Crazy Chicken (originally released in Germany as Moorhuhn), sometimes known as Chicken Hunter or Moorhen, is a shooting gallery video game franchise. While originally intended to merely serve as a small-scale advertising game, the first game's unintended online release and subsequent distribution as shareware were followed by an unexpected and widely unprecedented surge in popularity, making it Germany's most popular computer game in the early 2000s and enabling Crazy Chicken to develop into a multi-platform franchise with a variety of spin-offs and merchandise.
History The original Crazy Chicken game (now distributed as The Original Crazy Chicken Hunt) was commissioned by Bochum-based Art Department advertising agency - known for their advergames - and developed by Dutch Witan Studios as an advertisement for Johnnie Walker whisky in 1998. The concept of using a video game to promote the Johnnie Walker brand was originally thought up by another advertising agency, Hamburg-based Vorwerk & Buchholz, in 1997. A prototype of the game that would later be turned into The Original Crazy Chicken Hunt was shown off by Witan Studios at the Bizarre 98 demo party in summer of 1998 as KippenSchieten.
It was originally made available in October 1998 to play on laptops in select bars, with promoters dressed up as fowlers. While never intended for sale or further distribution, it seems to have been illicitly copied, and became widely available for download on private websites. The publisher's initial irritation at this subsided after the game received favorable mentions in popular media and demand for it grew. From the beginning of 1999 onwards, the game was officially made available for download by Art Department. It became wildly popular in German-speaking Europe, to the point of being described by various media outlets as a threat to the bottom line of businesses, on account of the number of hours wasted by employees playing the game due its ease of accessibility and shareability (the original game only had a file size of approximately 2 MB, meaning it could be sent via email).
The development studio and IP owner of the franchise went public in late 1999 at the height of the dot-com bubble and attained a market value of up to one billion Euro.
In 2002, their stock value rapidly collapsed after it became known that the company's leaders were under investigation for falsifying balance sheets. Chairman of the Vorstand Markus Scheer and CFO Björn Denhard, who confessed to the falsifications, were fired. In 2009, they were sentenced by a German court to 46 and 36 months' imprisonment, respectively, for securities fraud and other infractions. Scheer would subsequently leave the video game industry and turn to politics instead, allegedly becoming a puppet master of the far-right AfD party in North Rhine-Westphalia, until founding Bündnis Deutschland in 2022.
Phenomedia AG underwent insolvency proceedings. Its assets, including the Crazy Chicken series, were bought by a successor company, Phenomedia publishing GmbH, which continued to develop and publish games until its dissolution in 2017, from whereon out the company's assets - including the rights to the Crazy Chicken franchise - became property of its long-time publishing partner, ak tronic Software & Services GmbH.
Gameplay
Within the mainline series, the concept of which is derived from the Glorious Twelfth, the main objective of the game usually is to attain a high score by shooting the titular Crazy Chickens within the framework of the single-screen shooting gallery genre. Players usually have 90 seconds and infinite ammunition to do so. Starting with Crazy Chicken 2, each game also contained a variety of puzzles and hidden secrets activated by shooting certain objects on screen in a particular order and/or with certain timing (netting a far higher score than the regular Crazy Chickens), which encouraged more competition and discussion concerning the games. Later entries would also go on to add elements such as a wider variety of enemies, bonus games after a successful round, multiple levels, etc...
Prominent spin-off series include the Mario Kart-inspired Crazy Chicken Kart series, the point-and-click Crazy Chicken Adventure series, the 2D-platforming Crazy Chicken Jump'n Run series, the Crazy Chicken Sports series, as well as several genre outliers making use of the franchise's settings and characters.
Characters The franchise features a variety of fictional returning characters:
Crazy Chicken (Moorhuhn in German): The titular species of the series. Originally designed by Ingo Mesche (with the redesign used from Crazy Chicken X onwards created by 3D graphic artist Ernst Weber) for the cancelled Commodore Amiga game Duckling in 1992, these chickens would go on to be considered "Germany's most popular video game character". Throughout their appearances, they have displayed signs of intelligence, such as making use of objects, interacting with each other like an organized society, as well as wearing costumes and showing different character traits between individuals. Moorhuhn Indy: A Crazy Chicken parody of Indiana Jones. Serving as the main character of the Crazy Chicken Adventure and Crazy Chicken Jump'n Run subseries, as well as making minor appearances in various other games in the franchise, Moorhuhn Indy has received a noticeable number of characterisation. This includes traits such as a mix of adventurousness and childish naiveté, paired with a general clumsiness expressed both in his dialogue and actions. Furthermore, a comprehensive backstory involving his residence (a castle in the Scottish highlands) and extended family, such as his ghost-hunting grandfather, has been established. Moorfrog (Moorfrosch in German): Serving as the introduction to the secrets and puzzle mechanics which became a mainstay of the series from Crazy Chicken 2 onwards, this frog was supposed to attract players' attention by either sitting in plain sight and croaking, but dodging bullets unless certain other conditions are met, or serving as the gateway to other puzzles. He went on to make several appearances in the Crazy Chicken Kart series, appear as a mount in Crazy Chicken Tales, as well as receiving his own video game. In a press release, he was officially characterised as "the small green nuisance from Crazy Chicken 2 and the online game for the second championship". Hank: A mole introduced in Crazy Chicken Winter Edition. While his original purpose was to serve as a tutorial character to the player, later games had him become more involved in regular gameplay, such as in Crazy Chicken Wanted, where Hank has to be lured out in order to shoot the key to the next stage out from his hands. Aside from his appearances in the Crazy Chicken Kart series, he would later become playable in his own game, where his mission was to steal treasure from the Uru, a fictional race of earth spirits. Kroet (Kröt in German): This anthropomorphic turtle made his first appearance in Crazy Chicken 3 under the name of "Marzipan", guarding the same baby turtles which would eventually become the main focus of his own game, where alien octopuses have taken over several bays, abducting and freezing Kroet's fellow sea creatures in the process. Whereas previous appearances, such as the ones in the Crazy Chicken Kart series, depicted him without many distinguishing features, his own spin-off equipped him with goggles, a jet pack and a laser gun. Lesshuhn: A close relative of the Crazy Chicken introduced in Crazy Chicken 3. They are described as a dim-witted species, whose stupidity has brought them to the brink of extinction, providing an in-universe explanation as to why shooting them is usually penalised by deducting points from the player's score. Their name is a pun based on the fact that the "Moor" in the original German name of the Crazy Chicken (Moorhuhn) sounds similar to the English word "more", to which "less" would be the natural opposite. In addition, their name is similar to "Blässhuhn", the German name of the common coot.
List of video games Mainline series TitleDetails Short descriptionThe Original Crazy Chicken Hunt / Moorhen - Chicken Chase / The Original Moorhuhn HuntOriginal release date(s):1998 - Advertisement release December 23, 1999 - Commercial releaseOriginal System(s): PC - 1999 Game Boy Color - 2000 PalmOS - 2001 Java – 2002 Remake:
PC – 2005 Browser – 2005 iOS, Android – 2017 Nintendo Switch – 2018 PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 – 2021 Remastered:
iOS, Android – 2025 Nintendo Switch – 2025 Steam – 2025 PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 – 2025Originally conceived as a small-scale advergame (all branding was removed in subsequent rereleases), this shooting gallery game gives the player 90 seconds and infinite ammunition to get as high of a score as possible by shooting different elements (mainly the titular Crazy Chickens, which award more points the further they are in the distance) on a single screen, set at the Scottish countryside. The 2005 version of the Remake merely contains visual updates to the game, whereas subsequent rereleases include some stage elements from Crazy Chicken 3.
A remaster version was released in 2025 for console, PC and mobile to celebrate 25th anniversary of the franchise. For the console version, if you score 800 points, the remake version of the game will be unlocked as a bonus.Notes: First shown off in 1998 as KippenSchieten Original release title: Crazy Chicken (Moorhuhn in German) Original versions published by Ravensburger Interactive Media PC version of the remake published by ak tronic Software & Services GmbH Later versions of the remake and remastered published by Higgs Games PS4 and PS5 version of the remake and remastered published by Markt+Technik The Java version is called Moorhen (Moorhuhn Classic in German) A special version designated for the 1st German Crazy Chicken Championship was released for browsers, with the only major difference being a shared online leaderboardCrazy Chicken 2Original release date:September 20, 2000System(s): PC – 2000 PlayStation – 2000 Game Boy Color – 2001 Apple PowerPC – 2001Playing much like the original, this sequel added many more objects to be shot, many of which interact with each other, serving as puzzles for the player to solve. These puzzles would become a mainstay of the series. Secrets such as a hidden version of Snake have also been implemented. Set near a Scottish village.Notes: Known as Moorhuhn 2 - Die Jagd geht weiter in German Published by Ravensburger Interactive Media The Snake mini game received a standalone Adobe Flash release A special version designated for the second Crazy Chicken German Online Championship (which, despite its name, was also used for the Austrian championship) was released for browsersCrazy Chicken Swiss Online ChampionshipOriginal release date:March 1, 2001System(s): Browser – 2001A training game for the titular Crazy Chicken Swiss championship, making use of the same mechanics as Crazy Chicken 2, while using an Alpine setting, complete with original puzzles involving elements such as a wooden cabin or the bus introduced in the second German Online Championship driving by.Notes: Known as Moorhuhn Schweizer Meisterschaft in German Published by BluewinCrazy Chicken Winter EditionOriginal release date:March 18, 2001System(s): PC – 2001A standalone add-on for Crazy Chicken 2, this game is the exact same as the former, with only the Scottish village setting being changed to take place during winter and some of the puzzles being changed in the process. Includes Haribo advertising.Notes: Known as Moorhuhn Winter-Edition in German Published by Ravensburger Interactive MediaCrazy Chicken PottmastersOriginal release date:March 17, 2001Original System(s): Browser – 2001 2003 version: