Show HN: I made Unmentionables, a free Taboo game for iPhone | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: I made Unmentionables, a free Taboo game for iPhone

appmonkeys.org

23 pointsmergesort21 comments

"Taboo" is a registered trademark. You're probably legally in the clear to describe your game as "Taboo-like", but if your app becomes at all popular, you're likely to get a C&D if not outright sued for using the term "Taboo" so freely throughout your app.

Looks nice, but I think you should put a description of what Taboo is exactly. I don't know whether it's a well-known US game but as a Brit I've never heard of it and I'm still not enlightened as to exactly what the game is! I'll google it and probably download the app shortly.

I have a description, but the about page was too cluttered when I put it in, so I figured if people are finding the game, they probably know what it is. I'm still not sure whether to put it in or not, but that is a valid point for sure.

Definitely agreed with the above comment. Telling a story about what the game actually is is more powerful than inputting a list of facts.

Peer pressure got to me. Added a description on the main page. Thanks for the advice.

Unmentionables gives Taboo a 21st century makeover. Marathon Mode, in app purchases that are a lot cheaper than Taboo, and something you can take anywhere you go. I'm an iPhone developer, but did the designs myself, so feedback on that would be helpful too.

It's available for download at: http://bit.ly/unmentionables

The submission link is broken.

Sorry, fixed it, silly htaccess...

I like it. I especially appreciate that you have a free play mode. I think this could be good for road trips. Smart to have the free cards as a motivation to allow push notifications. The idea of user submitted cards is kinda neat too.

Your copyright notice is in a weird spot in Chrome. Here's what I see: http://i.imgur.com/LfQEB.png

Strange, I'm not seeing it on Chrome for Mac. http://i.imgur.com/oGSqo.png

I tried downloading the free pack from within the app, and it crashed out to Springboard. iPhone 4S iOS 5.0.1

Will look into that, thanks. Out of debugging curiosity, jailbroken?

Yep.

That makes it trickier, but there's a slightly tricky asynchronous connection function I wrote to download the packs. I'm hoping that's not it interfering with something you have installed via Cydia/Mobile Substrate. Do you know what you have installed perchance?

You should show an example card.

Great. But what about Taboo's copyright? (Just wondering)

Taboo has a trademark, not a copyright. So everywhere I use the word Taboo, I add the trademark symbol (except one screen, which has been fixed but not submitted).

You are correct there is no copyright to the game per se - but - don't forget that literary and pictorial expressions associated to the game can be subject to copyright: http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl108.html I hope you have consulted a lawyer regarding this because Taboo is published by Hasbro.

Still, let say I create a game called "Run, run" which I explain in my description as:

  "The most fun way to play monopoly on your iphone"

  "But what is Monopoly?"
  "You and your friends split into two teams. [...]"

I just copied a very popular game but changed the medium of how to play it. But then, again, it's more by curiosity that I'm asking this.

Game mechanics are not copyrightable. A concrete expression of the rules is copyrightable (you can't copy-paste Monopoly's rule book), as is artwork.

"Play-alike" games are in the clear. "Look-alike" games are not.

I wouldn't say "play monopoly". I'd say "play a property-trading game like Monopoly".

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