Just as there are people who are surprised to hear that there are professional game inventors, there are also people who are surprised to hear that there are professional game content writers.  And while, I know lots of inventors are also content writers (me, for example), I thought it would be fun to talk to someone who started their career in the industry as a content writer so I did a quick interview with Alice Langholt.  But before I get to the interview, I’m going to quickly explain the game she wrote the content for: Flippin’ Out. 

Flippin’ Out is “The Chip Flippin’ Name Game” invented by Brian Turtle of Endless Games – and the slogan pretty much explains the game.  Spin a color, pull the card, read the category and then take turns calling out answers that match a letter on a face-up chip and flip it over so no one can use that letter again.   It’s a last-player standing game and with only 10-seconds to answer you have to be quick on your feet when you’re left with difficult letters like U, V and I.

Flippin’ Out includes 880 categories on 220 cards – which is a lot of categories to come up with.  I asked Alice about that and how she got into the industry; here’s what she had to say:  

 

1. How did you get started being a content writer for board games?

It all started when I was a teacher who created a Jewish version of Apples to Apples for a class I was teaching. The game was so popular I pitched it to Jewish Educational Toys, who contacted Out of the Box Publishing about sublicensing an official version of Apples to Apples. I worked with OTB on creating the cards and rules, and learned the technical writing aspects of game content writing. I ended up freelancing, then working full time for OTB. When OTB downsized, I started freelancing for other game companies in content development. 

 

2. Coming up with as many categories as you did for Flippin’ Out seems to be a daunting task, how did you keep going?

To be honest, the first 700 or so were pretty easy. I carried a pad of paper around with me and wrote down every idea that came to mind. Usually whatever I was looking at would spark an idea. For instance, look out the window. There’s: weather, car makes, plants, outdoor clothing, things to do in the snow, types of birds, rodents, dog tricks, and lots more! Simple observation will usually produce a big supply. 

The hardest part was to avoid duplicates. I typed everything into a table and would sort by abc order. That helped me cross check, but sometimes differently worded categories would dupe without me catching them until later. I came up with categories 500 at a time and submitted them. The whole project took about 3 months.

 

3. When developing content for a game like Flippin’ Out, do you avoid certain topics?  And is this requested by the manufacturer?

There’s an age range so we like to work within appropriate guidelines. There can be some flexibility for a little bit of sauciness, but generally speaking, it’s pretty PG. 

 

4. Do you test your questions to make sure that people can answer them or does the manufacturer do that? 

I had to be sure that I could think of at least 20 answers for every category. If I could (or together my husband and kids and I could), the category was ok.

 

5. What other projects have you worked on and which one was your favorite?

I gotta say, of course Apples to Apples is close to my heart, and when I worked for Out of the Box, I also worked on a game called Party Pooper. That was hilarious. But Name 5 and Flippin’ Out were great too, and I’m really proud to have been such a big part of the creation of these excellent games. I’ve also worked on Oh! The Places You’ll Go! and “Thanks A Lot?!” for Forrest-Pruzan Creative, as part of a team of content writers, and those games are also excellent. I really gravitate to word-related games, and love to be creative.

 

6. When you travel, do you take any games with you?  And if yes, which one(s)?

We take Name 5, Flippin’ Out!, Apples to Apples (Jewish Edition), Thanks A Lot?!, X-Ceter-O and regular playing cards. I have four kids and all of them like to play. Name 5 and Flippin’ Out! are especially family- friendly because you play in teams. My kids are really good at them!

 

7. Anything else you’d like to say about getting into in the industry?

I really think that I got lucky, getting into the industry as I did. I can pitch new game ideas directly to Endless Games because of my ongoing relationship with them, and we really have fun playing with different scenarios. I help them with the rules wording and that’s challenging and creative, and I feel good about the excellence of the rules when we’re done. I know that most people have a harder time breaking in, so I’m certainly an exception and was in the right place at the right time (as we always are, even if we don’t know it at the time!)

 

You can follow Alice on Twitter at: @reikiawakening (how we met), and her website is: reikiawakeningacademy.com

Flippin Out is up for a People’s Play Award – you can vote for it here:  www.PeoplesPlayAwards.com

It’s officially the first day of fall.  I don’t have any idea where my summer went, but it’s indoor volleyball season again so I’m not too upset.  And for some unknown reason, I play volleyball with a lot of teachers and on numerous occasions I’ve suggested games to use in their classroom.  I try to pick games that I think are fun but have some element of learning in it – but really, I think any game that forces you to think ahead a turn or two can provide an extremely valuable life lesson, but I’m pretty sure that they need to validate their game-playing with a stronger argument than that.  My most recent educational find is A-BEE-C Match Game, invented by Matt Nuccio for Endless Games.

A-BEE-C is a dice and matching game for kids who are old enough to know not to swallow dice, but are still mastering letter recognition, reading and spelling.  There are 22 letter dice in the game and a bunch of cards with 3-letter words.  Make 2 teams, give them each half the dice and then lay three cards out.  One team uses the bee cup to roll their dice and using the letters rolled, they start to spell out the word/item on each card.  If they can spell the whole word they get to keep the card, if not the other team rolls their dice and tries to complete the word and capture the card.  Personally I like that it isn’t just about matching but it’s also got that “am I going to have a lucky roll?” feel to it.  First team to collect 7 cards wins.  To make it a little more challenging, use post-its to cover up the written word on the cards to make it more of a spelling game and less of a letter-recognition game.

Now, because this isn’t an article for Games for Educators (which I also write for), I asked Matt Nuccio how he came up with the game.  His PG-13ish answer:

“I was sitting in a bar downing Ketel drinks with [Brian Turtle, of Endless Games], when it crossed my mind that we might be able to make a game by capitalizing on this literacy thing that’s become a fad around world because of that Gutenberg dude…not the “Hey Mahoney” Police Academy Gutenberg, but the Johannes Gutenberg printing press German inventor guy. Anyway, the next thing I remember I woke up the next morning in an alley wearing a yellow and black striped shirt that read “just BEE you”, dice in my hand, and a cocktail napkin with the instructions written on it. I look over at Brain and he had poorly painted his flask to look like a bumble bee.”

Doubt it’s the truth – but I like it.  If inventing was only that easy!

A-BEE-C Match Game Stats:
~$14.99 at Creative Kidstuff, Boscovs and mom & pop shops
2 or more players, always played in 2 teams
Time needed to play really depends on the skills of the players
Ages 5 and Up

Tic Tac Toe – I don’t think there isn’t a person out there who didn’t spend quality childhood time trying to dominate an adversary but instead ended up with a very unsatisfactory “cats” game.  As I recall, tic-tac-toe wasn’t very fun.  So why then do I feel like there is a sudden deluge of new tic-tac-toe inspired games?

Sure, I will freely admit that there are a few classic tic-tac-toe games that are quite enjoyable.  Actually, the only one that really comes to mind is right now is Toss Across, introduced in 1969 by the Ideal Toy Company and invented by Marvin Glass and Associates.  Today Mattel manufactures it, and it’s still a great mix of tic-tac-toe and classic beanbags making it more of a skill game than a dull no-brainer.

But in the last decade we’ve seen tons of new tic-tac-toe themed games. Card games, board games, outdoor games – heck, there’s even a “Tic Tac Toe Toast Bread Stamper” for sale on Amazon so you can play peanut butter versus jelly if you’d like!    Just to name a few that you’ll find in the game section:

• Gobblet, Blue Orange
• Ticks Tacks Toes, Learning Resources
• X-Ceter-O, Endless Games
• Roll-It Tic Tac Toe, Patch Products
• Tic-Attack-Toe, PB & J Toys
• Flip-Tac-Toe, Educational Insights
• Chaos, Mindware
• Monster 4, Lego
• Cubiko, Cubiko Games Limited
• Top Spot, Fundex
• Tic Tac Doh!, Looney Labs
• Electronic Toss Across, Mattel

And a couple a little older:

• Tic Tac Twice, Talicor
• Generic 3D Tic Tac Toe - also called Score Four and Qubic, various
• Shift Tic Tac Toe, Pressman
• Tic Tac Tony, Fisher-Price
• Super 3, Milton Bradley
• Tic Tac Turn, Ohio Art

And then are the “in a row” games which are really one step away from tic-tac-toe like Toot and Otto by ThinkFun and Coverup by Out of the Box and many, MANY others.

So have any of them successfully improved upon the paper and pencil time-waster?  Sure, I really like Gobblet (see my review of Gobblet Gobblers HERE) and X-Ceter-O is probably your best bet for something as close to the classic game as possible.  Thankfully it removes any chance of a cat’s game by limiting each player to 3 Xs (or Os) and forces them to move them in the same order until someone gets three in a row.  Classic tic-tac-toe essence minus the dreaded DRAW.

Gobblet and X-Ceter-O are my pics, but I will toss the question out to my readers too.  Do you have any favorite tic-tac-toe inspired games? (old or new) Please comment below.

Gobblet Stats:
go to the review HERE

X-Ceter-O Stats:
~$10-$12 Amazon, Toys ‘R Us, Kmart, AreYouGame.com
2 players
5 minutes per game
Ages 7 and up

Earlier this summer Brian Turtle of Endless Games emailed me after I posted my backgammon review (see here) and wanted to know if I had ever played their kid’s game Quackgammon.  I’ll admit, I’d walked passed it at Toy Fair but I didn’t stop to play.  Maybe it was because their booth was so busy or because my pal Mary Couzin’s booth was right down the way and I heard a rumor that she was bringing wine or maybe it was because I love backgammon and I wasn’t really sure anyone could improve upon it.  Don’t really know, but I’m definitely glad Brian sent a sample my way.

Quackgammon is a great way to teach a kid how to play backgammon, partly because you don’t play with dull disc-shaped movers, but instead each player gets three super-cute mini rubber ducks!  While it’s not exactly backgammon with duckies, it definitely provides a kid-friendly stepping-stone to real backgammon.

The goal of the game is to get your ducks around the board from home to finish and then off the board before your opponent does.  And just like in backgammon, you’re both going different directions on the board.  On a turn, you roll your die and you can move any of your ducks toward finish.  Your duck can only land on a vacant space or a space occupied by your opponent’s duck, provided there aren’t two of their ducks in a row.  Two ducks in a row is like having two backgammon checkers on the same space, they’re safe from your opponent.  BUT if there is a lonesome duck hanging out by itself, you can move your duck onto that space and “bump” your opponent’s duck back to start.  (Think of it like sending your opponent to “the bar” in backgammon).   Ducks that are sent back to start must be moved onto the board before any other duck can be moved which makes “bumping” a duck very advantageous.

When your ducks gets close to the finish, you’ll need to get them off the board with an exact roll.  First player to get all three ducks off the board first wins.

If you’re a backgammon junkie like me, I’m sure you’ll see lots of similarities between the two games.  And if you’re not, it doesn’t really matter because Quackgammon still stands on it’s own and is lots of fun even if you know NOTHING of backgammon…..but you might want to learn after you play Quackgammon a zillion times with your kids.

**As a quick note, the image above is pulled directly from the Endless Games catalog which are handed out during Toy Fair.  The Endless guys are known for doing something crazy for their catalogs every year and in this picture is Kevin McNulty their VP of Sales.  You can see some of their other catalog covers at their website: http://www.endlessgames.com/ns-Catalogs.html 2009 is my personal fave …pervy ping pong.  Hilarious!

Quackgammon Stats:
~$12-15 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and some specialty/local game retailers
2 players
~10 minutes
Ages 6 and up

Endless Games did a nice job of summing up the game play of their new board game, “Name 5,” in the title so this review was pretty short, but the game’s inventor, Brian Turtle, was nice enough to share how he came up with the game.  Here’s what he said:

“Yes, I thought I was a one-trick-pony after having initial success as an inventor with The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and never writing a “sequel”.  But lo and behold, much like the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, Name 5 is a parlor game that my friends and I would play while waiting for the bars to “get going” back in my young, single Jersey Shore days.  We would have a few Budweisers over rounds of “Name 5 movies with Kurt Russell”; “Name 5 songs by KISS”; “Name 5 actors from the TV show TAXI”… and so on.  The game was always there long after those summers were traded off in favor of fatherhood and “responsibility.”  Mike Gasser (Endless Games “el Presidente”), Kevin McNulty (VP of Sales), and I would challenge one another with Name 5 categories all the time until one day Mike finally chimed in with, ‘Guys, we play this game all the time. Why don’t we box it and sell it. We are a GAME COMPANY after all!’ So that’s what we did!”

Overall Name 5 is a fun listing game, but the testers felt that some of the topics were just too darn easy even with a 30 second time limit!  During the first test, each team only lost one Name 5 challenge each: “Bon Jovi Songs” and “NFL Hall of Famers.”  This made the game feel like winning was going to be determined by rolling high, winning “Flip Flops” (where two teams go back and forth – sometimes for quite a while) and it ended up being a battle to complete all five of the categories on a single card in 90 seconds at the end.  It wasn’t bad – sometimes it was just too easy, but the second go around we changed the rules slightly and allowed the card-reading player (or team) to PICK which topic they wanted to give their opponent (on wilds it was a choice between two topics).  With the change I felt like my brain got more of a workout and it added a nice element of “stump your neighbor” that everyone really liked.

I urge you to try Name 5 out.  It’s a fun party game that everyone can be good at —and if they’re too good, do what The Game Aisle testers did and stick ‘em with the hardest topic on the card!

Name 5 Stats:

~$25 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, AreYouGame.com right now and Toys ‘R Us in the fall
2 or more players
~30 minutes as long as someone can do that last card!
Ages 12 and up