OUR STORY
Board games are in our DNA
We've always been a board game loving family. Going way back to my own childhood, I played loads of board games with my twin sister (Jenny) and older sister (Caroline) - our favourites being Pay Day, Go for Broke, Escape from Atlantis, The Game of Life and 'a bit of' Boggle. Every Saturday night we used to play with our baby sitter, Auntie Nellie (who always told us she was as old her her tongue but a little bit older than her teeth). We cherished those times, looking forward to her coming round to play with us almost every week, playing for hours on end. Spending loads of QT with the family, with Kings & Things being a hot favourite to play with dad.
And then later in life, when I met my wife Lisa and we went on to have kids, the gaming gene seems to have been implanted firmly into the next generation. Our children, Mason and Sophia, both grew up on a diet of games, with loads of fun family time dedicated to playing all sorts of games together, perfectly honing the competitive spirit within them (which they get from their mum, ha!)
The inventor itch
Fast-forward to the dreaded COVID 'home schooling' days of 2020 - and 7-year old Mason along with 4-year old Fia decided to invent our first game together. Armed with some scraps of cardboard, some paper, scissors, glue, sellotape of array of coloured pencils, pens and crayons - we created a game that we called Get it, Lose it, Win it. We spent hours and hours playing it, filling our 'stay at home' days with laughter, fun and joy - with a bit of competitiveness (of course!) thrown in for good measure.
Play time whenever
In the years that followed, as a young family we continued to play all sorts of board and card games, which we often stuffed into our bag to take with us to cafe's and restaurants so we could play whilst we waited for our food to arrive. Yes, we were that family. Some of our favourites included Monopoly, Monopoly Deal, Scrabble, Boggle, Exploding Kittens, Uno, Rummikub, Tipping Point & Escape from Atlantis (the same one I played as a kid!). Oh, and we've spent many an hour playing Karak and Risk too. Mason usually wins no matter how hard the rest of us try, that's just what happens.
The school challenge
And then in February 2023, our passion for inventing games was ignited by a challenge that Mason (by now, 11-years old) was set at school to create a board game. With just seconds to brainstorm as Mason was leaving the house to go to school that day, we landed on what Mason loves the most - football. "What about a football board game that has two different half boards that are put together to create a pitch - it could be the Game of Two Halves'" I said to him. "Just go with that, and when you get home, we'll make it properly". And that was it, the seed had been sown.
Prototyping
In the months that followed we grabbed our trusted pieces of cardboard, pieces of paper, coloured pens and pencils, sellotape and glue - and created a physical prototype of THE GAME OF TWO HALVES®. We scoured the Internet to find all sorts of random playing pieces to bring the scraggly prototypes to life (score clickers, wooden playing pieces, a huge array of coloured dice...) and something to house all the game 'bits' so that we didn't lose them (a pill container did the trick).
The big dream
The more we played it, the more we fine tuned it. The more we fine tuned it, the more we loved it. We whiled away the hours playing it, inventing cups where we'd pull a dozen teams each out of the hat and play through the rounds (Brackley Town won the inaugural The Game of Two Halves Inaugural Cup, no less). We then dared to let a few friends play it - and probably just trying to be kind, they said they really liked it. Which gave us the confidence to dream; dream about whether we could somehow get the game published - either by ourselves (we didn't have a clue where to even start with this) or by finding a publisher.
After a bit of research into this highly competitive market, we quickly realised how difficult it was going to be publish the game. We weighed up the options, looking at the pros and cons. At first we briefly pondered going down the self-publishing route, but it felt quite risky. So we decided to see if we could find a publisher, however unlikely that seemed.
Whatever happened, we decided that if we ended up being the only people to play our game, then at least we'd have created something to give us endless hours of fun. But we kept the flicker of the dream alive - if we could take it out of our living room and create it for others to enjoy - even just one kid - we'd be thrilled with that.
The search for a publisher
So with the search now on, we approached a few publishers - some of the big guns as well as some smaller ones. Some simply ignored us, whilst a few others had the courtesy to respond with 'this looks good but it's not for us'.
Just when we thought we'd have to give up on the dream, we were put in touch with a fantastic guy from the Fantastic Factory, a board game and toy invention company. We made a video of us introducing ourselves and talking through the premise of the game (thanks to the awesome skills of the video queen, Fia), showing Mason and I in action playing a match. And through further discussion and play testing, the Fantastic Factory started to believe in the game, just like us. Could the big dream really come true? We dared to believe just a little bit more.
Play testing at UK Games Expo
We didn't want to rest on our laurels - we know the play testing is a big thing in the board game industry. Just because we love it and a few friends said they liked it, there were no guarantees that any one else would. We needed to step out of our comfort zone and walk the walk - so took the plunge and signed up to have a play testing table at the UK Games Expo at the NEC in Birmingham in June 2023.
To say that Mason and I felt like a fish out of water is an understatement. Armed with our super-rough prototype and a whiteboard we arrived at the NEC, where we met some lovely volunteers who calmed our nerves and helped us to set up and scope out some would-be punters to play the game and give us their feedback.
The recruitment drive went something like this:
'Hello there...do you like football'? we'd ask.
'Er.....not really' seemed to be the main response.
'Oh, OK then. Do you like dice rolling board games?' we'd ask next.
'No, I don't like them, I prefer skill and strategy games' they'd respond.
Without anything to lose at this stage (we already felt so defeated) we bit the bullet and asked: 'Ah - hmmmm - would you like to play The Game of Two Halves' then?'
And to their credit, they did play it. And even though it wasn't for them (they weren't exactly our target audience - there wasn't a kid in sight apart from Mason!), they said that they could see what we were trying to do, and (in that context), liked it. And they gave us a few bits of feedback too, which was really useful.
We returned home from the UK Games Expo feeling exhausted and relieved - but also very excited and heartened that we'd got through the day unscathed and had some all-important public testing under our belt, most of which was pretty positive. With some feedback to ponder too.
And then the dream came true
It wasn't too long after that, after all the encouraging feedback from the play testing at the UK Games Expo and beyond, that we were offered a publishing deal with the Fantastic Factory - and the massively exciting process to move from prototype to reality began in earnest.
The journey ahead
We're beyond excited and thankful to be on this journey now with the Fantastic Factory, and for you (hopefully) to play the game for yourself. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do, and hope you also have endless hours of fun playing single matches and cup competitions.
Speak to us!
We'd love to hear what you think (the good, the bad or the ugly as we like to say), as we look to evolve and grow in the future. Please send any thoughts to hello@thegameoftwohalves.co.uk.
We already have lots of ideas, which is pretty exciting. A big, heartfelt thanks from Mason, Fia, Lisa and myself for being a part of our journey - and helping our dream to come true.
Getting hold of the game
It's early days but we hope that the game will soon be available for you to buy from a few different retailers.
Kit yourself out
And if you want to get hold of THE GAME OF TWO HALVES® kit (hoodies for adults and kids, snapback caps, snapback mesh caps, pom-pom beanies, backpacks, water flasks and lots more), you'll be sure to feel part of the squad. And we think you'll look pretty cool too - great for your street cred!
