Of course, I'm still on one of those many roads that you hit when you reach the market and am happy to share my personal experiences up to date.

The Story Behind DUOWORD(r)
The story begins back in 1991 when Robert Fraser, a professional operational firefighter in South Australia, discovered the DUOWORD(r) concept. He believed that most word games were fairly limiting in regards to the word potential and creative opportunities that the players were presented with when playing. His idea was to develop an advanced style word game that made it easy to play basic words but also provided the opportunity for players to make much longer words. A game with creative thought involvement, enormous word potential and combined, attacking strategies was the objective. Getting the idea was the easy part but the six years of experiences and financial commitment to take the game to the market has involved above ordinary commitment. Fortunately, Rob has a job that allows great flexibility and his resolve to see the concept reach the market has seen it arrive 1991- The first step was to register a business to commence the product research and development behind the game. The costs in the early stages were reasonably small but soon added up. A period of extensive play testing of the concept on a number of hand drawn boards with cardboard cut out letters saw the development of presentation prototype1 . An appointment was made with an Australian Company that has since been swallowed up in one of many take overs that have occurred in the industry.

A flight to Melbourne for the meeting and the initial response was very positive. Rob thought things were looking good. It took eight months before the Company actually turned the product down.

Still confident that he could find a Company that would take the game on, Rob decided to upgrade the presentation prototype and produced 4 new acrylic prototypes for future submissions. This cost was significant but prototype 1 was too flimsy and not suitable for sending overseas. During the initial years of development Rob was also running a landscaping business and playing semi professional Aussie Rules Football which helped pay the expenses.

In 1992 Rob registered the Australian Trademark and approached a large Company, that has since been taken over, in the UK. They seemed interested in having a look. A sample was sent across air mail and the game didn't even get played.

The idea of the upgraded prototypes was to have durable samples that looked impressive and possibly represented an injection molded product.

Investigation into injection molding soon revealed high capital input for tooling costs that were far too much for a novice to consider. A larger company would probably use injection molded components to reduce unit costs for high volume production.

By 1994, Rob decided he would have to try and find a way to make the game that did not involve such high capital risks but would allow him to test market the game. The aim being to prove the product by gaining retail sales. With not a lot of spare time, remember that Rob was still a full time firefighter who was also running a landscaping business and playing football, he approached a product developer.

The next couple of years started to see a financial drain occurring. The number of dead end roads and accumulating expenses with various prototype developments for manufacturing costing was beginning to frustrate the inventor. Having travelled so far he was reluctant to stop but didn't know when or if it would end. The experience and knowledge gained from paying some one else to assist in the product development taught Rob a number of valuable lessons.

At the time, Rob had very little skill on a computer and regrets not gaining competency earlier. The time involved in writing, type setting and proofing the rules was an expensive exercise due to the fact that some one else was charging to operate the computer. Over the 5 year period of development, with extensive play testing some changes took place to that of the original prototype and a number of manufacturing options had been investigated. The reality is that the reason the game was able to be produced was due to the input provided by a local plastics fabricator who had endured Robs annoying persistence.

In 1996, a mate of Robs had a brother that offered his Advertising Companies design services to help improve the look of the package. The artwork costs were kept to a minimum thanks to his generosity. Things were starting to fall into place.

A business plan was written by Rob to attract some potential investors to fund the setting up of a Company - Brainbox Games Pty Ltd to produce the game. Taking on the role of Managing Director, Rob visited the Australian Toy Fair in 1997 to check it out and took the production prototype and package on the road trip to feel out retailers along the way. The response was positive enough for Rob to feel that the retailers would stock the game but many indicated that TV advertising would be necessary for good sales.

Unfortunately small companies with 1 product don't have millions to spend on marketing. Upon the return from the Toy fair a meeting with an educational supplier resulted in an order for 100 games to be included in a curriculum resource catalogue. At this stage a commitment was made by the investors to make 3000 games split in to two runs.

In September 1997, the first 1200 games arrived and the test marketing process begun. The game has been exhibited at the Australian Troy Fair in 1998 and 1999 with sales being achieved in both Australia and New Zealand.

The large retailers don't generally deal with niche suppliers unless the product is already successful and advertised on TV. If you have that in place then the problem is with the discount merchants bastardising the price and burning the product. Small operators need to look elsewhere. Educational suppliers, specialist retailers and direct sales to Schools and the public are all methods of test marketing the product in a cost effective way. Direct mail catalogues are also an option although the margins are restrictive.

Since Rob has picked up a few keyboard skills on the computer and now knows the value of computers and the Internet, it is his belief that DUOWORD r) will ultimately find its way into the hands of suitable overseas licensees. The establishment of a good web site www.ozemail.com.au/~duoword is assisting in introducing the product and its availability.

The positive surveys gained from many schools that have purchased the game and encouraging feedback from students has confirmed that the game plays well. A positive response in a direct mail catalogue also has helped to prove people are looking for a new word game challenge. Many of the specialist retailers are also keen on the game and are achieving sales.

A quick reminder that the product was conceived in 1991 and it took 6 years before a decision was made to try and publish the game independently. 3 years of tinkering and 3 years of more serious product development). The endless hours of persistence and financial requirements to try and test market a board game are not to be undertaken lightly. The knowledge and finances required in a variety of areas makes it difficult for small operators to succeed. Rob believes that by test marketing the game the chances of another Company wishing to license the property will improve.

However there are no guarantees of success and it would always be preferred to source a larger Company to get involved at the earliest stage possible.

The best advice to any inventor of a game is to possibly make sure the play testing and instructions are complete and then to make a small run of prototypes to approach the data base of game Companies that might be interested in assessing the property. The computer age makes comunication and sourcing suitable leads so much easier.

If you have no luck and wish to step into production, distribution and marketing of your own product make sure you have considered the commitment required. It also pays to have another source of income to live because the financial returns are not immediate and they are not guaranteed.

Good luck.