Kalimaat Kids - This is what happens when cute kids try to play a grown up game

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

Currently working on Season 3 but I thought I share this with you while you're waiting

**NOTE: This kids is this video do NOT wear hijab. Naturally, some kids try to imitate the older people around them (clothes, talking, etc..) and sometimes they wear it for fun for the sake of imitation (like in this video).

So far I've seen Kalimaat played by mostly people between the ages of 15 to 40. I wanted to see what would happen when a 5 year old and 2 year old tried to play. To make it natural, I left the game on the table, press the record button and left the room :) Its funny when young children try to imitate grown ups.

Anyways, I put together the Season 3 page now on Ummah Films site: http://www.ummahfilms.com/season3.html

The next video for Season 3 will be ready next Friday (8/7/09) InshAllah

New Video! How to play Kalimaat

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

Since a lot of people ask me How to play Kalimaat, I figured I just post the animation video up.

I've been taking the game around with me during my travels, and it has been pretty cool watching people's reaction while they've played it. Honestly, I enjoying playing it with people much more than I do selling it. I guess that's why I never reprinted my first game Mecca to Medina. Although we sold thousands of them and we got about 400 order requests afterwords. I never reprinted it. Till this day, I still get phone call orders for it, and each time, I just tell them that its sold out. I much rather make new items rather than just sold old ones. My Muslim friends who deal with business think I'm crazy lol. I told on the bright side my products become like collector items. I use to sell Ummah Films shirts...done...then Ummah Films DVD...done. Mecca to Medina game...done. Now Kalimaat and eventually, I'll be done. Allah Alim.

I started selling Kalimaat a few days ago and Alhamduillah over 700 games are already gone. I hope once people play the game they bought, they'll realize that the game in genuinely very fun. When I made the game, I wasn't trying to compete with many of the dull Muslim games out there but rather I wanted to raise the bar, and compete with the mainstream games. I tried to do that with not just the quality of the packaging but the quality of the game itself. I wanted to make something that wouldn't sit on the shelf but rather would be used. I got one email back already from someone who got the game early (about two weeks ago) and he said they played the game for 8 days straight haha. Anyways, I think its time for Muslims to start making quality products that people will want and more importantly to handle the business side of things Islamically.

Sometimes people ask me what is the "secret". I'm like there is no secret. Just work hard and make things the best you can. Either your product will be "sold" or "bought". If your product is junk, then it will have to be "sold" to the people but if you product is great, then people will buy it. Maybe some people bought the game cuz they thought it sounded good. Maybe others bought it cuz they liked similar games. Maybe some people bought it cuz I made it. Allah Alim. That isn't important. What is important is that when these people play this game with their friends....that is when people don't care about that stuff but rather they care about how good the game is. Once they realize that game is really fun, then they will come back and get their own Kalimaat InshAllah and the only way for me to do that is by making someone that is solid InshAllah. By the way, I can not take ANY credit for ANY of the success of the projects that I have been fortunate enough to work on. As a reminder to myself and everyone reading my blog, all success is because Allah (swt) wills it. All we can do it put in the effort and make du'ah that Allah (swt) brings us to what is good and takes us away from what is bad.

jazakAllah khair for everyone's support.

your brother in Islam,

Baba Ali
www.babaaligames.com

Baba Ali going to MuslimFest 2009

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

The first time I performed for a Muslim crowd was at MuslimFest and now I'm going back August 1nd & 2nd InshAllah. I turned on my camera and made this video without any script....just improv. You can tell I'm having fun :)

By the way, after making the video, I realized how much I missed making the Reminder clips so I'm going to try to finish making the Season 3 of The Reminder by end of Ramadan InshAllah.

Anyways, for more info on Muslim Fest, visit www.muslimfest.com

Kalimaat Commercials: Help me decide....

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

I asked two USC film students to make me a commercial for my new Kalimaat game. I told them they can do whatever they wanted as long as they followed some basic Islamic guidelines. By the way, the actresses in the video are all non-Muslim hijabies. I can't take credit or critisim for either video because I didn't write, edit, or direct them. Anyways, I wanted to get your feedback on which one (if any) I should go with. Here are the two videos:

Video #1 (made by Ken)
Video #2 (made by Adnan)

By the way, if your interested in learning more about the game, there is cool "How to Play" video on my site: www.babaaligames.com

Kalimaat Game reviewed by Tom Vasel ( leading board game reviewer)

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

Tom Vasel is the leading board game reviewer in board game industry. On his website, he has reviewed over 700 games and owns about 1700 games himself. Since my new game, Kalimaat, is a game that can be played by both Muslims and non-Muslims, I figured I send him a game to see what he thinks of it.

In his review, he talks about how his game was more "silent" because people were too busy trying to remember the words. Maybe I should invite him to play with my group of friends. The characters I have played with are anything but quiet and are constantly trying to distract you and make you laugh while your partner is trying to give you clues.

Being that he is a missionary, I wasn't sure what to expect but the review came out pretty good Alhamdulillah.

I hope the game Kalimaat will come out by 7/27/09 InshAllah

Half Our Deen on hold

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

Wow! On July 11th, we launched Half Our Deen and we really didn't expect so many people to register. Honestly, it caught us off guard. Once the site launched, we realized that not only do we need a powerful server to support the number of members but we need to correct some of the issues on the backend. The quality of the website is more important to us than the quantity so for the time being, we're putting a temporary hold on the site so we can improve the experience the memebers. For those who have been eagerly waiting for the Half Our Deen, we thank you for your patience.

For those who were able to sign up with Half Our Deen early and have made successful payments, we have FULLY refunded all your money back. As Muslims, we want to be implement Islam even when it comes to business InshAllah and that is why we decided to send every penny paid for the site right back to the members. We want to give you the best possible experience for the price and InshAllah and we're going to go back to the drawing board to restructure the site so we can come back with an even more amazing product for you.

The goal is to launch Half Our Deen again but this time we'll be more prepared InshAllah. Please forgive us for any shortcommings and keep us in your du'ahs.
We apologize for any delays. Your overall experience is more important to us than the number of members we have.

Half Our Deen has launched! Finally :)

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

I know many of you have waited a long time for the launch of Half Our Deen and jazakAllah khair for your patience. I am happy to announce that we have just launched the Half Our Deen website Alhamdulillah.

While some may think we are done with the website, we believe we have just begun. There are many more features we want to add to the site, so we’ll be working behind the scenes to make improvements to Half Our Deen, InshAllah.

Unlike the other websites, we refuse to put up fake profiles to pull in an audience. It will take a few days to have a sufficient number of profiles up, InshAllah. From day one, we wanted Half Our Deen to be different from all the other websites, and I have personally put together a special video explaining the many differences and features that makes Half Our Deen so unique.

JazakAllah Khair for all your patience and support.

Please click below to register with Half Our Deen.

www.halfourdeen.com (remember to check out the video on the main page too)

By the way, if you have any feedback, please send it to support@halfourdeen.com

New Video! Baba Ali on the steets asking questions about Islam

Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem,

We had some free time before the comedy show so we decided to hit up the streets and ask our non-muslim neighbors what they know about Islam. Here are some of the answers we received.

Camerman and Editor Saad Malik