Final Word

Games, mastered

When the brains behind the toy design and invention platform, Mojo Nation, and the industry PR and board game specialist, Playtime PR come together, the result is often beautiful. Here, the trio takes us through its first board game launch, Out of Order.

For those that don’t know, who are you and how did you get in the industry? Lesley: Well… Billy Langsworthy, as you know, was the editor at Toy News before co-founding Mojo Nation with Adam Butler. Mojo Nation celebrates creativity in the toy-and-game industry and runs awards, conferences and pitching events.

Billy: Deej Johnson is a creative consultant and writer. He writes rules and copy, and helps people improve and sell their games. He’s also the brains behind several books including The Snakes & Ladders of Creative Thinking. Deej: The final part of our shambles is Lesley Singleton. Lesley’s spent over 20 years in PR, including the entertainment and travel sectors. She now specialises in toys and games as the founder of Playtime PR. She also has an uncanny sixth sense spotting great board games!

And now the three of you have a game out! What’s the idea of it? Deej: Yes, we’ve teamed up with Gibsons to revolutionise the industry in no way at all! It’s the first party game Gibsons have done... It’s called Out of Order; it’s a trivia game with a twist – you call out the answer you missed! Billy: It’s as easy to show you how it goes as to explain it… Lesley gets ready to answer five questions – but she’s always one answer behind. So when I read out the first question, Lesley THINKS of the answer but SAYS, “Out of Order”. Then I read the second question – and Lesley answers the first. Ready, Lesley?

Lesley: Kind of!

Billy: Which breed of dog comes in three sizes: toy, miniature, and standard?

Billy: The cartoon cat Garfield loves which Italian dish made from layers of wide, flat pasta? Independently, each of you gives new inventors advice on creating games. Why do your own now?

Lesley: Poodle

Billy: Elvis Presley recorded a song about a well-known gamblers’ haunt: Viva WHAT?

Lesley: Lasagne

Billy: Lots’ wife turns to salt in a story about the destruction of two cities: WHAT and Gomorrah?

Lesley: Las Vegas

Billy: WHAT did Marie Antoinette supposedly say when told her people were starving?

Lesley: Sodom!

Billy: And the bonus?

Lesley: Erm... Oh! “Let them eat cake.”

Very good! It reminds me of a Mastermind sketch by The Two Ronnies! Is that where the idea came from?

Deej: Oddly enough, no! Being old, we’re aware of the sketch but we chose not to research it. We didn’t want it to influence us. Rather, a couple of years ago, Billy and I wrote a book called The Snakes & Ladders of Creative Thinking. It’s about having more ideas for board games… Well, it’s impossible to write about that without coming up with ideas! One of our notes said, ‘Answer from the question before’ – and so it began… Billy: As Lesley said, Mojo Nation runs toyand-game design conferences and pitching events. We also interview professional inventors and inventor relations execs about their creative processes. Then, when we speak to new inventors, we pass on that know-how… But what better way to empathise with our core audience than to actually go through the exact same process they go through?

Deej: We decided we should go through the entire process, starting with generating lots of ideas and playtesting. Then we pitched to companies! We got useful feedback, we got icy stares and we got polite “no thanks yous”… And, to be honest, that process would’ve been incredibly useful even if we’d got nowhere!

Billy: We were delighted when Gibsons licensed it, though, because we then got insight into negotiating licensing agreements. Working alongside a company’s internal design team also gave us first-hand experience of what inventors go through. It all puts us in a stronger position to help new inventors.

Lesley: It’s been incredibly useful. For anyone that doesn’t have experience of this route to market, we can properly talk them through it – inside and out. In my case, it’s also added another string to Playtime PR’s bow. We now have a deep understanding of the entire process behind launching a game – from sketch to shelf. Do you have a favourite question card?

Lesley: My favourite card changes depending on whether I’m playing it with – say – a friend, my teenage son or with my mother. But this brings up an interesting point that was on our mind when we were writing questions. In our experience, a lot of party games are only as funny as the people you’re playing with. So if you’re with a more introverted group, some games can actually be awkward to play…

With Out of Order, our intention was for anyone to play this and be as hilarious as the next player. We achieved that by effectively making each card a script… There’s a laugh on every card because the game puts words in your mouth: it makes you funny.

What was the biggest challenge?

Lesley: First, getting all three of us in the same room together… After that, it was nailing the tone. When we decided to publish with Gibsons, we needed to take their values into consideration and take out some of the ruder stuff. But who, finally, can say what the difference is between being cheeky and being rude?

Deej: Well, that’s what I find interesting because what one member of the public thinks is rude may not bother another person at all. And for whatever reason, there are plenty of people in the world who think their own sense of humour is somehow definitive. It’s very peculiar!

When’s the game out?

Deej: It’s out now on amazon, the Gibsons website and in John Lewis stores. Early next year, it should be more widely available… I’m expecting to see it in all good clearance shops by March.

Lesley: The Fantastic Factory’s David Snow told me, “You know you’ve made it as a games designer when you see your game in The Works!”

Is now a good time to be a game inventor?

Billy: Absolutely. More and more companies are opening their doors to the inventor community – and great ideas can come from anywhere. Look at TOMY’s Active Snap… That was invented by a group of secondary-school pupils and their teacher!

Finally, then, do you have plans to do any more games?