loading . . . The Mastermind Box Cover: What the Hell Were They Thinking? - - -
#### INVICTA GAMES, LTD.
Packaging Team â Official Minutes
Project: _Mastermind_ / New Cover Presentation
MARTIN SMITH (_Marketing Senior Vice President_): Okay. Garyâs got a new cover comp. Gary, walk us through your vision.
GARY LARKIN (_Design Lead_): Right. Here it is. Black void. Two adults. No board. No pegs.
PAM REYNOLDS (_Product Development_): Where are the children?
LARKIN: Exactly. Also, who cares?
REYNOLDS: You know this game is eight-plus, right?
LARKIN: If you put a kid on the cover, youâre telling buyers itâs a kid game. If you put adults on the cover, youâre telling kids itâs a gateway to adulthood. This is basic aspirational psychology. Theyâll feel like tiny professors. Or tiny villains. Both sell.
SHEILA GRANT (_Sales Director_): Why no kitchen table?
LARKIN: Because kitchen tables are for fucking _Candyland_. Weâre selling a political mode of thinking: deduction as power. Think less âfamily night,â and more âI will find the hidden structure of your choices, and then I will destroy you.â
REYNOLDS: Talk to me about the man. He looks⊠a little smug?
LARKIN: Yes. Smug is the emotional tone of _Mastermind_. I want the buyer to feel judged by the box. Like the box is already disappointed in them. If you donât want smug, donât name the game _Mastermind_. This isnât fucking checkers. This is a duel in a seminar room at Davos.
SMITH: Yes! âSmugâ can be our brand essence. The product is a controlled experiment in superiority.
REYNOLDS: And the woman?
LARKIN: Sheâs the counterforce. Wittgensteinâs ghost at a cocktail party. Quiet, precise, dangerous because she doesnât need to explain herself. Sheâs the one who knows the rules and knows when to break them.
REYNOLDS: She also looks like sheâs here to ruin his career.
LARKIN: Sure. Thatâs part of it. _Mastermind_ is adversarial epistemology. Two people testing the limits of what can be known. Plus, maybe theyâre fucking?
REYNOLDS: Do we want sexual tension on a board game cover for eight-year-olds?
SMITH: We want _adult_ tension. The tension of brains. If anyone sees sex, thatâs on them. Weâre not responsible for the publicâs imagination. Weâre responsible for moving units in Woolworths. Gary, I see what youâre going for⊠a Cold War posture: mutually assured⊠embarrassment? You probe, they conceal, you infer, they flinch. Gorgeous.
REYNOLDS: Jesus. All that from colored pegs and a plastic tray?
LARKIN: Bingo.
GRANT: Okay, but whereâs the warmth? The fun? Whereâs the invitation?
LARKIN: Warmth is for _Sorry!_ This is not a hug. This is a chess clock in a strangerâs living room telling you your parents are getting divorced. The invitation is âAre you smart enough to sit at this table?â
REYNOLDS: Iâm still hung up on the no kids thing. Arenât we basically telling children theyâre not the audience?
SMITH: No, weâre telling them theyâre not the current audience. But they could beâŠ
REYNOLDS: Fine. But can we at least flag the age range on the front so parents donât think weâre selling them a goddamn espionage novel?
SMITH: Yes. Small type. Discreet. Like a classified stamp.
GRANT: Could we put a badge on it? Something like âAwarded Game of the Year.â
SMITH: Yes. We need medals. We need royal crests. We need to reassure the buyer that they are purchasing status. I want the box to feel like it won a war.
LARKIN: Also, note the diagonal yellow banner in the corner that says âImproved.â People love improvementâeven if they donât know what was wrong before. âImprovedâ says we were humble enough to evolve, but not humble enough to specify how.
SMITH: Brilliant. âImprovedâ in a bold modern font. Itâs like saying âNow with more mind.â
REYNOLDS: The board isnât in the photo.
LARKIN: The board is implied. If you show the board, you limit the imagination. If you donât show the board, anyone could be playing _Mastermind_ at any time. In a limo. In a bunker. On a yacht while plotting the downfall of a minor principality.
REYNOLDS: Or at my kitchen table? With my nephew?
SMITH: Goddammit, Pam. Fuck the kitchen table. Get on board!
GRANT: So the story is: _Mastermind_ isnât a board game, itâs a world view?
LARKIN: Yes, a world view where inference leads to domination!
SMITH: I want every eight-year-old to look at this and think, âSomeday, I will destroy my fatherâs confidence with pure logic.â
REYNOLDS: You guys are monsters.
SMITH: Weâre toy executives, Pam. Just toy executives.
GRANT: All right. Iâm sold. Itâs smart, itâs sharp, itâs fucking terrifying. In other words, itâs finally _Mastermind_.
LARKIN: So, weâre green-lighting this direction?
SMITH: Yes. Let the box look like it could pass a doctoral defense and start a coup dâetat at the same time. https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-mastermind-box-cover-what-the-hell-were-they-thinking