Yahtzee Croshaw
Creator of Zero Punctuation and prolific indie game developer.
Benjamin Richard "Yahtzee" Croshaw, born 24 May 1983, is a British writer, game critic, game maker, novelist, and comedian. He is most famous for the video review series *Zero Punctuation*, which ran on The Escapist from 2007 until 2023, and its follow-up, *Fully Ramblomatic*, now hosted on the Second Wind platform.
Croshaw has created more than two dozen indie games, covering both free and paid releases. He has also written six novels published by Dark Horse Books. Outside of his creative projects, he was one of the four founders of the Mana Bar, a cocktail bar and gaming lounge in Australia that opened in 2010 and shut down by 2015.
**Game journalism**
**Zero Punctuation**
This video-review series appeared every Wednesday on The Escapist from 2007 to 2023. It started with a review of the demo for *The Darkness*, which quickly gained traction. After a second review covering *Fable: The Lost Chapters*, Croshaw was brought on to continue the series for the site. Episodes typically debuted on The Escapist’s website and were uploaded to its YouTube channel a week later. The series drove a major increase in site traffic, became the most popular feature on The Escapist, and each episode regularly pulled in hundreds of thousands of views, with the most popular ones exceeding a million.
Over the years, Croshaw became known for his fast-paced speaking style—which gave the series its name—along with his sharp criticism of the games he reviewed and the industry at large, plus the crude humor and simple illustrations in each episode. He also popularized the phrase "PC Master Race" in one review, though the term was originally coined by the webcomic Penny Arcade in 2004 and later became common among PC gamers. Reviews ran about five minutes and never included a numerical score, which Croshaw called "fucking nonsense when you're criticizing from a subjective artistic standpoint."
**Fully Ramblomatic**
On 6 November 2023, Croshaw announced he was leaving The Escapist along with several colleagues after editor-in-chief Nick Calandra was abruptly fired that same day. This effectively ended *Zero Punctuation*. Two days later, Calandra and Croshaw announced the launch of Second Wind, a new outlet where Croshaw would continue weekly video reviews under the title *Fully Ramblomatic*.
**Game development**
Croshaw’s first publicly released game was the *Arthur Yahtzee* t
- born
- 24 May 1983
- field
- Journalist, video game critic, developer, author, humourist
- nationality
- British
- known_for
- Zero Punctuation, Fully Ramblomatic, indie game development, novels
Lore & Background
Croshaw began his game development career in 1998 with the Arthur Yahtzee trilogy, created in Visual Basic 3. He later produced numerous freeware games using Adventure Game Studio from 2000 to 2007, including the Chzo Mythos and Trilby: The Art of Theft. In 2012 he released Poacher, developed in GameMaker Studio, which he used for all subsequent games. His latest game, Starstruck Vagabond, was released on 24 May 2024.
In 2007, Croshaw launched Zero Punctuation on The Escapist, a weekly video review series known for rapid-fire delivery, harsh critique, crude humour, and hand-drawn illustrations. The series became the site's most popular feature, with episodes regularly receiving hundreds of thousands of views. After the firing of editor-in-chief Nick Calandra in November 2023, Croshaw resigned and co-founded Second Wind, co
Reader's Guide
Yahtzee Croshaw's significance lies in his distinctive voice as a video game critic and his prolific output across multiple creative fields. Zero Punctuation redefined game criticism with its rapid-fire, no-score format, influencing a generation of online reviewers. His coining of the term 'PC Master Race' entered common gaming parlance. As a developer, he created over two dozen indie games, often pushing engines like Adventure Game Studio beyond their limits, and his artwork in Microsoft Paint gave his games a nostalgic Sierra-like aesthetic. His novels, while receiving mixed critical reception, expanded his reach into fiction. The abrupt end of Zero Punctuation and the founding of Second Wind marked a notable shift in independent game journalism. Croshaw's legacy is that of a singular, uncompromising creator who maintained creative control across criticism, game development, and writing.
Did You Know?
- Croshaw coined the term 'PC Master Race' in a Zero Punctuation review.
- He developed a horror-themed total conversion mod for Duke Nukem 3D called Age of Evil in 2003.
- His short story 'Exhaustion From Having Sex With a Minor' was published in the collection Machine of Death.
- He was one of four founders of the Mana Bar, an Australian cocktail bar and video gaming lounge.
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