Imakuni's Bakaboon: An Overview

Overview

Bakaboon ばかぶーん (“Idiot”) is a card game developed by Imakuni and published by Creatures Inc. in 2002. The premise is to use combinations of when, where, who, what, and how to form sentences. It involves 2-6 players [1].

It was sold as a deck of 67 cards with a handful of duplicates. There was also a promotional set of 16 cards.

Distribution

The deck was originally showcased at Battle Road 2002 [2] where Imakuni signed a handful of cards. For example:

This was then recapped in the 2002 June Issue of CoroCoro magazine [3].
The promo set of 16 cards were distributed as packs of 4 random cards. These were given out in two ways [4]:

  1. Given out 7/20-8/11/2002 in person (not sure exactly where)
  2. Given out to a random selection of 30 people who completed A quiz blocked by a secret password on Imakuni’s website.

Some screenshots of the website are shown below [5]:

For the people who got the cards from the website, Imakuni also included a drawing of them and a handwritten letter:

Base Set

# Type Title (JP) Title Image
1 when / いつ お正月 New Year
2 when / いつ ムホー! Muhoo!
3 when / いつ キラメク星空の夜 Sparkling starry night
4 when / いつ フランス革命の頃 Around the time of the French Revolution
5 when / いつ ここ100年ぐらいの間に2回 Twice in the last 100 years
6 when / いつ 毎朝 Every morning
7 when / いつ 夕べ evening
8 when / いつ ギラギラした夏 A dazzling summer
9 when / いつ 夜が明けるまで until dawn
10 when / いつ 19XX年 19XX
11 when / いつ イナゴが大量発生した日 The day when a large number of locusts appeared
12 when / いつ 復讐の夜 night of revenge
13 where / どこで 燃えるような恋をした! I fell in love with a fiery heart!
14 where / どこで スッポンポン! Softshell turtle!
15 where / どこで 箱根の山道で On the mountain path in Hakone
16 where / どこで パリで in paris
17 where / どこで 寺で at the temple
18 where / どこで プールで at the pool
19 where / どこで 図書館で at the library
20 where / どこで アリゾナで in arizona
21 where / どこで コンビニで At a convenience store
22 where / どこで レンタルビデオ屋で At the video rental store
23 where / どこで タンスのうらで Behind the dresser
24 where / どこで 公衆便所で in a public toilet
25 who / だれが 校長先生に表彰された。 Awarded by the principal.
26 who / だれが ポルトガル人が見ていた。 The Portuguese were watching.
27 who / だれが 係長がいなくなった。 The chief is gone.
28 who / だれが イマクニ?が Imakuni? but
29 who / だれが FBIが The F.B.I.
30 who / だれが コンビニの店員が A convenience store clerk
31 who / だれが 坊さんが The monk
32 who / だれが 八百屋のご主人が The owner of the greengrocer
33 who / だれが ヨメと姑が Yome and mother-in-law
34 who / だれが サバ業者が Mackerel traders
35 who / だれが 毛むくじゃらの人が a hairy person
36 what / なにを おしゃれ着に着がえた。 I changed into stylish clothes.
37 what / なにを 部族のギシキをとりおこなった。 He took charge of the tribes rituals.
38 what / なにを タエコを Taeko
39 what / なにを カブトムシを beetle
40 what / なにを 日本語吹き替え版ビデオを Japanese dubbed video
41 what / なにを サバを mackerel
42 what / なにを 柔道部員を judo club members
43 what / なにを 海水パンツを saltwater pants
44 what / なにを 未確認生物を unidentified organisms
45 what / なにを ウンコを poop
46 what up / どうした ギュッと抱きしめた。 I hugged her tightly.
47 what up / どうした 召喚した。 Summoned.
48 what up / どうした ポロリ。 Porori.
49 what up / どうした 棚に並べた。 I lined it up on the shelf.
50 what up / どうした イッキに飲みほした。 I drank it all in one go.
51 what up / どうした 密輸した。 I smuggled it.
52 what up / どうした しりにつめた。 I stuffed it on my butt.
53 end /おわり ウッフン Woohoo
54 help / お助けカード これいらね! I dont need this!
55 help / お助けカード お次はアナタ Youre next
56 help / お助けカード 全取替 Total replacement
57 help / お助けカード だれか助けて someone please help me
58 help / お助けカード シャッフル shuffle
59 help / お助けカード ムホートマー! Muhotmaa!
60 when / いつ 今日アイツとケンカして…わかれたよ… I had a fight with him today…we understood…
61 what up / どうした 発見した時 when I discovered
62 what up / どうした くるったように like a twirl
63 help / お助けカード いただきます! Ill enjoy having this!
64 who / だれが
65 who / だれが Blank
66 what up / どうした Blank
67 Blank

Here are the backs of the cards:

Promo Set

# Type Title (JP) Title Photo
1 いつ / when こんな時代だからこそ Because of times like this
2 いつ / when サチコは思わずタカオを Sachiko can’t help but look at Takao.
3 どこで / where 宇宙快速「ラピッドマスター」で Space express Rapid Master
4 どのような / like what ビキニスタイルの bikini style
5 だれが / who マーガレット・コズボーンが margaret cosborne
6 だれが / who 群衆が the crowd
7 だれが / who 平家が The Heike
8 なにを / what 大家さんを the landlord
9 なにを / what ルーファラ・コズボーンを Rufala Cosborne
10 なにを / what あの頃のオレを Me from back then
12 どうした / what up 映画化! Film adaptation!
13
14
15 お助けカード / help card まだ勝負はわからないぜ! I don’t know the outcome yet!
16 バクダン指令 / bomb directive ものまねをやるのだ!! Let’s imitate!!

I also have seen this photo from @hapycakeoven on Instagram [6]:

The promos also had this back:

Help Wanted

If you have scans or pictures of the promo set, please let me know and I will happily add them to this post – thank you!

Sources

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Congratulations for gathering so much information on such an obscure deck!
I didn’t know about the hidden quiz on imakuni’s website :open_mouth:

Regarding the promos this is indeed what hapycakeoven sent me. This is a cropped screenshot of what he had on his phone lol

btw just found these on suica_pokeca’s twitter



CH3aUPiUYAAUdyx

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Thanks for your kind words – I forgot where I got that screenshot from haha

I will update the post with the new info – thanks!

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Added the photos, some more I saw on Twitter, and a handwritten letter – ty!

You mean these are not spoof cards from vending series 4?

Nope, these are all real cards released by Creatures. Not Pokemon cards though. I wish there was a vending series 4 :eyes:

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ACFB8631-9DE8-4D2A-A8D2-2A5B0183F82D_4_5005_c

I located a deck that was opened a long time ago and stored it, I never personally looked at the contents as I could find no information at the time, I since found your thread. I ended up having a signed copy inside. It has the next day on it so I can assume it wasn’t a one day event. Thank you for the info!

EDIT: I see there were multiple dates depending on the region, so this signed copy is the first event.

Is it worth trying to get PSA to grade these cards? I feel you’ve provided enough evidence there. Be great to have this authenticated.

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Congrats, that’s a nice find!!!

PSA has currently been on a break from authenticating Pokemon related autographs. Once they start again, I’m sure they would authenticate this for you. I haven’t seen Bakaboon in their pop reports but if you communicate with them, I don’t see why they wouldn’t authenticate it

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Gotcha! Will keep a lookout for when they start again, be nice to have it encapsulated! :slight_smile:

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Wow, what a great thread @hcd!

I just stumbled across this thread from another. I had no idea where this was from, but I actually have one of these encapsulated (not sure if it’d be classified differently if graded?), so there is hope!

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This is amazing! I didn’t think getting encapsulated just regarding the signature. Thank you for the post!

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image

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PSA officially recognizes Bakaboon now! Even better, if you submit one of the promotional blank cards, the cert will reflect the written name Imakuni gave the card (Imkauni? Looks Lonely, Imakuni? While Being Angry)

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Does anyone here know who has the Yugi looking one?

This is so cool, thanks for the info @swolepoke !

I have one at PSA right now for the dual grade so we’ll see if they label it correctly :crossed_fingers:

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Imakuni owns it still