Sometime halfway through playing Paradise Fallen, the most recent release from Crash Games, I mentioned the game’s post-apocalyptic theme. Probably as an explanation to why we were paddling outrigger canoes around a misshapen Hawaii for no apparent reason other than to check out a bunch of grumpy tribes, evil coral reefs, clouds of green mist, and freak whirlpools.

“What. This game isn’t post-apocalyptic,” one of our players interrupted.

I insisted it was. If it wasn’t post-apocalyptic, I argued, why is it called Paradise Fallen? And why do the ration cards show tins of spam and emergency water baggies? I had to show him the game box, complete with its smouldering, beat-up Honolulu skyline, to persuade him.

“Huh,” he shrugged, and looked back down at his cards. “Looks like regular paradise to me.”

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