1/22 I don't know that I'll ever have enough money to produce this game on my own. But there's no reason why I can't contact active game producers and sell it for royalties.

10/16/22 I've decided to take Go Ba-LIST-ic! apart and sell it piecemeal on TPT. This will bring in, hopefully, lots of little income. I have so many prompts now.

The cards have been delayed, but are on the way, supposedly. The remains of Hurricane Ida came to the northeast, killing 50 people. Some roads are still closed. Many people lost their cars, and some lost their homes. All I lost was my game cards. I won't worry until Tuesday, as it's Labor Day weekend.

Billy noticed a new game store in Hightstown. I paid it a visit. The owner, Paul, will play my game and critique it. He will try to get players. When the time comes, he will sell my game. Very promising.

9/12 I am meeting with Paul this Tuesday at 1:00. In a very small world story, I ran into Karen and Danny at ShopRite this morning. They know Paul and watched his store opening on zoom. Paul and Daniel went to scouts together. They knew that Paul went to college out in Utah and majored in gaming. His wife is a cook who owns a food truck.

Also, Craig is coming to see Quick List on 9/20. He will be evaluating the possibility of making it an app.

9/19 I met with Paul and his employee, Lee. They both loved the game. I need to get a graphic designer to convert the directions into a two-sided mat format about the size of a Trivial Pursuit box. I also need a design for the box. He suggests that it wouldn't make a good phone app, but would do well as a web game. Lee gave me her mom's information- she is a teacher in Langhorne and runs a Friday afternoon game group. I would love to take it there! I left the store very excited.

On Wednesday I played with Dee, Diane, and their neighbor, Smita. They all liked it. As expected and needed, Diane brought up some issues which I will amend in the directions. Tori and Liz will both try to get groups of friends together. I'll touch base with Tori during the week. I will also locate game groups on meet up.

9/26 I've been busy. Craig came on Monday and liked the game. He's going to do box art and design on the cards. I went to two Meet-Ups. I have been getting the same two reactions:
1) I like it, but I wouldn't buy it because I'm not a word person.
2) I would definitely buy this game.

I have to work on refining the directions. I have a group of middle school kids coming up. I'd like to assemble a group of word game afficionados. I I just posted on CFEW.

I have to find a new name. I found an old game named Quick List.
Listing.
Make A List.
Lister.
The Game of Lists.
List Mania.
Listmania.

I rewrote the list on my phone. I have to make a decision this week so Craig can design.

Also, I think I'm going to put out $400 for a pre-edition Christmas Listmania.
Just a deck of 52 cards with 2 instruction cards. Try to sell locally (Hallmark Store?), Amazon, holiday flea markets, It should cost me $4 for each deck. Can I try to sell it for 15 or 10? Etsy. I have to make a decision this week.

I am researching Kickstarter, listening to a game Podcast, and will meet next Wednesday with Steve, a game designer who I met at a MeetUp this week.

I think I have something here.

10/3 I had 17 replies to my CFEW call for word gamers. I will repost this week and book the room in the library. I will also look into Panera so we don't have to mask.

New name: Go Ba-LIST-ic! I informed Craig. Not this week, or next (Cape May), but the week after, I'm going to make 100 decks of the Christmas edition of Go Ba-LIST-ic! I need to research the least expensive and fastest card making service. Fast is important because if I sell 75 relatively quickly, I will need to make more. As Perry pointed out, if I don't sell this year, there's always next year.

On Wednesday I'm going to Panera meetup to see Steve at 6:30. He might know where to order the cards. I also have to copywrite it.

I almost forgot! Corin nominated me for the Meet Your Neighbors coumn in the East Windsor magazine. The publisher, Matt Drago, called me this week. I had to ask Laura and Tara, who both said yes, so I will call Matt tomorrow. He saw my Facebook post about my game, so he knows that I'm a game designer and I can include that in the article. So bizarre and wonderful, I think. We'll be in the December issue.

10/9 I went to the game meetup at Panera. I spent the evening talking to Jesse, who played my game two weeks ago. He's not a word game person, but he asked to see my directions and showed me, using two examples, how to arrange my directions. Next week I have a game session, three potentially, at the library. Today I messaged everyone who responded to my original text. I don't know how that's going to go.

I think that next week I'm going to go again with a Christmas edition cards to see how it sells. I went to the Englishtown Flea Market this morning to check it out. I might rent a table close to the building for a day to sell in person. I can take out a few cards and the whiteboards and markers to demo play passing customers.

Here's a potential snafu. I have to register with NJ Division of Taxation. I didn't think of that. I wonder if there are going to be any local church bazaars or flea markets. I also have to find out how to sell on Amazon.

This is getting overwhelming. There's a lot to do.
Make Christmas edition.
Incorporate.
Rewrite directions.
Follow up with Craig.
Get game made.
Kickstarter
Figure out where to sell game.
I think this is not good for a "hurry up offense". I need to write up a detailed business plan- not when I'm juggling trips.
On the other hand, there's no time like the presence. After these three library sessions, it's time to finish the product and do the business.

10/24 My main job this week is to rewrite the directions and get in touch with Craig about a logo.

This past week I held three gaming sessions at the library. The first was unattended. The second I had one person and it went well. The third, I had four friends, and it went outstandingly. Everyone had fun and they loved Go Ba-LIST-ic! I am very psyched.

10/30 I rewrote the directions and shared them with Craig. Yesterday I requested a price quote from a game manufacturer in Vancouver, WA. I also bought mini-erasers. My next step is to get people to read the directions and play without my help.

11/20 I brought the game to a high school learning center in Langhorne. I played it with kids. They wanted to play again. They loved the game and I'm really psyched.

11/28 I'm bring the game to Kathy's on Sunday. I'm hoping to play with both her and Pia, assuming Pia is around on Monday. I'm not arriving until late Sunday night. This week I need to write a pitch for Go Ba-LIST-ic! I'm reaching out to Pressman Toy Co. in Plano, Texas.

12/5 I submitted a pitch to Goliath (Pressman). I did not get an acknowledgement. I wonder how long I should wait before pitching it somewhere else.

12/19 I haven't heard back from Goliath/Pressman. I'm going to send a follow up email in January. I also have to get back to the three production estimates I requested. I'm going to ask them to hold on to my data while I'm waiting to see if I can get my game produced by a game company.

1/9 I feel like I've stalled. I tried to contact Goliath/Pressman, but the voice mail is full. This week I will find the name of a person and ask how to contact Inventor Relations. I'm also going to read at least one of the game producer articles I bookmarked. I am going to contact Craig. If he isn't going to proceed, I'm going to try Steph Noreen.

1/30 I contacted Craig again. I'm getting yessed, but nothing concrete is coming to me. Here's what I can did accomplish. I did a sales pitch on ToastMasters, and it came out well. My job for the week is to practice the pitch and focus on staring at the camera. I will rewrite my notes so they can lean up against the screen. I will also practice putting the cards right up to the camera. I could open my own room, and record my pitch. I now have a set block for Go Ba-LIST-ic! I hate to bother someone who's working for free (so far), but I really need the directions and some sort of logo and box design so I can 1) get a copywrite, and 2) submit to Goliath and Hasbro, and whoever else I pitch to. I think that after this week, I'll have to talk to Steph. But I think that ship may have sailed because she's had three interviews with a company in NYC.

2/19 I've finally gotten the directions back. That are exactly as I'd hoped. I had a couple of small changes that I hope Craig sends back soon. This week I need to research timers and boxes. I need to ask Craig how to go about getting the logo on a box. I also have to figure out what else to put on the box. I think I have to copyright and then send to game producers. But I have to make games to send. It should look semi-decent.

2/27 This week's goal is to update my directions, and buy timers at Dollar Store. Research price of boxes. Consult with Paul at IRL Games about where to go from here.

3/6 Last night we played with Greg and Joy. Joy started out with "I'm gonna lose. I can't do this", and ended up doing really well and loving it. I like that. But I still have issues with the directions. I have to read them aloud at some point this week. Like Wednesday. I'll send corrections to Craig, and then try to get him to resend this week. I'd like to get it to Maria before she goes on vacation next week.

3/13 Last week I made more revisions on the directions and sent them to Craig. I have to touch base with Craig. I called a printing company. They are sending me a sample book. I think I'm going to work on a school edition, or editions, or maybe a sports edition! and start out by selling decks on Amazon and in person, like at flea markets. I just finished my sub certificate. I don't know when it will be processed, but I figure I can use sub money to finance the card decks, and use the card decks to finance the game. Of course if I get a buyer for the whole thing, that's the holy grail.

3/20 I got samples of card stock. This week I'm going to rough out the math deck and think of my other decks.

3/27 I started working on the math deck. I'll work on it more this week. I'm going to make one big deck and categorize it.

4/3 I continued on the math deck. I will finish this week. I think my next step is to make the math deck and the Christmas deck, and then send them both for copywriting. No! I have to write directions for both and a teacher's edition for math. The math will take longer.

4/10 I finished the math deck, first draft. This week I want to rewrite the questions, adding more examples, and then, the following week, start on a teacher's guide.

4/17 I started organizing the first draft. My goal this week is to finish organizing.

4/24 This week I designed my Math Go Ba-LIST-ic! cards. I think I've written 20-ish of them. I will continue this week. It is slow going, but efficient, I think. I decided that instead of writing a Teacher's Guide, I would put examples on the Teacher Side of each card. If a teacher is sitting with a small group, they can see the Teacher Side with the question and examples while the students see just the question. I will print a few cards with general game directions. I think I will have to use a large playing card. I have to find out if it is possible to buy a box from the card company.

5/1 Working on those math cards.

5/8 Still working, but very little because I subbed and because I spent a lot of time on queries for Tales. But...Yesterday I went to an in person Toastmasters meeting. I got to talking with Tricia, who has a pod cast show. She invited me to talk about my book and Go Ba-LIST-ic! this summer. Publicity! Also, after the meeting we played three categories of Go Ba-LIST-ic! They liked it. On the way out, Rehka asked if I could come to her house with the game and teach it to her friends. YES. I make house calls.

5/15 Finish math cards. Get a price on them.

5/22 I finished the math cards. My next step is to price the cards- math, regular, and Christmas. I will also contact three math teachers to look at them and give an opinion. I'm thinking Chris Allan, Karen Granato, Orlando Abreu, and Cari Alfaro. And the other teacher whose name I forget, Francis?, that I see on Facebook. Maybe they could use it as a small group activity. I'll send an email to the working teachers. Maybe I could come visit them one day after school.

5/28 I started science questions. Something to do during downtime while subbing. This week I'm going to contact the above people and ask if they'd be willing to look at the cards after school one day.

6/19 I'm almost done with redoing the Christmas deck after losing my notebook on vacation. I had expected to get the Christmas deck produced by September. I don't know if that's realistic- too much of an investment in the book and the game at one time. Unless I make money on the book. I'll invest it in the game. If not, I should wait until next summer. In the meantime I can do beta testing on the math game. Maybe I can find a way to get it on Teachers Pay Teachers.

7/24 Laura came up with a good idea. She saw that the library has a Monday game day. If I become part of the group, I can introduce Go Ba-LIST-ic! She also says that if they have this group here, they also have it at the other libraries in the system. I can make the rounds with my game. I signed up to play Taboo tomorrow afternoon.

10/9 I've been thinking of Go Ba-LIST-ic! and Who's Tougher Than Us as separate projects, but there is a connection. If I put Go Ba-LIST-ic! on TPT piecemeal, it's a place to advertise Who's Tougher. I've got to get both on Pinterest. I also have to ask Laura where she get ideas from. OK. I texted her the question. Got my answer, Surprisingly Instagram rather than Pinterest. Ok, so an hourlong conversation later, she wants me to make an SEL edition, but she has never actually played Go Ba-LIST-ic! She's going to tag me on the Instagram people she follows. Unfortunately for me, she is on there precious little because she has three new programs and isn't looking for anything new.

The cards should be here on Friday. I have the timer, scoresheets, markers and whiteboards. The box is on the way. I put in a die. I cut up an old shirt to use as whiteboard erasers. I printed the directions. Fortunately I decided to cheap out and not get a logo on anything. I say fortunately because yesterday I found out that I can't use Word Wars- there's an online knockoff Scrabble, so I have to come up with another name. So I'll use Quick List as a working title.
I texted Craig to find out if he makes game apps. He does. I told him about my game and once I have the last component, I'm going to call him and we're going to get together to play. If he's interested, he can make the app.
My goal is to walk into any Target or Walmart and see my game on the shelf. I want people to order my game on Amazon. But having a game app on peoples' phones is another worthy goal.
This is very exciting. There's a long way to go, but it is exciting.
Laura called to tell me that there's a game store in Hightstown. I'm going to check it out this week. Maybe they have a YouTube channel or run games there, or will be willing to sell my game on consignment when the time comes. IRL Game Shop.

The cards are ordered. It cost $126. This week I will print and laminate alpha lists. The other side will be for regular lists. I'll buy fine Sharpies and make score sheets and maybe 100 copies. I can fit 2 or four on a page. I can always make more copies. I didn't want to spend the money on a scorepad yet. I will also get some dice at the dollar store. I'll also design a box cover, just for semi-presentation and tape it on. Oh! And print the directions! That might be a little bit of a job.
I am concerned that with the pandemic surging, game groups will stop meeting again. Or, I will be infected while meeting with groups. I NEED to sort out my priorities. After I get my cards and box and gather the other odds and ends, it will be time to play through and find gamers.
Rich was talking about the 2022 game convention in Minneapolis. If it's being held, I think I will rent a table, get some games made more professionally, and fly out to Minneapolis. That feels really big.

8/15. Word Wars is now my first priority. I started placing the game card order. This week I'm going to finish the game card order and print scoresheets. For the whiteboard, I'm going to buy dry erase markers and laminate paper off my printer. I can buy dice from the Dollar Store. I'm going to reach out to Meet Up Groups, perhaps joining sooner rather than later, just to get to know gamers. Once I've gotten a good number of test players and worked out the bugs, I'll make maybe 100 copies of the revised game. I'll do a patent pending and sell on Amazon and Etsy, and Covid permitting, sell at local table sales during the Christmas season. I can always make more, but I would like to sell enough to make a small profit. How much does patent pending cost? I have to read the Lori Greiner book and reread One Simple Idea.

8/8 I finished playing the game out and I revised the directions again. This week I'm going to work on putting together the beta version. Tomorrow's job is to figure out how to go about it. How does one print the cards? I have to design the scoresheet and get two sided white boards with the alphabet printed in two columns on the back. I have to get a 90 minute and a 60 minute timers. Dry erase markers with little cloth squares. And figure out how to layout the directions. That will come after I play it in a lot of beta groups. How many beta groups? I'm going to say 20 and then see how I'm doing. First job is to print decks of cards, scoresheet, whiteboards. Directions can be a packet for now. This week I assemble the physical components. Next week I find beta players. Meet Ups. East Windsor and Hickory Acres Facebook pages. And I'll need a box to keep it all in!

8/1 I finished trying out Category 5. This week I'd like to play out Category 6, recheck the directions, and think about the parts I have to order and the scoresheet. Question: How to I get an alphabet printed on a whiteboard?

This is a big priority. It is the project I am most passionate about. This week's main thrust is going to be getting it ready for prototyping. I have a more detailed list on legal pad.

7/11 I devoted Thursday morning to Word Wars. I am thinking of calling it Word Judge, and maybe including a small gavel so the referee (now judge) can bang it while ruling. I finished Category 2 trials, and most of Category 3.

6/20 This week I will play through 2 decks and revise as needed.

5/16 This week I revised the directions. My goal for this week is to practice round each item on List 1. One list a week until school is out. Then I want to throw myself into this and get a mock up done by the end of July. Then after I get back from Maine, I need to start marketing.

I didn't touch it this week. I'm going to keep it on my things to do list, but I'm not going to put any pressure on myself until school is out.

There will be difficulty until mid June. My goal is to write the directions.

I did not write the directions. I will attempt to do that this week. I did, however, look in the game aisle at Walmart and made a list of game manufacturers. Hasbro Gaming is the main name. I also saw games produced independently. I wonder how that works. In the future, I'd like to find someone on Linked In or wherever, and talk to them about game production.

I played it with Tara this week. My goal for this week of to play through one of the categories.

I didn't work on it this week. My goal for this week is to play it through with Perry. Then I will ask Maria about making little card decks and a score pad and an alpha pad.

I finally pulled the game, War of the Words, out of the envelope. We played it once at games a long time ago and I wrote down notes and suggestions. I went through the game today and I think it's really good. Rather than separate lists, I want to make 6 decks of cards. The game is going to have 6 rounds, with options of play Regular People or The Bloodthirsty. I rewrote the directions. My next step is to play it again with different sets of people. I need to find out how to make the cards and how to get pads of alpha cards and score pads. Then I have to figure out how to promote the thing.
Most importantly, after not seeing it for a couple of years, I still like it.

This goal is rattling my cage. I haven't touched it, but I think about it frequently. At first I thought that it would interfere with the many other things I'm doing. But this week I'm going to at least look and see what I have so far. I added to my to do list under writing.

During 4th grade, our performance task in Home Economics (HELE) is to make a board game.

All those days sitting inside the kitchen at our restaurant becomes pretty boring when there’s noone in there sitting with you. I invented a board game one day, with game pieces and everything. I even wrote out two pages of instructions and drawn out diagrams. It came out way better than I expected, to the point where my lame drawing on the back of a calendar page had to be re-drawn onto special bristolized paper, with all sorts of mini envelopes holding the mini game pieces. Basically, the objective of the game was to be the first player to reach the end of an obstacle course.

WARNING: LONG STORY AHEAD. SKIP TO THE END FOR THE QUICK VERSION.

Each player begins with the same budget. You start off on top of a snowy hill, where you get the choice of skiing downhill, snowboarding, or descending wearing snowshoes. Each option costs the players something - skis and snowboards brought you downhill faster than the snowshoes, and therefore they cost more. Next, the players would walk across a grassland, and further ahead, a beach. At this point, you are given a selection of beach wear and a chance to rent a locker in which you will later on store all of the objects and clothing that you purchase. Moving on further ahead is a lake. This is where you choose between buying a ship, a sailboat, a paddleboat (with oars sold separately), or a diver’s suit. The players must watch their budget and choose wisely. As the diver’s suit requires swimming which is much slower than the other choices, it is also a lot cheaper. Players are allowed to board others onto their ships by waiting for them at dock. They are allowed to charge for the ride across the lake and get some of their money back from buying the ship. At the end of the lake, follows up a great highway. Cars, buses, limos, and trucks are all choices for this part – buses require only a bus fair but travel much slower as they stop every now and then to let passengers off. Throughout the game is a variety of items that the players can claim along the way. They are to be scattered onto different places in the obstacle course before the game starts, and whoever comes across the object first gets to claim it. The highway offers two short paths that lead a thrift store and an antique shop. These are the places where you get to sell off your findings for cash, but risk losing your place in the game as it takes time to get there, and then back onto the path. Next up is a forest. You can purchase vines to swing across the treetops, or suction cup gloves and shoes to climb over them (don’t ask me why I ever thought that they would stick onto trees). The forest as well offers a path to the antiques shop. After getting through the trees, the players must somehow cross over a pool of quicksand. Either you buy a collapsible bridge to bring you there, boots that could walk you right over the sand without sinking, or you build a makeshift bridge out of wooden planks. Coming onto the last part of the course, is a bike trail. Bikes, skateboards, roller blades – all options. Along this path are stop signs, and if you are ever roll a number beyond a sign, you are only aloud to travel up to the space before it. Here you will also find a path to a specialty shop to sell your found items (if any). It is a much shorter path, as the players are almost at their destination and will not need the money as desperately as they did at the beginning of the course. Once again, travelling to a shop requires using your moves to get there rather than advancing to the finish line. And lastly, a narrow river leads the players straight to the winner’s circle. Here, you are given the choice of canoes, rafts, and plastic boards light enough to carry you along the river without even paddling. In the end, the winner gets to stand on a podium in the winner’s circle, sandwiched between the second place winner, and the third place. A trophy is also presented at this point. *Phew, long description.

And so…
I never expected that I would actually be able to play it with someone, but I did get to try it out with my sister and Paolo once. It didn’t turn out so great because they were both glued onto a basketball game on T.V. and had to leave before we finished it. Then Sarah came over one day, and I took my chance to bring it out and set it up. lol Fun times. We actually got through the entire thing. I don’t even remember who won in the end.