Flying Leap Games, creators of the hit party game “Wing It” (now carried in at least 250-300 stores worldwide), is gearing up for a big leap forward in creative party gaming.
In spite of what the “experts” will tell you, you don’t need a good idea to create a great brand! All you need is…
Let the cards inspire your logo design. Watch bizarre brands emerge from your friends’ collective creativity. Then pitch the zany companies you’ve spawned and pit them against each other to compete for a million dollar investment!
The tale began many years ago, when Jon and his partner Sara were out for pizza with another couple. When the pizza was gone and they ran out of things to talk about, Sara started improvising.
“Everyone draw some kind of logo on your napkins.”
They did.
“Now pass your napkin to the right and write the name of a company that might have that logo… now pass again and write a slogan for the company.”
There, on the back of greasy napkins, was born the game that would one day be known as The Million Dollar Doodle. The review, the pitch, the Logo Component cards, and the erasable notepads all came along later as the concept grew into a full-fledged party game.
You know what else started as simple sketches on napkins? The Seattle Space Needle, the MRI, Harry Potter, and Southwest Airlines. (Thanks, theprofitgoddess.com!) And now, The Million Dollar Doodle is here to give you the opportunity to perfect the art of napkin-based genius. It all starts with a doodle…
1. Everyone draws two Logo Component cards. On their dry erase notepads, they create a logo for a company inspired by those cards.
Interpret these prompts as you will — the goal is not beautiful art or accurate portrayal, only the potential to spark an incredible new idea.
2. Everyone passes their notepads clockwise. Each player looks at the image on the first page and comes up with the name for a company that might use that image as a logo. Here are examples based on the logos above:
3. Everyone passes their notepads again. Each player looks at the logo and the company name, and writes a slogan for the company inspired by the first two elements. Here are examples again:
4. Players pass notepads again. Each player looks through the notepad, then writes a short review of 1-3 sentences from a customer’s perspective. Reviews can be positive or negative. Anyone who receives a negative review will simply need to “spin it” in a positive light during their pitch (step 6 below)
5. Players pass their notepads once more. Each player looks through the notepad and prepares to pitch the company to the other players in a way that ideally incorporates the logo, company name, slogan, and review.
6. Players deliver their pitches, trying to excite the other players or “investors” to invest in the company they’re pitching. After all pitches are over, players vote privately on the company they would invest a million dollars in (without voting on their own). One person tallies up the votes.
7. Everyone celebrates the winning company, erases all logos and writing, and another round begins!
8. (Optional Step: At the end of the game, each player chooses one of the winning companies and founds it… in the real world. The first player to receive one million dollars from investors REALLY wins)!
“This is an absolutely great party, drawing, imaginative business pitch game that is unbelievably addictive and had all groups I have played it with laughing hysterically.”
– The Hairy Game Lords (full review here on Facebook)
“The Million Dollar Doodle won’t give you a million dollars, but you will get a ton of laughs from it. I really enjoyed playtesting it!”
-Gil Hova, Formal Ferret Games
Unfortunately, we do not have access to an ACTUAL million-dollar investment. Fortunately: crowd funding! We know there are a lot of people out there who would have an awesome time playing The Million Dollar Doodle with their friends, and we’re counting on these people to bring this game into the world. We hope you’re one of them!
The money we raise will go towards the cost of finishing up the art with our incredible graphic designer, Yuliya Kim; printing The Million Dollar Doodle, and then shipping your games to you!
Money we raise beyond our initial goal would enable us to print 3,000 games (instead of only 2,000 games), thereby dramatically lowering costs per unit, and enabling us to bring NEW games to you in future months. Additional funds may also need to go towards unexpected costs (see Risks and Challenges), but if we raise enough, everyone wins.
$13,000 STRETCH GOAL: We will make stickers featuring box art and “The Million Dollar Doodle,” and we will include one with every shipped Kickstarter reward (plus a few extras for our most generous backers)!
More stretch goals will be revealed throughout the campaign as we close in on our goal, so keep an eye on our updates!
That’s about it! Get ready to have some hilarious fun with your friends and family!
And for more regular updates and sneak peaks into the game…
There is a chance that the manufacturing process will not go as smoothly as we expect. In this case, our release date may get pushed back, but we will keep you updated, and we will get you your rewards as quickly as we can. Then there’s the tariff situation. Depending on the timing and severity of the unpredictable tariffs coming down from on high, we may be hit with a serious additional cost. If that happens, we may need to move manufacturing out of China. We will obviously then find a new factory to print the the game and distribute it to backers without eliminating our ability to realize a net return on the remaining games, but this could cause a long delay.