Joan Moravick, the brains behind Games For All Reasons, has designed two party games -- Finish Lines and Paired Up -- and has more in the works. So far, she has enjoyed positive reactions to both of her published games.
Finish Lines, in which players compete to complete well-known quotations, earned a spot in the Games Magazine 100 list and won a Mensa Select Award. Paired Up, which challenges players to get their partners to guess commonly coupled words (e.g. salt and pepper, Abbott and Costello), was named one of the Best Vacation Products of the year by Dr. Toy.
Moravick answered some questions about these two games, her future plans, and other boardgaming topics.
How did you come up with all the pairs in Paired Up?
Once I started working on Paired Up, I was unstoppable in my search for finding popular pairs. I remember driving on the highway one day and looking more intently at the road signs as I hunted for possible combinations. Needless to say, I was thrilled when I passed a big, green sign that read: "Park and Ride." I even thumbed through the dictionary searching for words that could be joined together into a "pair" (e.g. "beck and call").
In the course of my daily routine, I became very conscious of my goal as I read through books and magazines, and watched TV and movies. It was fun to discover that there are "paired up" expressions, such as "Come and get it!" and "Up and at 'em!" I'm quite proud of my achievement, having found a total of 800 "commonly coupled-up people, places and things" for the game!
Where did you find all the quotes for Finish Lines?
Bartlett's Book of Quotations was a great source for some of the quotes in Finish Lines. Again, it was a determined effort that wasn't exhausted until I had all the material I needed -- 100 quotes in each of the five categories. I bought CDs with TV theme songs on them and listened to the lyrics. I watched a lot of movies and read through a lot of quotation books. I knew I wanted phrases that spanned generations and interests, so I was intent on finding a good mix of material. I also wanted some familiar phrases, along with some that were a bit more challenging.
When did you first become interested in board and card games? What were some of your favorites?
Growing up, as the youngest of six children, games were always a part of our playtime. I remember routinely playing card games such as Crazy Eights and Go Fish and I never passed up a game of Yahtzee, Trouble, Password, Mille Bornes, or Concentration.
Along with these games, I also remember loving to play a game that my brother and I made up called Trails, which was our own version of Hide and Seek. The person who was hiding would write a series of clues and then go outside and place the clues throughout the yard. Then, before going to hide, they would leave the first clue for the seeker. The seeker would then have to decipher one clue before finding the next one. For example, if the clue read: "This tree has more than one type of bark," you would immediately go to the dogwood tree in the back yard to look for the next clue. You would then have to follow the trail of clues to the end, and once you got to the last clue, that's where you would find the person hiding. Ingenious, don't you think?
I was also a great fan of game shows, particularly "The Price Is Right." My family often reminds me of the summer (I must have been 10 or 11 years old) that I spent keeping a file box of all of the prices of the big ticket items on the show. I would then play along with the TV contestants in the hopes of winning the "Showcase Showdown" at the end of the show. If a contestant came within $100 of the actual showcase amount, then they were awarded BOTH showcases. So I would play along and tally up all the prices and try to come within $100. I especially remember trying to convince one of my older brothers or sisters to go on the show (since I wasn't old enough); I thought I could sit in the audience with my file box and help them win!
Needless to say I've always been a game nut.
When and why did you start designing games?
Creating and developing games has always been a passion of mine. For years, I had created games for my seven nieces and nephews while they were growing up. We would usually begin playing the games at Thanksgiving and would continue until Christmas. My intention was, not only for them to have fun and maybe learn something, but also to keep them entertained while they anxiously waited for the holiday.
One year I introduced them to the Stock Market. They each chose their own "portfolio" from a group of "company cards" that I had made for them. I then tracked their performance until Christmas, and their presents that year turned out to be items from each of the companies in their portfolio. Another year we played a U.S. travel game where they each received riddles (that I had written) that they needed to decipher about each State. The object of the "trip" was to search for the key that would open the treasure chest -- the treasure, in this case, turned out to be their Christmas gifts.
So it was partly due to the continual encouragement from my nieces and nephews that I decided to design and publish games for the mass market.
Why did you choose to publish your games on your own?
I truly enjoy managing my own business and directing my own effort, so I knew that self-publishing was the way to go. The game business is highly competitive and I was well aware that, for the independent inventor, there are often disappointing results and high amounts of debt. I also knew that, although it's just fun and games, it is, first and foremost, a business. And as in any business, it's the bottom line that counts. My goal, when I began, was to prove myself, not only with a successful product, but with positive sales as well.
This article was originally published on October 5, 2000.
