Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Monkeying Around

Card games have always been a favorite form of play. As a youngster before days of nonstop TV cartoons, electronic enhanced board games, and current finger twitch pad play, I was drawn to endless rounds of Old Maid and Go Fish. Little did I realize then that card games were attractive because they had few complex rules, fit into a pocket, encouraged socialization, and were cheap.

Through the years I made much use of standard playing card decks with all the classic games that could be played applying unique rules to four common graphic suits. My attraction to card play continued as marketers introduced now classie games like UNO and Phase 10. It has extended through Hasbro's brand extensions of famous board games transformed into card play. I knew Scrabble Slam was far different than the iconic tile original, but I enjoyed slamming those cards.
Use of playing cards to create new games is not being overlooked by inventors today. This is especially true in the world of Kickstarter launches. The backer support from online game shoppers for Exploding Kittens http://www.explodingkittens.com and Cyanide and Happiness www.kickstarter.com/projects/cyanideandhappiness is legendary in the world of crowd funding. The formula appears to be an appealing pitch of compelling card play wrapped into cool graphs plus a catchy name, and BAM!, sufficient backers are hooked to make the new card game reality.

Among the latest entries vying for Kickstarter support is Bonobo from David Yearick, who has had among toy and game successes, Djubi and Tribond. www.GoBonobo.com Interestingly, he has woven the presence of a friendly primate icon into his new card play. Seems if Kittens and Cyanide can be themed onto new card play and Old Maid and Fish were popular in the past, no reason not to use chimpanzees as icons on cards for a whimsical, new, fun game.