A Maker-Approach to Creating and Manufacturing

Tabletop (Word) Games

TRAVIS FELDMAN!OMSI - Portland Mini-Maker Faire!

September 14, 2014

THE PROCESS OF MAKING PIJIN:

• DEVELOPED IN 12 MONTHS!

!

• THREE MAJOR ITERATIONS!

GUIDING IDEAS:

1. YOUR EXPERIENCE MATTERS - “Spell What You Hear”!

!2. THERE ARE NO “EXPERTS” - No Official or External

Word Lists - Players Assess Each Move as a Group!!3. NO CHEAP STUFF - Use Good Quality, Aesthetically

Pleasing Materials for Game Pieces (Bamboo)!!4. MODULAR SYSTEM - Encourage and Build into

Game Openness, Variants & Expansions

As I developed!the game, I

learned new things, including creative ways of working

rapidly with the IPA chart.

I took a maker’s or hacker’s

approach:! !

learn what is needed as it is needed & creatively assimilate

found materials. !

!For instance, I

made this !Table of

Elements.

We spent months playtesting. Wine, it turns out, often improves the experience of phonetic spelling.

By January 2014, I had arrived at a “working prototype”!complete gameset, with graphics and branding!

In November and December 2013, I used TaoBao, Alibaba, ThomasNet, Amazon and Google searches to find different suppliers for each part of the game.!

!!

By January I had explored many manufacturing options, I procured

estimates for the costs of making the game using several different methods or

manufacturers. !!!

At the end of January, I shot tons of photos, made a video, and was ready to

raise the funds needed to make the game.

November

December

January

February

Sales at retail game and hobby stores have risen 15-20% for each of the last three years

(ICV2.COM)

Amazon says board game sales increased by double digits from 2012 to 2013*

On Kickstarter, the amount raised for board game projects surpassed the amount raised for video games last year, !

$52.1 million to $45.3 million **NYTimes, May 6, 2014

THE GROWING BOARD GAMES MARKET:

So… on February 10, I launched on Kickstarter -!Pijin: The Spelling Game of the Spoken Word

Kickstarter backers were !interested in many facets!of the game, including!the materials and construction!of the grab bag.

One project Update included close-up!photos of the bag…

…and this “How To”

description for making a

grab bag from

recycled materials.

I also shared details of tile distribution,

and algorithms

used for creating the 144 unique,

double-sided tiles.

Tiles: Made in China!!

Cards: Made in India!!

Everything Else: Made in USA

THE KICKSTARTER WAS SUCCESSFUL.! !

NEXT I ORDERED!FROM MANUFACTURERS!AROUND THE WORLD…

When the manufactured

parts of the game arrived, !

about two months after orders were

placed, !I asked friends

to help me assemble and

box games!for shipment -!one night in June, we put together 200 game sets !

TOWER OF BABEL!!!

200 PIJIN GAMES!READY TO SHIP

MY APPROACH TO MAKING!PIJIN!WAS!

!

PROBLEM BASED!COLLABORATIVE!

DEMOCRATIC!MULTI-DISCIPLINARY

when you…LEARN

THINK DO

A DESIGNER!!

A PROGRAMMER!!

A MARKETER!!

AN ENTREPRENEUR

MANUFACTURING!IS HIGHLY EXPLORATORY!

!!

BE PREPARED!TO EXPAND YOUR AWARENESS, !

THINK LIKE:

SO WHAT’S NEXT?

AS FOR PIJIN… !!

REWARDS HAVE SHIPPED,!!

PRE-ORDERS FULFILLED,

PIJIN ON AMAZON

PIJIN IN CLASSROOMS

LET’S PLAY!