MANSFIELD, Ohio – For Mansfield native Beau Roberts, “man’s best friend” was more than just a cliché when describing his dog Natasha. For 15 years she was his world, but upon her passing Roberts wanted a way to preserve Natasha’s legacy. The solution came with his latest creation: “A Dog’s World,” a strategy board game inspired by his faithful companion.
The idea for “A Dog’s World” came to Roberts last July, only months after the passing of Natasha. He said he’d always wanted to create a board game, but never had a clear theme or concept in mind.
“I wanted to do something dog-related. Big projects like this help keep my mind off things and put my energy into creating something new. It’s therapy, really,” said Roberts. “I came up with the idea and started note taking, and from then on I was working on some aspect of it every single day.”
In “A Dog’s World,” players play as a dog, selected from 18 different breeds. The objective is to lead the best dog life possible by learning tricks, performing heroic deeds and marking your territory while moving around different areas of the board, all the while earning various amounts of points. At the end of your dog life, when your dog is too old to learn new tricks, he will retire to the countryside. Once everyone retires, whoever has the most points wins the game.
Roberts believes the canine-themed board game will appeal to two groups of people: board game enthusiasts, and dog enthusiasts.
“It’s not so difficult that you can’t wrap your head around it the first time you play through, but it’s not so simplistic that it’s boring. I think for people who like board games it’s a good in-between game,” he said. “And who doesn’t want to play the breed of dog that they own? Dog owners will appreciate it, and board game lovers will appreciate it.”
“A Dog’s World” is currently in its third prototype after lots of play testing between Roberts and his group of friends, all fellow lovers of board games like himself. The game is made for one to five players ages 10 and up, and game play lasts about 60 minutes.
“I’ll usually ask if the cards worked out evenly, if the game is too long or too short, if they found certain advantages useful,” said Roberts, who participates in the play tests as well. “People find it engaging and they like the strategy of it. They like the theme too, there really aren’t many dog games out there.
“The only problem play testing with friends is they might be telling you what you want to hear, so I’m very aware of that,” he joked. “But I usually know if it’s working or not.”
After months of design and more than 270 components later, Roberts said he feels satisfied with how “A Dog’s World” has come together. Now, with the help of a Kickstarter campaign, Roberts hopes to raise enough money to have his game manufactured.
Roberts hopes to raise $20,000 for the creation of “A Dog’s World” – 85 percent of the funds raised will go towards manufacturing 1,500 copies of the game through Panda Game Manufacturing, while the remaining 15 percent will go towards shipping, payment processing fees and taxes, and Kickstarter’s fee for running a successful campaign.
Those wishing to donate to “A Dog’s World” will receive various rewards corresponding to donation amounts. For example, a $1 donation will earn the donor a “Happy Dog” electronic badge, while a $35 will earn the donor a badge and a copy of “A Dog’s World.”
So far Roberts has raised $1,181 in just three days, but there’s a catch – in accordance with Kickstarter rules, he has 27 days left to reach his goal of $20,000, or he receives nothing.
“People should know it’s all or nothing, either I raise the $20,000 or nobody pays anything,” he said. “I’m not nervous…I just have my fingers crossed.”
In the meantime, Roberts said he’s very happy with how the game has turned out. A fan of board games as a child, he said he never thought of following through with producing one of his own.
“If you had asked me two years ago if I’d be doing anything like this I would’ve though you were crazy,” said Roberts. “I enjoyed doing this, so I’m happy to see it get to this point.”
But in Roberts’ mind, the project won’t be complete until he is able to hold a finished copy of “A Dog’s World” in his hands. Dedicated, of course, to Natasha.
