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Dream weaver

A games inventor in St. Cloud finds his inspiration in, of all places, the Land of Nod.

By Bill Ward, Star Tribune

December 02, 2007

A recurring dream is not uncommon. But Donald Meyer's is a bit of a doozy.

The St. Cloud resident is a numbers-cruncher by day and game inventor by night. And not just by night, but in his dreams.

Talk about taking sleeping on the job to a new level.

"After a few hours of sleep, my mind is rested, my body's rested, and that's when the games want to come," Meyer said. "I'll wake up at 2 o'clock and have this game in my mind. Then I refine it over and over in my sleep over however many nights and catch most of the bugs. At some point, boom, the whole thing is there. I don't talk about it too much because it sounds crazy."

Ya think? Still, creativity works in mysterious ways, and it's hard to argue with Meyer's results. His first game, Keesdrow, has garnered honors ranging from a Children's Choice Award in Canada to a "Top 5 Games Award" from Mensa and sold 25,000 units in less than three years. It's available in more than 400 stores, including Games by James, and at several websites, including amazon.com.

The dream that eventually spawned Keesdrow came in 1992. In the ensuing years, Meyer's not-so-peaceful slumber has concocted concepts for other board games -- and awakened an obsession for the longtime accountant.

"It was almost like it got to the point where my creativity couldn't be held back," said Meyer. "It wasn't even a choice, not after that first night. After a while, it got to the point 'This is who I am.'

"It was driving me crazy. Every single second, all I could do was think about games."

Finally, in 2004, Meyer quit his construction-firm CFO job to focus on launching Pywacket Games and getting Keesdrow on the market. About 70 people spent more than 1,000 hours testing and honing the game. Since then, Pywacket has released two more snooze-induced diversions, Gemlok ("my best game") and Cromlet ("still a work in progress").

The waking inspiration for Gemlok, by the way, was a floor pattern in Meyer's bathroom. "I had started noticing it a lot, and about three weeks later Gemlok came to me," he said. "It's just weird stuff, like you turn on a light switch. There's always something cooking."

That's why Meyer, 49, keeps a pad and a battery-light pen on his bedside table. He and his wife, Cathy, who devotes 10 to 20 hours a week to Pywacket duties, sit down every six months and assess the situation. "It's always, this is not even a choice, we've got to stick with it," Meyer said.

The business, while promising, is not yet booming, and Meyer has returned to his CFO duties, as he and Cathy have four children in college. It's a busy life -- "we have a lot less time for other stuff," Cathy noted -- so it's a good thing Donald doesn't need much sleep. Every morning, he wakes up -- for good -- at 2 a.m., the dreams churning his imagination. That's how he is able to devote 40 hours a week to his day job "and 60 hours to games. I can't wait for the day when this is all I'm doing."

Maybe then he can catch up on his repose. Actually, Meyer said, he sorta-kinda does that now. "Once every three months, I'll have two days where I'm boom-boom, dead to the world," he said, grinning. "My wife likes that because then she can sleep, too."

Bill Ward • 612-673-7643

Bill Ward • bill.ward@startribune.com