In addition to my Spotlight on Mommy feature I run every Monday, every once in awhile when I come across a dad entrepreneur who had a great product and story behind it, I love to share their inspirational stories with you all. Today, I wanted to share my interview with Doug Nufer, who created the Tangram Fury game. I first learned about Doug and his product from a news clip I came across online, which had aired on Doug’s local news channel, KSL. Click here to view the news clip, which will introduce you to Doug and his story.
Now, that you have put a face with a name, pleas enjoy my Spotlight on Dad interview with Doug Nufer. And, head back here on Thursday, when I will review his game, Tangram Fury in more detail.
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How did you come up with the game concept? 
This will sound odd, but I think that there was a lot of Divine Inspiration in coming up with the game. It all came together very quickly and gave me a fallback plan for something I didn’t know was coming. After 23 years working for a great company, within a month of conceiving the game, I found myself laid off from my job. I think having the drive for creating the game was a great, positive incentive keeping me going.
I was flipping through the dictionary one day when I noticed a diagram of what looked like a puzzle flip by. I wondered what puzzle was so “famous” that it was in the dictionary, so I turned back to it. I learned it as a “tangram,” and that it was an ancient Chinese puzzle. Curious, and having recently made some wooden puzzles at my father-in-law’s woodshop, I decided to sketch one on cardboard. My daughter saw me cutting it out on the counter and moaned, “Oh, no, you’re not making tangrams now, are you?”
I asked, “You’ve heard of these?” She said, “Yeah, every year we have to make them in school.”
“You do? Why?” “They give us this piece of paper with the shapes on them and we have to cut them out and make a square out of them. It’s boring. I hate it.” “Why do they make you do that?” “They tell us it’s to help us learn spatial reasoning for math or something.” Intrigued, I searched for tangrams on the Internet. I discovered that there’s some sort of world of people who are fascinated by these puzzles that can be reformed into literally thousands of shapes of animals, people, buildings, ships, birds, and pretty much anything imaginable.
The idea of making a game in which people raced against each other to build a given shape struck me as both logical and fun. The how of that hit me at once. I knew I wanted to come up with color-coded categories of shapes that would be determined by rolling a color-coded die. There would be at least four players who would each have a set of the tangram puzzle pieces and when a card was laid down, they’d race each other to build the image. It seemed very straight forward. Even the name of the game jumped out at me: Tangram Fury. I liked that “fury” caught the essence of the hustle involved in racing each other in a fun, competitive way. I was surprised and pleased to find that the website name was not already taken and secured it that day.
How long did it take to create a prototype?
Within 24 hours of reading the word “tangram” my family and I were playing a prototype of the game. And, my daughter who thought tangrams were “boring” was beating us all.
At first, I had thought of making the puzzle pieces out of wood. As classy as that would be, I knew it wasn’t practical, and decided that foam would work better. That evening, I went out to craft stores until I found one selling foam door hangers that were as thick as I wanted. I bought several and cut them out. I chose images from the internet and drew them on paper that I cut out as cards. I went to a school supply store and bought various types of blank dice that I stickered with colors. I decided that 4 categories would work best, so I went with an 8-sided die. After the first couple of rounds of play, I knew I’d come up with something fun, and a little addicting.
How many versions did you make before settling on final product that was sent to press/production?
The basic concept of the game always remained the same, but the rules shifted quite a bit. At first, I had complex ways of earning and tracking points and determining the winner. It was in playing the game with family and friends that I was able to simplify them. Now, they’re as simple as possible. The first one to build the image, wins the card. The first one to win five cards, wins the game.
The other component that evolved was the cards. The first cards were simply too small. They clearly had to be much bigger. They proved to be the most difficult component to produce. I went to 8-9 presses before I found one that could produce oversized cards at an affordable rate. It would be great if the cards were even bigger, but that would make the game so expensive, no one would buy it. As it is, the cards are now twice the size as the original prototype’s cards.
How did you feel when you saw your idea become real and hold the final product in your hand?
It was really cool to actually put together the final product. To go from idea to product is very rewarding. It’s a brutally exhausting process, but certainly worthwhile.
What has been the biggest challenge(s) of this new venture?
Every step that came after having the initial idea became a hurdle. Making a quick prototype was one thing, but finding parts for real was a distinct challenge. People kept pointing me to China for cheap parts, but I’d had too many co-workers lose their jobs to outsourcing for me to want to pursue that. I did a token look at China, but ultimately I wanted the game “Made in America”. I probably paid more than I could have, but every component of the game is Made in America.
One critically big hurdle was all of the hands-on effort that has gone into the game. I couldn’t find a dice manufacturer that would print color-coded dice. I bought blank 8-sided dice, and had special stickers made for them. My wife and I, and one of our daughters, hand-stickered 1,000 8-sided dice. That’s 8,000 stickers meticulously placed on the dice.
Another major hurdle was that the press who printed the cards, sent them to another press to laminate them. The second press didn’t collate the cards. They shipped each card in its own box. There are 4 categories of cards, with 50 cards per category. That makes 200 cards per game. We printed enough for 1,000 games. That means we have to hand-sort 200,000 cards. Once a week we have a “card sorting party” at my house where family and friends come and spend an evening sorting cards. It’s more fun than it sounds to have everyone there, but very busy work. We’re slowly nearing the end.
All told, there are nearly a quarter of a million components that have to be sorted or assembled to hand-produce these games. All of them have been funneled through my living room, which no longer has furniture other than tables…
My biggest concern at the moment is marketing. Production costs ate up my marketing budget, so I’m extremely dependent on word-of-mouth sales. I hate asking family and friends for favors, especially if it involves selling something, so this has been a humbling experience to need to be dependent on others to help spread the word, while I try to find better and affordable ways to do the same.
What keeps you going on those off days?
I’ve really appreciated the great reactions people give me when they play the game. Some get all stand-offish saying, “Oh, I’m no good at puzzles,” or, “I don’t really like games.” But, I get them to try a hand or two and before they know it, they’re doing well and having fun. I find it funny that it’s usually the wife that beats the husband, which makes the husband buckle down and try even harder. Most moms say, “This would be great for kids,” and urge me on saying, “You’ve got to get this into the schools!” From all of this I gather that the game has a lot of potential. That potential of “going big” is a great motivator for me.
I’m also using this effort as a way to show my kids (not just tell them, but show them) the importance of hard work and perseverance in making things happen. So, rather than get down about it, I try to stay focused, because I want my kids to keep pushing when life gets hard for them.
What was your favorite game growing up?
Most of my games were outdoor games. I grew up in a rural part of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and spent a lot of time in the woods, at the creek, riding bikes, sledding, playing ball, and such. Board games I played with my brother would include Stratego, Risk, Clue, and Monopoly.
Briefly explain the premise of your product, where is it available to buy, cost, etc?
Tangram Fury is a new twist on an ancient Chinese puzzle game. Players each have the 7 pieces that make up a square tangram puzzle and use those to build images displayed on cards. There is no timer. Players race against each other. The first one to build the image, wins the card. The first one to win five cards, wins the game. It’s the simple game of complex shapes. There are two levels of play. One side of the cards shows the shapes with lines indicating where each puzzle piece goes. The other side shows only a silhouette of the shape, and players must figure out how to arrange their pieces to make the shape.
It is currently available at www.TangramFury.com. The Classic Edition includes 4 puzzles, for $34.99. The Deluxe Edition includes 8 puzzles, for $44.99. Both the Classic and Deluxe Editions include 200 2-sided cards, and an 8-sided die. To make this more affordable for schools, there is a Classroom Edition that includes 20 puzzles for $64.99. The Classroom Edition does not include physical cards. It provides access to digital images of the cards that teachers can project onto a screen in the classroom, so all students can see the same image simultaneously.
Anything else you want to share regarding your product or story?
When the local news heard my story of being laid off and using my severance pay to fund building this game, they ran a story on me. That story is available here: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=18020385
I’ve made several fun videos of building various tangram images. Those videos can be found here: http://www.tangramfury.com/videos.php
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