amazingly, this may have happened for some as all of the board games below have been / are still available to buy and each one has caused some degree of controversy, the reasons for which will quickly become apparent. some of them are pretty horrible and their inclusion in this list does not in any way condone their creation.

1. public assistance: why bother working for a living?

originally released in the 80s, slammed by many and then banned from most shops. it’s similar to playing monopoly but with some twists, including… there are 2 different journeys on the board: ‘working person’s rut’ or ‘able-bodied welfare recipient’s promenade’. you start off by collecting a $500 welfare check at the ‘collect all benefits’ spot. if you pick up an ‘out of wedlock child’ people who chose to work are obliged to pay you money when you pass the ‘1st of the month’ square.

the game is still available to buy online here.

2. ghettopoly

released in 2003 by david chang and obviously not endorsed by hasbro, ghettopoly is a parody of monopoly. houses are called ‘crack houses’ and hotels are ‘projects’, chance (i mean ‘hustle’) cards now contain messages such as ‘you got yo whole neighborhood addicted to crack. collect $50 from each playa’ and playing pieces include a gun, a bottle of beer and a marijuana plant. the game was discontinued after mass protest and ghettopoly.com is now defunct. however you can still visit ghettopoly.co.uk although i’m not sure whether your online order would be successful.

3. serial killer: the board game

this extremely grim affair was created by serial killer enthusiast tobias allen in the early 90s and was quickly banned in canada. the board game was packaged in a bodybag and the objective was to kill as many people (originally babies until mr allen realised he may have pushed it a bit far) and ensuring capture by police only took place in u.s. states without the death penalty. unsurprisingly the game is now (officially at least) unavailable to buy.

4. battle to baghdad

battle to baghdad: the fight for freedom was created and released in 2005 by construction worker rick medina. set in 2003, the object is to conquer baghdad and take out saddam hussein whilst hoping not to pick up cards such as ‘car bomber… you lose 200 troops’ and ‘disgrace: some soldiers are found guilty of unlawful treatment and inhumane acts of violence toward iraqi prisoners. you lose 100 troops!’. anti-war groups unsuccessfully attempted to get the game banned and currently battletobaghdad.com seems to be down but you can still purchase the game from medina’s website here.

5. juden raus

juden raus (jews out) is a hideous and infamous propaganda board game created by the nazis in 1936 and given to as many kids as possible, the object being to take control of jews wearing pointy hats and get them off the board and outside the walled city as quickly as possible by way of a dice throw. that’s all you really need to know apart from the fact that, thankfully, you can’t buy the game anymore.

6. frischfleisch

as you may have guessed, frischfleisch translates as ‘fresh flesh’ or ‘fresh meat’ and with the addition of the illustration on the front cover i reckon either translation works. it’s a board game in which you take control of a group of humans stranded on a deserted island with rescue only a month away. the objective is to stay alive long enough to enjoy the rescue, whether that be through the consumption of fruit, animals or other humans. the game is now discontinued but the makers’ website still has a page devoted to the cannibalism themed rarity here.

7. war on terror, the boardgame

the war on terror game was designed by 2 cambridge entrepreneurs and released to a huge amount of criticism, to which one of the men replied, “some people suggest that turning the war on terror into a board game is a tad insensitive. i always reply that starting a war is insensitive; a board game is just fun for all the family”. players start the game as an empire anywhere in the world and depending on various choices made, the following can take place in the quest for world dominance… ’send secret messages; fund terrorism; make deals; renege on deals; wage war; expand your empire; forge secret alliances; fund regime changes; kidnap politicians; be the terrorists’. the game can be bought here.

8. capital punishment

released in 1981, each player begins this funfest controlling 4 characters: a murderer, a rapist, an arsonist and a kidnapper. you can win in 2 ways - either 1. ‘maneuver your murderer, rapist, arsonist, and kidnapper along the path of justice into life imprisonment, death row, or the electric chair, or 2. ‘bring your liberals out of their ivory tower” and “use them to ‘spring’ your opponent’s criminals from the path of justice… send them back on the street where their activities make your opponent’s innocent citizens into victims of crime’.

9. blacks & whites

apparently designed for educational use by the psychology department of the university of california at davis, blacks & whites is basically a property-buying board game with a difference. before starting, each player chooses to be black or white, the choice resulting in the following differences…

whites:
- are the majority
- start with a million dollars
- can buy property anywhere.

blacks:
- are the minority
- start with one hundred thousand dollars
- can not buy certain properties
- draw from a separate chance deck
- collect less money for completing a lap around the gameboard.

for more info, go here.

sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

1. cave school, ziyun, china

photos: reuters

above is dongzhong (translation: ‘mid-cave’) primary school in china’s guizhou province. as you can see, the whole school is housed in a huge naturally formed cave in the side of a mountain and looks absolutely incredible. considering the surroundings the conditions look pretty good and i’m guessing the kids who attend learn some invaluable lessons purely through the location.

2. underground school, northern virginia, usa

photos: treehugger

terraset elementary school in reston is one of the few schools on earth that’s been built under the earth. the decision to create a school in this way was apparently prompted by the energy crisis in the early 70s, the intention being to create a building that was as energy-concious as possible whilst still providing all the necessary facilities for local kids. a small hill in 14 acres of woodland was flattened, the school was placed on top and then earth covered the structure. to read more about the history of the building and the problems it faced due to its design, go here.

3. floating school, halong bay, vietnam

photo: antonogurl

the majority of tourists who visit vietnam (around 90%) will end up at halong bay, a huge stretch of coastline containing nearly 2′000 islands of varying size. surrounding many of the islands are floating villages - small communities of locals who have probably never lived on solid ground. above is one of many floating schools to be found dotted around the shores, flanked by school boats, the floating village’s equivalent to a school bus. in case you can’t read the sign…

“this construction was funded by the embassy of united kingdom through the national fund for vietnamese children.”

4. monolithic dome school, arizona, usa

there’s no doubt about it: this school looks like a building from another world. as if that weren’t enough, the powers that be also named it ‘frontier elementary school’. the structure itself is a monolithic dome - a recently popular method of construction that is surprisingly robust and extremely cost effective. a circular concrete base is set, an airfoam dome is inflated to the correct size and then reinforced using a variety of materials including a spray mix of concrete. you can read more about the process here and see a list of dome schools here.

5. shipping container school, amsterdam, netherlands

photos: purple cloud

this little beauty is daltonschool ‘de kleine kapitein’ in amsterdam, i believe a temporary home for the kindergarten attendees until new premises are completed in 2009. it’s a shame it’s just a stop-gap though as the use of shipping containers as habitable premises is a rapidly growing area of interest amongst designers and architects due to the many obvious advantages e.g. relative low-cost, huge abundance of containers to work with…

go here to see some permanent container projects, including a couple of school containers.

child prodigies? pushy parents? exploitation?

have a look and decide…

rafita mirabal

when i was 10 years old my idea of danger was knocking on number 34’s door and running away. the adrenaline nearly knocked me out. 10 year old rafita mirabal has different ideas - he’s a bullfighter. with real bulls. there are differences between this mini-matador and the fully grown versions (the bulls are smaller and the finale doesn’t involve him spearing the animal to death due to lack of strength), but that doesn’t mean the bulls give him an easy ride. he’s been knocked about and stamped on many times, his bravery just fuelling his fame throughout mexico.

his parents’ thoughts?

“as long as this is his passion, we’ll do battle alongside him.”

akrit jaswal

when he was just 7 years old akrit jaswal performed an operation on an 8 year old girl to seperate her fingers which had been fused together in an accident. now 12 years old, akrit is busy in his own laboratory trying to find a cure for cancer, something he claims to have almost found. his obsession with medicine started when he was very young - he memorised medical books and dissected chickens to get a better understanding of surgery. he has also handed out prescriptions in his home town to thousands of people after word spread about his gift. bizarrely, his father left the family home last year and told his son not to get in touch until he had discovered the cure.

now that’s what I call pressure.

below is the first part of a fascinating documentary about akrit. subsequent parts can be found on this Youtube user’s page.

solomon yirenkyi

for the past 3 years, 11 year old solomon has been preaching at his local church in ghana every sunday for several hours as well as presenting two weekly radio shows. his father is a well-known preacher / healer too, his stage name being ‘jesus one touch’, and realised his son was meant for bigger things when he started imitating his sermons aged 3. his son subsequently stole his dad’s crown and now stands on stage on a weekly basis holding a microphone that’s possibly larger than his head. since starting he has, amongst other things, ‘healed the blind, caused the dumb to talk and the crippled to walk‘. his father has recieved critisism from a few different angles, the majority from those who believe he’s exploiting his son for financial gain.

budhia singh

at the age of 3, budhia singh was running a growth-stunting 20 miles per day in his hometown of orissa in india. incidentally, at the same age i specifically remember having difficulty running around the couch without getting a stitch. budhia is now the world’s youngest marathon runner and in may 2006 he somehow managed to cover 65km in 7 hours 2 minutes, without a break. just about every organisation in the world has been quick to condemn the boy’s coach who has apparently made a small fortune from budhia’s success and on may 8th 2006 the indian government ordered budhia to stop running. the coach has since been arrested.

below is a news report about the kerfuffle.

extras:

- a short clip to make you smile..

- and you thought getting into mensa was an achievement? the giga society’s aim is “to honor the efforts of the very highest scorers, who are of great importance to the development of ultra-high-ceiling tests for mental abilities”. it’s so difficult to gain entry that only 1 out of every 1 billion people on earth would qualify for membership.

sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5