HoopCAT Games Looks Back on 2012

It is 12/31, here are just some of our many thrills from the first year of our small family business.

The first game - We will always remember opening the package from Michigan with the very first Fill The Barn game to come from the factory.There was the thrill that we had pulled it off, as a husband and wife we had actually managed to publish our family's first board game.

The first store - For us this was a gift shop ten miles up the road called Brown's Orchards.  There is a certain feeling to walk in and see your family's game on the shelf.

Our first review - Sending your game off to a reviewer can be a bit scary.  You believe in your game, but what if the reviewer doesn't, and then they tell everyone they don't like it. Fortunately, Fill The Barn got a great first review, by one of the best family reviewers out there, none other than Father Geek!

Getting on the table - We have been fortunate to find game stores who not only put Fill The Barn on their shelf, they put Fill The Barn on the table to play with their customers. The first to do so was That Game Place outside Harrisburg, PA. A game does not come to life until somebody takes it out of its box. We are thankful for game store owners like Charlie & Jasmine who take games out of their boxes to play with thier customers.

Our first Unpub - To think that when 2012 started we had no idea the Unpub movement existed - what a find this group has been! Playtesters (who aren't family & friends) who want to try new games - that is every game designer's dream. Our second (unpublished) game AtataT made its debut at an Unpub Mini in May 2012 in Washington DC at Labyrinth Game Shop. And after the response, we knew that AtataT will have to be game #2 from HoopCAT Games.  A huge thank you to John Moller for providing this service.

Our first TV coverage - We were pleased that game store owners put Fill The Barn on their shelf and on their game tables. But Kathy Stroh of Our Game Table in Dover DE really surprised us when she took Fill The Barn with her to an interview for the Delmarva Life TV Show.

Sandy's Toy Shoppe - This was a very different memory from the others on the list.  Working a day in Sandy's Toy Shoppe was not about promoting our company or product.  Rather, it was a reminder that there is so much more to life than games. Christina will tell you that one of the nice things about having games in a warehouse is that it gives our family the freedom to give some away whenever we want to.

As a family, we have enjoyed our first year with a product to sell.  It has been our first chance to hear of other families who enjoy our game enough to play it again and again.   Being a game-making family, we sometimes can't tell whether it is work or play when we gather around the table to try a new rule variation or prototype.  I'm nowhere close to quitting my day job (the one that pays the mortgage, pays the bills, and puts food on the table).  Yet we are enjoying the ride of our little side venture that we call HoopCAT Games.

A Day at Sandy's Toy Shoppe

Weeks after Hurricane Sandy, electricity has been restored, gasoline available, and the television cameras gone. Yet there are countless families who remain displaced, whose new normal is no longer living in the house they used to call home.

Yesterday (Sat 12/15/12) I had the opportunity to go work a day in Sandy’s Toy Shoppe, helping to hand out new toys for  Christmas to New Jersey families whose homes were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. During those 6 hours, I met some incredible families with some incredible stories. I wanted to write about yesterday while it is still fresh in my mind.

Several weeks earlier, we also had prepared for Hurricane Sandy in southern PA. We heeded the warnings of extended power outages, filled up the cars with gas, filled the water jugs, got the coolers, flashlights and supplies ready and anxiously waited. When we woke up the next morning, we turned on our lights, looked out the window, and asked “That’s it?” And then we turned on the TV news, and  over the next hours and then days, we learned  what had happened to those in NJ and NY who had received the full punch of the storm.

Our small involvement started when in the aftermath, a New Jersey toy store owner solicited an ASTRA bulletin board for vendors who would be willing to donate toys to storm relief.  This toy store owner had made the decision to focus her upcoming Christmas season not on her own store’s holiday sales, but instead on how she could brighten the Christmas of all the families in the area who had lost much of what they owned to the storm. 

Well how does anybody say no to that?  We didn’t think twice about shipping a carton of games for the effort. Yet it didn’t feel like enough, and we began to wonder if there was a way to do more.  We looked at the map and realized it wasn’t that far of a drive from our south central PA location to the Jersey shore.  Maybe they could use an extra pair of hands for a day to help out.

When we told our two sons of the plan, our younger son went up to his room, pulled out  $20 that he had been holding back for some undefined charitable cause, and  announced he wanted to contribute to Sandy’s Toy Shoppe.  The older son agreed to contribute some unused gift cards to the cause.  As we shared our proud moment with friends and family, they started adding funds to the donation. We again emailed the organizer – would they prefer the money, or that we use it to shop for toys to bring. She asked us to go shopping. Our younger son had the duty of picking out the Hot Wheels items, and he took it very seriously, making sure to avoid expansion items that required other sets.

And so yesterday (Sat 12/15), I woke up early to make the 3 hour drive to NJ. And I’ll never regret it. I met some incredible families with some incredible stories. Here were a few of the more memorable moments.

-          The family who had their basement flooded, went without electricity for 14 days, and sustained $25K of damage to their home.  Yet they described their circumstances as fortunate compared to other families.

-          The mother who was excited to find new wooden blocks for her 4 year old son. Building with blocks had been his favorite activity, but they got soaked in the flood and had to be thrown away.

-          The family whose home was damaged beyond repair and scheduled for demolition the day after Christmas.

-          The mother whose young children were asking what was happening as they watched their flood-damaged possession be loaded onto a truck for the dump. The mother had no idea how to explain, so she told them their toys were being taken to be cleaned. (It was so uplifting to see her walk out of Sandy’s Toy Shoppe with some new clean toys for her children.)

-          The mother who was delighted to find a hippity hop boy for her autistic son to replace the one that was lost.  (as a parent of two sons with Asperger’s, I could certainly empathize with how much harder the disruption in routine can be on such a child)

-          The family whose home is uninhabitable and will not be livable again for a year.

-          The families who chose their toys carefully, not wanting to add to the imposition to the family or friends who have taken them in until they can repair or replace their homes.

Needless to say, it was a day that I will never forget.

And if anyone reading this ever finds themself anywhere near Fair Haven NJ someday, there is a toy store there called Distinctive Toys.  Think about stopping in. The owner is named Margaret. While I’ve only met her once face-to-face, I will tell you that she is a very kind person. Any toy store owner willing to spend December weekends giving away toys instead of selling them is worth the time to pay a visit to.

Board Game or Movie?

(This blog entry is a summary of dailyTweets sent by @HoopCATGames marked with #boardgamesormovies between 11/26/12 and 12/1/12)

Over Thanksgiving break, we took our two sons to see a movie, complete with popcorn and drinks.  We had a great time for that 90 minutes, but talk about sticker shock. Seeing a first-run movie with popcorn for a family of four has quite the price tag these days.  

As game makers, we see customers who hesitate to spend $20-$25 for an innovative new game.  Yet compared to a movie, it struck us that a good boardgame is a real bargain.

Here's our daily tweets, all in one list, for those who missed some of them.

Movie/w popcorn is $65 for family of 4 for 90 minutes of entertainment. Good Boardgame can cost $25 for HOURS of fun! (26 Nov)       

Movie – family & friends stare at a screen. Good Boardgame – family & friends look at each other.  (27 Nov)

Movie – same ending every time. Good Boardgame – different ending every time. (28 Nov)

Movie – put brain in idle. Good Boardgame – Engage brain!   (29 Nov)

Movie- conversation discouraged with family & friends. Good Boardgame - family & friends talk to each other!   (30 Nov) 

Movie – be a spectator. Good Boardgame – everybody participates!   (1 Dec)           

Don't get us wrong.  The HoopCATGames family loves good movies.

But next time you head to the cinema and open your wallet for a 90 minute experience, stop and think of the boardgames you could buy for that same amount of money that would give you hours of fun with family and friends.

Christina's first blog

I am sitting here thinking what I would like to tell people about – my thoughts lead me to write about how HoopCAT Games and Fill The Barn has affected our family. Charlie and I have been married 25 years with two awesome sons – Andrew (14) and Thomas (10). We live our lives like many of you with high points, low points and those areas in-between.

The making of Fill The Barn started out with Charlie and his ideas coming together with a home-made prototype he played with our younger son Thomas. Thomas’ enthusiasm for the game led Charlie to  “play test” Fill The Barn with the rest of the family.  I was hooked! Soon Fill The Barn became a family favorite.

If you were a fly on the wall during game time at our house, you would learn a lot about our personalities. First there’s Thomas, our younger son.  He looks for ways to make money and doesn’t hesitate to make a move that would not be helpful to another player – even his Mom! He never shows remorse when he “droughts” anyone’s crops and even questioned me when I asked him not to drought someone the first time they played. Then you have Andrew. Although he likes to do well, he will take it easy on me, but not Dad or Thomas. Next is Charlie – he plays the same way with everyone.  There have been times when he’s held back from playing a card to keep the family peace. This brings me to Mom – the peacemaker.  While I do not hesitate playing any card with Dad, I tend to take it easy on the boys.  I have started playing more like Dad, which surprises the boys, but it’s also good for them.

I love HoopCAT games.  I love that Charlie shared his idea with us as a family and welcomed our input. I love that we are partners in this adventure with our sons ready to take the reins when we are done.  This is more Thomas – Andrew will make a great silent partner. What I love most of all is that we are in it together.  We go to game days/nights together to play Fill The Barn (as well as other games).  We’ve met some interesting people along the way. We look forward to the next store who will put Fill The Barn on their shelves. We want to share Fill The Barn with other families who are looking for a game they can become emotionally invested in playing. That’s when the fun begins…

Domestic vs. Asian Production

Last month, HoopCAT Games took the plunge with our first order to manufacture Fill the Barn, our very first family board game. 

We had asked for quotes from different sources first, some American, some Asian.  Not surprisingly, we learned that we could make Fill the Barn for a lower price if we chose a Chinese factory over an American factory. 

Yet when we found a US company who could meet the price we needed to make our numbers work, we chose to go with Made in the USA.

Like so many others, we know friends and family members who have found themselves unemployed as downsizing and the shift to overseas production leaves fewer jobs in our country.  It breaks our hearts to see people who want to work, and yet there are not enough jobs to go around. So in some ways, it was an easy decision to choose a US company who was in our price range even when it wasn’t the lowest offer.

But will it prove to be a sound business decision for a fledgling new company?

While “Made in USA” sounds nice,  purchase decisions often come down to who has the lowest price.  That is when we all decide with our pocketbooks and wallets. We could have offered Fill the Barn for a few dollars less if we had made our game in China. Will families in these tight economic times be willing to pay that few dollars more for Fill the Barn because we chose US production?  In a few weeks we will start to find out.