"First to Find!" is a Geocaching themed card game that I have been working on for well over a year now.
I was working at a college bookstore when I started thinking of a signature item I could drop in each cache that I found, which is pretty common among cachers. The college had a print shop with a big laminator machine that I thought I could use for free since I had access to the print area. So instead of designing a "business" card with just my caching name, I thought it would be fun if the cards themselves could be used in a CCG (collectible card game) somewhat like Magic: The Gathering.
But I realized it would be pretty hard to sneak into the print shop and run off hundreds of playing cards without getting busted. So I narrowed my scope and looked at a standard deck of playing cards as my format. There are a ton of companies that print personalized poker decks for businesses, weddings, whatever so I knew I could get lots of decks made if I wanted to invest in my own game.
It was much easier to design the game around a deck of poker cards since the number of cards, suites, etc were already determined for me. I sat at my computer and cranked out a prototype deck of cards using Microsoft Word and clipart. A better use of my time at work than actual work for sure. During this process I began to think that this could be a legitimate product. Groundspeak (the company that owns and runs Geocaching) has information on using their logo and stuff on products so I figured they might be interested. There have been mention of Geocaching games in the forums, but no one ever seemed to step up to the project.
So with my prototype deck printed out the play testing began. The initial design of the game was pretty rough, slow moving and didn't hold the interest of my wife (who I pestered on numerous occasions to play). My wife is not an avid game player so she was perfect to run things by since I was trying to market the game to non-gamers. I sent the game out to a couple other family members, of whom my brother Eric helped add some insight into the format. So I set out to revamp the rules of play to make it feel like a real card game. A friend of mine and expert game player John Warren helped me playtest the game several times and everything seemed to click together. The game wasn't anything like I first pictured it, but we had fun playing and knew it was better suited for people of all playing levels.
At this point I took a leap and emailed Groundspeak with an initial design pitch just to see if there was interest in the product. I got an email back from Bryan Roth who I found out was the VP of the company. The interest was there and he wanted more details. I sent out another write up about the game, but it was still pretty rough in concept.
Meanwhile, I had been sending out specs of the game to lots of different printers looking for price quotes on the product. I included lots of different components other than just the deck of cards. Dice, stickers, tidily-winks, and a point slider thing that my wife came up (and I still think is a good idea). This process was pretty mundane but I learned quite a bit about the printing of games. I also learned that some places won't give you the time of day while others send you full packages of their material. I also learned that all of those extra pieces add up, so I went with just a deck of cards.
I finally sent a revised pitch to Groundspeak with new rules and my proto-type deck. It was at that point that a call was set up between myself and Bryan Roth. Needless to say I was very excited. We spoke over static filled cell phones, but we came to a general understanding about the game. They were interested in the project and they wanted me to work out the design on the game, artwork wise and everything. So now I just needed to find an artist who would be interested in the job.
Interestingly enough, I had just started a game night at my house. I invited friends to come over once a month and we would play new or favorite board or card games. I met several new friends of friends that came on a regular basis and as it turns out one of them by the name of Eric Smith dropped a hint about being an artist and wanted to work on a card game. I really liked his style and we hit it off pretty well, so I pitched the idea to him. He had actually been Geocaching before, so he was familiar with the concept already. He liked the idea and we agreed to work on a presentation package for Groundspeak.
We met several times over the next couple of months to work out concepts, characters, suite design and also looked at printers to get a feel of what each deck would cost. I sent some of the artwork out to my brother Eric who was very excited to jump on board with the project. Being a marketing specialist, he put together an awesome Power Point presentation. We wrapped that up in April and sent it off to Groundspeak.
Everyone at Groundspeak loved the artwork and began working on the contract. It would take several months to get a finalized contract, which was pretty hard to be patient for. My brother Eric began working on some contacts he had with KB Toys and Diamond Comics with hopes of getting the game lined up for retail distribution. He put together a buyer package, but was limited since we didn't know how much the actual cost of the game was going to come to. When the contract come through everything jumped back in motion. We wanted the game done in time for Christmas, so it meant a lot to get done. I had to negotiate a contract for Eric and Eric, get my LLC set up and Eric S. was set on finishing the artwork by the end of October. Meeting with my lawyer was strange and I wish I wouldn't have let him handle as much as he did. I wanted to play things safe and I'm sure it will be for the best in the long run, but looking back I could've handled some things differently. Eric met the October goal and we sent final artwork to Groundspeak.
So now Groundspeak has all the files needed for the game and it's just a matter of getting everything printed and up for sale on the website. We still have a couple of weeks until the holiday season is over so it will be a close call, but even at this point it doesn't seem real. Who knows what will happen with the game or Solid Wood Productions. There's a lot of good people supporting the project, so I'm sure it will go far.
