For Clash of Clans’ real 10th anniversary, we celebrated a fake 40th Anniversary instead. Why? Because although Clash of Clans started in 2012, we didn’t want the fans of one of the world’s top mobile games to miss out on the era of arcade games, cartridges, and questionable graphics. So we decided to play a game with our fans, pulling them down a nostalgia rabbit hole of fake news where the Clash brand could have existed since 1982.

Animated Cinematics: It began with an animated film that sent the Barbarian back in time, trapping him in a real-world arcade game called “CLASH.”

Mini Games: We reimagined Clash of Clans as an arcade game, a 90s console racer, and an early 2000s open-world game. The games—Clash, Clash Dash, and Clash: Cradle of Darkness—were era-specific with unique art and, as part of our story, “remastered” for mobile so they could be played “again” in the Clash of Clans app.

Brand Partnerships: To thicken our historical soup of fake news, we partnered with several brands that instantly transport you to the 80s/90s/2000s

Topps: 20+ unique Garbage Pail Kids cards with Clash character designs. General Mills: An actual cereal called “Barb’s Choco Boom Booms” Champion: A capsule collection spanning four different eras of fashion––80s, 90s, 00s, and today.

A Mini-Documentary: Finally came the 20-minute documentary “Clash From The Past” featuring a fabricated origin story, fake founders, and the rise and fall of the Clash gaming empire that began –– not in 2012 –– but in 1982. The film included action figures, branded cereal, video game commercials, and even clips from a fake Clash movie that were presented as real history to create a “Mandela Effect,” leaving viewers questioning if they really remembered the things they were seeing.