1994 1000 promotional copies of Nubian Jak European African-Centered Edition arrived at a small office in Clapham Junction, South London. A couple of weeks later the game was introduced to selected outlets in the capital including Hamleys of London. and Morleys Stores. It coincided with a Christmas marketing campaign by the radio station Choice FM London and The Voice (newspaper). Within a few weeks the game was out of stock outselling Trivial Pursuits and Monopoly combined, in Morleys of Brixton, Selbys of Holloway Road, and Smiths Bros in Tooting; all part of the Morleys Store chain in London.[3] A re-run was hastily done and the game was officially launched at Kensington Olympia in January 1995 at the British Toy and Hobby Fair.[4]

It became one of the main focus for the British and Hobby Fair that year, and was voted one of the top 10 games for 1995 by Games and Puzzles Magazine.[5]

The BBC also featured the game in a mini documentary called The 11th Hour.[6][7]

Release

In February 1996, a World Revised Edition of the game[8] was launched at the Jacobs Javits Covention Centre in New York, at the NY International Toy Fair.

This edition was different from the original as it introduced people of colour from around the world. The success of this was followed by a Nu Millennium Edition[9] launched at the beginning of the year 2000 both in London and New York City.

This edition to date is the most successful in the game series, selling over 50,000 units. In 2006 an International Anniversary Edition[10] was launched to commemorate 10 years of selling the game on both sides of the Atlantic.

This was followed the release of a Special Windrush Edition[11] in December 2008. In February 2009, a Special United States Limited Edition was produced to commemorate the election of the US president Barack Obama.

In September 2016, a new phone App edition of the game was launched.

Rules and instructions

The Nubian Jak board game can be played individually (2-8 players) or in teams (6-24 Players). The game consists of a 51 cm 1/4 folding board, 4 sets of 55 cards, 24 Pyramids (Jaks), a six-sided dice, and a rules booklet.

There are four areas on the board:

  1. Jak Zone - Where players start and finish
  2. Safety Zone - The first square (or last in new topic zones) Zone - the 12 squares connected to the Jak Zones
  3. Octo - Zone - The squares in the centre of the board
  4. Zone area - This stops opponents from entering into that Topic.

Playing Nubian Jak involves skilful manoeuvring of the pyramid Jaks around the board while answering a series of multiple-choice questions. The first to place three Jaks of the same colour in three separate new Jak Zones is the winner The card question topics are as follows:

Quotes

Book of World Facts

In follow up to the board game, in 1998 the first edition of Nubian Jak’s Book of World Facts was released. Dubbed “the truth with proof”, it was subtitled "The Ultimate Reference Guide to Global Black Achievement". A few years later Jak signed a publishing deal with HarperCollins in New York to republish the book.

By the time the third edition of the game came around there was an expectant buzz within the game industry. Launched in 2000, the Nu Millennium edition of the game went on to become the most popular edition to date, selling in excess of 110,000 copies in the US and UK. In 2006 the International Anniversary Edition was distributed in the UK before it official launch at the ExCel Centre in London and Javits Center in New York, in January and February 2007 respectively. At a Special Kwaanza Bonanza Game and Book launch in December 2008, the Windrush Edition was introduced. A United States Special edition has subsequently been produced for selective distribution in the US.

References

  1. ↑ https://archive.org/stream/muzik006_november_1995/muzik006_november_1995_djvu.txt
  2. ↑ http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111943312283
  3. ↑ https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9LIX5-i_rMIC&pg=PA51&lpg=PA51&dq=nubian+jak+game+1994&source=bl&ots=Xr4PWZqWZx&sig=l3-wsdR4emzQjsYbjX4GUYP2di8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwigobbv7pjPAhVlLsAKHU2cBr8Q6AEIVjAN#v=onepage&q=nubian%20jak%20game%201994&f=false
  4. ↑ http://www.btha.co.uk/toy-fair/visitors/history-of-toy-fair/
  5. ↑ http://www.gamecabinet.com/sumo/Issue22/node9.html
  6. ↑ http://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1995-11-26
  7. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxLmPAYsoJg
  8. ↑ http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/9603010215/nubian-jak-invades-europe-usa
  9. ↑ http://www.pevans.co.uk/Reviews/ToyFair2000Report.htm
  10. ↑ https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/27744/nubian-jak
  11. ↑ http://www.purplepawn.com/2009/02/nubian-jak-the-black-trivial-pursuit/
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