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THIS SUMMER, DON’T GET BORED GET BUSY
Like One Local Family Did
By John Piccone

What do you get when you mix together an industrious teenager, a cantankerous Grandmom that likes to win, a mentoring uncle and a dose of summer boredom? The answer is Fuddy Duddy, the latest new game to hit the market-invented and marketed right here in the tri-state area. 

Ken DePasquale was 18 years old and a senior at Cherokee High School in Marlton, N.J. when he came up with the idea for the socially-engaging new card game. Grandmom Theresa admonished the family for only watching TV, and the family sat down and created the game. The problem was what to do.

Ken and his cousins designed several board games first, but Grandmom liked cards better than board games. Then, during a bike ride on the Ventnor boardwalk, Ken and his Uncle Joe came up with the idea for Fuddy Duddy. They collaborated on the rules of the game, then Ken drew and designed the cards and Joe wrote up the rules. The family played their first games with hand drawn cards designed by Ken and manufactured by Grandmom Theresa. The next generation of Fuddy Duddy was designed by Ken using Microsoft Word and the final product is now professionally manufactured as a shiny, colorful deck of cards. 

Fuddy Duddy play can get very competitive because points are awarded for the winning combinations of cards, but points are also deducted from players holding the wrong cards at the end of each hand. The winning combination of cards is called a Fuddy, but aggressive players can go for the gold by trying to collect the elusive and potentially costly Fuddy Duddy. Ken says Grandmom has the greatest desire to win, but that the most successful player in the family is also the youngest, his cousin Matt. 

What did Ken learn from the experience of inventing Fuddy Duddy? “It takes a long time to go from having an idea to having something to sell. It’s worth it though because of the sense of accomplishment—it’s a dream come true to have something you see in your mind and actually make it and have people use it,” he said.

You can buy your own copy of Fuddy Duddy for $6.99 at your local Five Below store or visit Ken’s Web site at made2Bplayed.com. Make sure to buy extra copies of Fuddy Duddy for home, your vacation house and your car. Fuddy Duddy was recognized with the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Best Toy Award in 2007.

John Piccone is the publisher of Curious Parents Magazine.