Nightmare Phillip Tanner and Brett Clements met in 1982 and a year later they both set up their own television production company,
A Couple 'A Cowboys. They developed a pilot and took it to
Village Roadshow, which within 24 hours signed a marketing and distribution agreement.
Nightmare was released in September 1991. In Europe, the game was renamed to
Atmosfear to avoid legal issues with the name
Nightmare, which was already taken. Upon the game's release, a marketing campaign was launched with advertising appearing on television and in cinemas. The game was very popular in Australia, leading to sold-out "dance parties" and a number of advertising deals, including one with
Pepsi. A song and a music video were also created for the game. Clements and Tanner sold the two millionth board game during the 1993 Christmas period.
Expansions Following the success of
Nightmare, four game expansions were announced, but only three were released. Each expansion included a new tape and new time and fate cards, with a different character hosting each tape.
Nightmare II was hosted by Baron Samedi and released in 1992.
Nightmare III was hosted by Anne de Chantraine and released in 1993.
Nightmare IV was hosted by Elizabeth Bathory and released in 1994. They struck a deal with
J. W. Spear & Sons, to use publishing experience and market research with
Nightmare to help create the new game. The deal allowed J. W. Spear & Sons to have input into how the game was developed, which had not been the case with
Nightmare.
Village Roadshow was also involved with the game's development and with its release in the United States. The development ended six years after it started, with about six million dollars invested into it.
The Harbingers sold above the industry's sales predictions in Australia and became one of the top-ten best-selling games in the United States and the United Kingdom within months of its release. On the game's release, Mattel launched a marketing campaign with a spot on
MTV, cross-promotions with soft drinks and a website for the game.
Booster tapes Two booster tapes were released following the success of
The Harbingers. The tapes provide a challenging experience for seasoned players. They run for forty-five minutes instead of the sixty minutes of the original, and come with a new rule to limit the number of Keystones added to each province based on the amount of players. Other than this limit, the normal rules apply.
The Soul Rangers A year later, an add-on called
The Soul Rangers was released. This allowed players to play only as The Soul Rangers. The add-on was released because the creators found that players enjoyed causing damage as The Soul Rangers.
Atmosfear: The Gatekeeper After nine years of development,
The Gatekeeper was released on 8 July 2004. Within six months of its release, 60,000 copies were sold, growing to 600,000 worldwide sales.
The Gatekeeper came with a DVD instead of a videotape, with the help of random programming allowing the creators to give a whole new game every time the DVD is played.
Atmosfear: Khufu the Mummy A second DVD board game was released in 2006 titled
Khufu the Mummy. In 2019, an app based version of the game was licensed by Creata IP and released in Australia, Spain and Portugal, with additional territories following in 2020. The rules are very similar to the 2004 game with some modifications, but the main change is The Gatekeeper, performed by Jacek Koman, who comes in the form of an app that works in conjunction with a smart device creating the perfect game of ATMOSFEAR. Multiple devices can be used during the game.
Atmosfear 30th Anniversary Edition The Kickstarter for the Atmosfear 30th Anniversary Edition concluded on 13 December 2021. The Kickstarter had a total of 3,884 backers, and the game was backed for a total of AU $491,581 with a goal of AU $90,000. ==Timeline==