Bringing My Third Game To Market

Today ends a process that began at the end of July.  I thought it might be helpful to run through the process for any new game makers or old pros who need a few tips.  I would like to stress that having the right people makes the impossible possible and it’s the only way to take an abstract idea, like a card game, and bring that game to market.  For me it starts with my partner and editor, my wife Shana. She takes my crazy rough ideas and makes them shiny and presentable.  The face she makes when she “doesn’t get it,” is the gut punch that allows me to rethink an idea without getting too attached to anything that doesn’t work.  This helps me cut through the many ideas and allows me to focus on the core of project or game.  Here is the tale of Dookies’ Potty Mouth.

I am always coming up with game ideas.  At this time, I have several game ideas in the planning stage and one game that I have with pre-production samples.  I enjoy game creation. I have done this in connection with playing Dungeons and Dragons and my business, cannabis smoking games.  I had the good fortune of reconnecting with a colleague who I had worked with years ago.  So, I invited him and his wife to have dinner and they graciously accepted.  As I was preparing the house for guests, I came up with a play on words with my friend’s business name.  “Potty Mouth” for the man who has a dookie as a mascot.

I quickly sketched out what I thought the play card should look like, like a beautiful business card with a game on the other side.  During dinner I said that I had come up with a funny idea for their company, a card game that could act like a business card but better.  They loved the idea and immediately asked how much?  Using the numbers from my last game, I was able to give an estimate on 300 decks delivered from my Chinese printer.  I then estimated how much the artwork would cost and added on my fee for creating the game.  I figured that the games would be more valuable to me than the commission, so I took 10% of the games when delivered.  This also meant that I would have to promote and sell the game to make my money, but I was OK with that.

The next day I sent an official proposal in an email so that all the details could be agreed on.  We quickly agreed on a final price, and I gave an estimate on how long it would take.  I was told to expect the payment at the beginning of August, but I went to work immediately.  The hardest part of making a game real is going through the minutia and finding all the holes and things that can’t be done in the amount of space allowed.  For me, the idea of having three mini games per card became impossible.  The game used jokes and there is a finite number of funny jokes available, so I had to cut three games to two for both sanity and, more importantly, space and design.

We were paid on time and then the crazy part started. I had hired my son to do the art and I was not let down, but working with family members makes deadlines and directions sometimes a bit tense.  My wife is the household, business, and last line of grammar checking for all: she was the editor for this project.  The card design wasn’t dependent on me collecting dirty and naughty jokes.  I knew that I was short jokes, but had no idea how many, so I had them edited and put on the playing cards.  It turned out that I needed two dozen new jokes to complete the game, and it took a long time to find them.  We had completed everything by the end of August, just 4 weeks!

Off to my favorite printer, Annie from Customed Cards, and she never disappoints. Firstly, she proofs everything and always finds needed adjustments and changes. After two more days of work, everything was ready to go, and printing was ready! Well, not really! It turns out that the factory got a substandard batch of paper and had to send it back.  We had to wait for another delivery and that could take up to two weeks!  Fortunately, after a week, we were given a higher quality paper for free as an apology for making us wait.  Printing was a go!  It was done in less than five days and packed up and shipped to New York.  Easy!

Nope! The massive back up at the Port of Los Angeles had repercussions across the country.  The United States is suffering from a shortage of commercial drivers.  My freight was sent in three packages and all arrived at different times more than a week after the estimated delivery date.  After all that, the three packages are finally here and will be given to my customer. I hope he is as impressed with the art and quality of the card game as I am.

Questions?

What’s New at Roll-a-Bong Games

It’s been a long time since we partied, that soon will come to an end. The plans are set, the theme decided, the location is locked, and the lock down from the pandemic looks to be relaxing for the spring.  Infused Lego Masters competition will amaze you as you purchase all your dank goods needed for evenings fun.  The Upstairs Lounge will feature several game systems as well as food and drinks.  In the Stoner Dungeon we sell a wide variety of 420 related goods, as well as a dab and bong hit bar.  This event is planned for late April.

After collecting stickers from our favorite causes and games, we here at Roll-a-Bong Games are in the process of creating and producing stickers.  The team here loves the creative process and have a working image ready for production. Keep an eye open for these stickers, they will be a “Cannatastic” addition to your sticker collection and a reminder of your favorite rolling and smoking game.

Our store has sourced more cannabis games and we are very excited to add them to the Ganja Gaming Guild.  We are excited to introduce Cannabust! The Card Game. Made in the “Great White North” this simple card game allows hours of stony fun. Sporting four pot themed suits, it’s an easy game to pick up and play.  The objective is to get rid of all the cards in your hand, these include action cards that add a wrinkle and another level of complexity and fun.  We have a limited supply of these games so get them while they are HOT!

High Dice is an interactive smoking game and our newest offering.  The high-quality wooden dice are packed with funny ideas and games.  Each roll will surprise the players and will give gamers hours of infused fun.  The elegant box includes very cool stickers and cards for each side of the dice, so the game can be played with cards instead of dice, quite clever!  Only a lucky few will be able to buy this limited supple item, and those who do will get a great addition to their cannabis game collection.

Finally, after the success of the S_narf t-shirt line, we are offering a unique twist on the original art shirt.  Each shirt is individually tie dyed by the artist and his team.  S_narf wear will be all the rage in the summer 0f 2021 so get your one of kind piece of art.  We have purchased a limited number of these shirts in various sizes.  Custom shirts are available, please DM us for details. 

Yes, the excitement is building, and we are getting ready for the start of the Roaring 20’s and the age of decriminalized cannabis.  It will start small like a snowball rolling down hill, but by the Fall of 2021, I believe we will be in full time party mode. Roll-a-Bong Games would like to prepare you for that party!  Games, gear, clothing, and a blog to tell you how to do it: Roll-a-Bong Games is ready for 2021.

Does Weed Make You Horny? (2020 Best Blogs)

It has been my experience that cannabis gets my sexual fire going.  The first time it happened to me was when I was 15 years old.  I was in Provincetown on Cape Cod on a summer bicycle tour.  I was with a dozen other kids as we cycled from White River Junction, New Hampshire to Marblehead, Mass.  We had stopped in Provincetown on a long weekend.  The year was 1980 and this active Cape Cod town was home to many outsiders, like a Greenwich Village of the Cape. 

Saturday afternoon, a friend of mine told me he just bought hash from a guy selling off his boat.  I tried to act cool and excited, but I had never gotten high before.  Crap, I had never heard of hash before.  But there I was going into a head shop with my friend and buying a Buzz-by, a frisbee with a bowl in the middle.  We brought it back to the student hostel and grabbed some of the more experimental kids. Then we went out back and got high.

Later, my friend with his trip girlfriend and I went into the woods to get high again.  We smoked.  Elise, my friend’s girlfriend was the world’s biggest tease, and she got off on turning me on.  I didn’t care, I couldn’t stop staring at her tits.  The hash had ignited something primal inside me and I couldn’t stop thinking about sex.  My friend went inside to get another lighter and Elise and I we were alone together for the first time.  She leaned over and kissed me! The next ten minutes were spent in heavy making out, but when she saw Dan coming, she stopped and got up.  Elise gave my friend a big kiss and a hug, as to tell me that was just for fun, and they went off together.  Stoned, horny, and really confused!  I didn’t get high for more than a year after that.  Mainly, it had to do with opportunity, but I was suspicious of the Mr. Hyde stoned guy. 

It was tenth grade when I got high again.  A neighbor’s grandson came to live with them and we started hanging out.  One day he broke out the weed.  I had more apprehension about smoking this time and was scared of the effects.  Daren convinced me to do it and we had fun.  The next time we got high it was after school behind the gym.  Mr. Hyde showed up and I became a sex crazed monster again.  A childhood friend was at the gym playing volleyball and she was excited to see me.  She gave me a long hug and it happened, he came out! The next few hours started with talking, then flirting, followed by being incredibly stupid, and basically chasing after her to say I was sorry. 

As high school progressed, I smoked occasionally at parties or on weekends.  All the parties ended in sex-fueled failures and I got into a giant, four-year rut! It was only in last six weeks of the 12th grade that I found a girl and she loved to get high.  So, we got high and had sex a lot!  By the time I went away to college, I was a daily pot smoker and a dude who had a girlfriend back at home.  Mr. Hyde didn’t care, he wanted college girls! Unfortunately, he got none!

By the start of my sophomore year, I was settled in my new school and had broken-up with my high school girlfriend. I was ready.  Twelve weeks, 14 girls, and I started dealing pot.  By Thanksgiving time, I was burned out!  I needed to focus more, so I picked a sexy art student and we started dating.  She loved to get high! So, we got high and had sex a lot! More than high school.  We just stayed in and humped!  She had great pot connections, so we always had tons of weed.  That lasted for almost a year and then I fell in love, but that’s another story!

Still to this day, I just love getting high and having sex.  Now I know it’s the release of dopamine in my brain when I get high that heightens my pleasure and prolongs my satisfaction.  It stimulates my endocannabinoid system creating a feeling of relations and ease.  In ages past, cannabis has been known as an aphrodisiac and was prized.  Kings, Nobles, Empresses used the simple cannabis plant to release their inner sexual desires and achieve heightened pleasure.

I guess as long as Mr. Hyde is a law-abiding citizen, he can get his freak on!