Yub Nub! That's Ewok for Freedom Folks

I'm a bit surprised that not many have asked about my company name, Yub Nub Games LLC. Many repeat it to make sure they heard it right, but not many ask what it means. My first official game design company was Top That LLC, after my first game's name, Top That! I described that name's demise in a previous post. The truth is, I was in a bit of a rush to pick a new name, and "Yub Nub" just seemed right... To make the name descriptive, I added "Games" on the end of it, and carried forward my LLC. There's a bit more to it though...

"Yub Nub" is Ewok for "freedom". It's just a simple pair of words that are part of a fictional language. However you say "freedom", that particular word has profound meaning, at least it does to me. Without freedom, we may not have the ability to create and express ourselves, or share our open and honest opinions. Without freedom, we might not be able to own land, or start businesses for whatever strikes our fancy. Without that freedom, I wouldn't be starting a random game design company in my "spare time" and sharing a game I created with the world (or at least those that I can reach).

Raising Old Glory at the Wild Horse Ranch 5/18/2020 - Photo Credit Wild Horse Ranch Protography

Freedom has a special meaning for me, as I defended the freedoms afforded to US Citizens as a United States Marine. I served from 2003-2008 and was deployed to Iraq twice during that time. I honestly can't say that I appreciated freedom until my first tour in Iraq, where I saw what it means to not be free. I saw people just trying to survive, and in many cases that meant that they had to fight to keep their families safe. Not safe from us, but from those threatening that if they don't fight the Americans, then their families would pay the price. I won't go into detail about what I encountered in Iraq, but I will say that I took for granted a lot of things before those experiences, and one of the big ones is the life of freedom.

Peter Seiler in Egypt during Operation Bright Star 2005 - Photo Credit, Petty Officer Morgan, US Navy

Back to Ewoks for a minute... I grew up in the late '80's and '90's, so of course I grew up with Star Wars. My three brothers and I were all huge Star Wars fans, and we happen to legitimately dig the Ewoks in all their fluffy glory! One year, I was even an Ewok for Halloween, where the costume was made of some old carpet scraps. Last time I checked, my brother Dan knows most of the words to the "Yub Nub" song sang by the Ewoks at the end of Return of the Jedi. My late brother Scott also really enjoyed Ewoks, and in a way, Yub Nub Games is also an ode to Scott, as I'm sure he would have approved. That's his smiley face below superimposed on an ewok. :)

Scott Seiler as an Ewok - RIP Brother

The last short tale about "Yub Nub" that I'll leave you with, is that my wife and I say it to each other for many purposes. Some times it means, "you're welcome", other times it means, "I love you too!" We seem to say it as a response for just about anything where more words are just not needed. No... saying "freedom" instead of "you're welcome" doesn't make literal sense, but as far as the meaning behind the tone, the context, and the familiarity, it makes sense to us.

So there you go. I've registered Yub Nub Games as a trademark in the US, and it's my legal entity in the State of Colorado, so I'm in it for the long haul! Yub Nub means the "freedom" that I fought for, it means fond memories of my childhood and brothers, and it's a word of endearment for no other reason besides that it is fun to say. Yub Nub!

---

Now if you've actually sat and read through all that, I challenge you to tell your own tales, perhaps even while playing my game TOP TALE! Subscribe below to make sure you don't miss a thing, and follow along on my social media pages under Yub Nub Games.