Today we’re having a talk with the legendary Gbanga player, Anh.Tom. He built up the leading Famiglia of the moment starting from the ground up. Today he shares with us his location-based gaming strategies as well as describing a very memorable situation while playing Gbanga.
(Gbanga) How did you get to know Gbanga?
(Anh.Tom) That was at the end January 2011 after Gbanga was on Einstein TV. I thought it was a very interesting idea and I just download the app after that. At the beginning I was bit puzzled by the game as I was sitting on my sofa at home and nothing happened until I figured out that I had to move around the city to score points.
What does Gbanga’s mixed-reality world look like in Zurich?
It depends a lot on where you are located. In cities like Zurich or Bern the competition is quite high. I can say that it might be easy to conquer some Cells but ownership is not very sustainable as you can be sure that next day another player will take it over again. The game is not only special in Switzerland but everywhere in world. I am also travelling to Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City (former Saigon) quite often and I think in this city there are currently no active players so I own all the territory.
What is your gaming strategy?
I prefer to go to remote areas normally by driving with the slow regional trains, where there is no competition from rival Famiglias. I am quite often driving and discovering many Cells with this strategy, which ensures my rank in the game stays so high. I can say that I’ve been living in Switzerland since 22 years but since I started playing Gbanga I’ve been in areas that I never visited before. I recently visited some areas in Switzerland in Canton Schaffhausen and Glarus where I could discover many new Cells.
Tell us bit more about your Famiglia the VietnameseEvilFinger, which is currently #1 on the Famiglia Leaderboard.
VietnameseEvilFinger moved up the ranks quite fast and when I joined the Famiglia I brought with me 4000 Mafia establishments. I tried to contact the most active players spread in different parts of the globe. Having inactive players is very expensive these day because of the new Famiglia Bribes. Now we have many great players who are the best in their location and because of that we now have the number 1 Famiglia.
We’ve heard that you were in a very unusual situation while playing Gbanga. Can you tell us a bit more about it?
Well, I was in the Zurich Airport on a Sunday because I had to do something there and saw a player on the Gbanga MAP that I’d once personally met at a Gbanga Birthday Party and I thought that it would be nice to say hello.
I was zooming the MAP and trying to locate the player at the airport but I could not remember his face very well. After some time he disappeared off the MAP and I gave up searching for him and started walking when, suddenly, someone tapped me on my shoulder. It was man that I’d never met before dressed in average cloths. He then asked me, what was I doing there at the airport. I freaked out and asked him back why was he asking me that, and then he showed me a police badge! Then I told him that I was just playing Gbanga. I explained the game to him, how it works and after everything he was still not sure, so I had to show him the game and then he started to believe me.
I had to ask why did he stop me and he said they’re looking for luggage thieves. Luckily I did not tell him about the “Top Secret Suitcase” side-quest and also that Gbanga is Mafia-themed game!
Great story, thanks Anh.Tom!
Would you like to participate in Around the World with Gbanga? Write tosupport@gbanga.com and let us know your Nickname and location.