All of the board game inventors have a story behind how their invention was started. For Jordan, it was in a snow-storm in Manhattan. While stuck in traffic he drew a cartoon on a napkin with two heads and handed it to his friend. His friend responded by saying, "Looks like two heads are better than one?" They laughed... and then the light went off for the idea of the great game we know today as Proverbial Wisdom.

Jordan pulled over and walked into Barnes & Noble to see if they carried any games along this concept. Over the next several days, once the snow cleared, his search continued. Nobody was on it, so Jordan seized the opportunity. Over the next two and a half years he read through hundreds of books and thousands of proverbs to collect the content for his game.

Proverbial Wisdom was launched two years ago at Toy Fair and the world has been playing by proverbs ever since. This fast-paced game gives the player 60 seconds to try to:

1. sketch a proverb for teammates to guess,
2. choose the correct origin of a proverb, or
3. guess what proverb is represented by a picture already drawn.

Sketch: "Chip off the old block"
Origin: "To pass the buck"
To inherit livestock
To refer responsibility to another
To live and die by the dollar
Guess: (picture of horse, bucket and man with arms crossed and scowl on face)
_ _ _ a _ _ _ , but _ _ _ _ _ (you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink)

The game comes with a board, three sets of cards (500 in all), an answer/instructions booklet, timer, die, sketch pad, pencil and playing pieces... there's a lot of value in this game. So "strike while the iron is hot" and "put your best foot forward" as you head out to pick up this great game!

Consequential (www.justagameinc.com)

To play, you help your team to quickly guess five words in consecutive order. But, you can only give clues beginning with letters in a particular sequence between the letters you roll on an alpha-die. For example, roll a B and then a D. Your clues are Block... Cold... Dry. Have the answer yet? It's ice! We enjoyed the game because it was challenging and created good group interaction... and some great laughs as we tried to guess all five words before the time ran out.

The game contains a colorful and easy to read board, 300 answer cards, one dry erase alpha-board, one alpha-die and game pieces, dry erase marker and a 2.5 minute timer.

Bradley and Walker played many games together as children and young adults. Because they were so enthusiastic about games, they decided one day to get into the business. But what would they do? What game would they market? And how would they get started? Then it "hit" them, as if "on par." While playing golf one day the idea was born, and by the time they were on the 18th green they were ready to enter the game market with a "hole in one."

Their wives Natalie and Carol helped play test the game and refine game play. By the end of that year, the design was complete and the game was ready for market. Toy Fair 2001 was the second show for Consequential and it was good to see both Natalie and Carol there to help explain and demonstrate the game. In fact, it gave us a good feeling to see so many families and friends of families supporting their inventors/entrepreneurs. In this respect, the game industry is like no other we have experienced. But if you think about it, it makes sense... games are really all about friends and family.

Yaquinto Printing (www.yaquinto.com)

• Track Record: Be sure to select someone with a solid track record and ask other game manufacturers for recommendations before moving forward. We felt it was important to make a good first impression and to maximize the customers perceived value of our game. So, we selected a manufacturer who had a track record for quality.

• Capabilities: Understand the capabilities of the different manufacturers and any specific requirements of your game. We needed someone who could print the box labels, print game cards, have the labels applied to the boxes and then who could assemble, shrink-wrap and box the games. You might also need have needs for storage, shipping and invoicing, so make sure you consider these capabilities when selecting a manufacturer.

• Cost: Understand that costs are multiplied through the value chain, so a dollar of cost to you, the game inventor, often results in a $3 cost to the end consumer. Keep your costs low and focus on what's outside the box versus what's inside the box. For example, we designed a box within a box in the current version of our product. However, the consumer never sees this until after the sale, until after the game is at home and opened for the first time for game play. So, it adds costs and contributes little to the customers value equation. This is a cost that we could consider eliminating.

• Domestic versus Overseas: For us, it was important to control the quality of our product, so we decided to print in the US. We have heard horror stories of independent inventors receiving inferior products when having them manufactured overseas. The key is to know someone overseas who you are confident in and who will watch-out for your best interests. If you don't know anyone like that yet and have not made the appropriate contacts, then keep it in the U.S.

• Location: It's always nice to have a manufacturer in your back yard, and this was a real benefit for us when selecting Yaquinto Printing. However, wherever you are, remember that if you are having the manufacturer also warehouse and ship for you that it is always better to ship from the middle of the US. Warehousing on the west coast might result in inexpensive shipping costs to stores on the west coast, but the increased shipping costs to the east coast will make your product unattractive to carry there. If you warehouse in the center of the country you have more even distribution costs.

• Production Schedules: Remember that turn-around times are, in the best cases, about one month. But, don't expect to get product any time soon if you're trying to manufacture between September and December. During these production times the larger game manufacturers often get preference in the slotting of jobs. Make sure that the manufacturer you select can provide you with product when you need it.

For other game pieces you might want to consider Rolco and for timers try New Generation Timers, both come with our endorsement.

Many manufacturers come to the show to support strong customer relations and to solicit new business. Here's a picture of the Yaquinto Printing booth and Yaquinto's key game board sales executive Karol Boyd.

Betcha Didn't Know