B2B Born 2 Burn: The bboy card game – interview with BBoy Maxone (Notorious IBE 2011)
B2B: Born 2 Burn is a non-collectable card game in which you play the role of a b-boying crew leader, set to be revealed at The Notrious IBE 2011 in Heerlen, Holland this month.
B2B: Born 2 Burn is a non-collectable card game in which you play the role of a b-boying crew leader, set to be revealed at The Notrious IBE 2011 in Heerlen, Holland this month.
By nature b-boys and b-girls are collectors. From your sneaker collection to peeling posters off the wall after a memorable jam and an obsession with hats and keeping your laces fresh, something is hard wired into hip hop mentality to have something to hang on to as a keepsake.
In a game of strategy Born 2 Burn will see 20 of the world’s top b-boys and b-girls immortalised as playing cards trying to one-up each other with power up cards to boost their player’s abilities and commando their opponent.
Developed under the creative eye of Max Piedra Garcia, better known as B-Boy Maxone of Da Flavour Crew in Spain, B2B: Born 2 Burn is going to be the world’s first b-boy card game to be unveiled at The Notorious IBE 2011.
So at a time when slogan t-shirts are supposedly the must have memento of a jam, what inspired him to make a b-boy card game in the first place?
“This idea came from Traka, one of our team members. We sat and talked and started to brainstorm and realised this was a great idea, because it was fresh, fun and with lots of possibilities,” said Maxone. “We realised that we didn’t really have any game that had our passion as theme. Then we decided that it was the time to develop our idea and make it come true.”
Behind the idea is a memory planted as a seed during his childhood which senior breakers may relate to, inspired by the likes of card and board-based games such as Dungeons and Dragons or Magic the Gathering.
“When I was young I played role playing games and a little bit of Magic the Gathering, but in my opinion I think all the b-boys are freaks and collectors: videos of breaking, clothes, shoes, flyers,” said Maxone. Taking his childhood passion and a little expertise from his team in, they were able to combine the two and devise a playing format.
“In the B2B team there are five people who work in diferent aspects: graphic design, web and online shopping, contacts, game dynamics. All of the members are supporters of hip hop culture, and we are all dancers except the web master,” said Maxone. “That’s the reason we could put a good battle essence and transfer it to the card game.”
“As artistic director and project executive I’ve searched 20 of the world’s best and most influential b-boys and b-girls. My trajectory in this world made me easier to contact to b-boys and show them the project in which they all wanted to be involved.”
Confirmed B2B Born 2 Burn: The b-boy card game characters
B-Boy El Nino (Floor Lords Crew)
B-Boy Focus (Flo Mo Crew)
B-Boy Grazy (Fusion Rockers)
B-Boy Hill (Unik Breakers)
B-Girl Jess (Mighty Zulu Kingz)
B-Boy Katsu (All Area Crew)
B-Boy Lagaet (Momentum Crew)
B-Boy Lil G (Speedy Angels)
Alien Ness (Mighty Zulu Kingz)
Poe One (Mighty Zulu Kingz)
B-Boy Ynot (Rock Steady Crew)
B-Boy Maxone (Da Flavour Crew)
See the full Born 2 Burn line up with photo gallery on AllStreetDance
With such a list it must have been difficult recruiting so many of the world’s top breakers to take part? Many consider Alien Ness and Poe One as first and second generation b-boys, meanwhile El Nino, Lagaet and Lil G all recently qualified for the Red Bull BC One 2011 finals in Russia. Yet all responded positively from the jump.
“At first they were a little surprised,” said Maxone. “But then after explaining the idea of playing all the b-boys accepted delighted. The designs are super fresh and all of them think it’s really made for b-boys.”
But what about those outside b-boy culture. Are they going to ‘get’ it?
“One of the ideas of the game was to bring our culture to bring people who are not a part of it. I see b-boys playing and I see people playing who are also supporters of hip hop, people of all ages,” said Maxone.
“It’s really addictive, but our target is a hip hop audience,” he added.
The Born 2 Burn package will consist of two simple decks of cards with a game board and instructions, which after its IBE launch will come out this winter.
In future the B2B brand will expand, by holding tournaments much like Dungeons and Dragons, to find the champion player where the winner will appear in the next expansion of the game.
And post IBE? B2B will be at The International Games Event SPIEL in Essen, Germany, and hitting the gaming convention circuit to re-ignite people’s passion for traditional card playing with a b-boy twist. And from there? Comic-Con maybe? There’s always a possibility.
For more information and to purchase B2B: Born 2 Burn when it eventually goes on sale, visit www.b2bthegame.com and on their Facebook page.
