Friday, August 13, 1999

Game creator not in it for money

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BY JOHN JOHNSTON
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        On a warm summer evening, the University of Cincinnati and Ohio State are battling for the 1961 NCAA basketball championship in, of all places, a Norwood apartment.

Everyone has a story worth telling. At least, that's the theory. To test it, Tempo is throwing darts at the phone book. When a dart hits a name, a reporter dials the phone number and asks if someone in the home will be interviewed. Stories appear on Fridays.

        There are no sweaty players. No screaming fans. Just Chuck Williams, a 51-year-old medical records specialist for University Hospital Medical Center, throwing dice in his living room.

        He's demonstrating how to play his latest board game, Courtside College Basketball.Teams from every NCAA championship game since 1939 are represented.

        As the creator, Mr. Williams is entitled to make like a proud papa. Maybe boast a little about what a marvelous game this is. Maybe dream about the fame, fortune — or both — that it will bring.

        Instead, experience has told him to keep his expectations in check.

        “First of all, nobody plays board games any more,” he says. “Board games are mainly played by old guys like me.”

        He knows what's hot: high-tech computer games with splashy graphics. Visually, his game is not much more than pieces of paper with numbers, packaged in a zip-lock bag. He makes no apologies for that.

        But he has carefully thought it through. He takes into account many of the strategies and nuances of college basketball: various offensive and defensive schemes, bad calls by referees, the effect of a fired-up underdog, cold shooting.

        There is even a “jitters” variable, because on occasion a team will “psychologically fall apart at halftime,” he notes.

        He's having 100 copies printed, which he'll sell for $25 each through two games newsletters and at Boardwalk Hobby Shop in Mount Lookout Square.

        “If I sold every game, I would make about $1,000 (profit),” Mr. Williams says. Given the time he has invested — about 200 hours — it's clear he's not in this to get rich.

Some sales success
        You see, some people enjoy playing games. Mr. Williams enjoys creating them.

        His first game, which he developed about 20 years ago, featured an outer space theme. Throw the dice, explore the heavens. “It was so dreadfully bad,” he says.

        Next, he created a baseball game that was “really tedious to play.” Still, he sold about 50 copies.

        A few years ago, he rolled out Ringside Pro Boxing. He sold 40 games, including one to an Italian by the name of Michele Montagni. When placing his order, Mr. Montagni noted that he had also bought the baseball game.

        “I want you to know,” he said, “that game has given me a world of pleasure.”

        Says Mr. Williams: “I wish I had 10,000 (customers) like him.”

Best game unbought
        Ironically, not one person has bought what Mr. Williams says is probably his best game. He calls it Leapin' Lizards.

        Designed for grade-school age children, it requires a bit of hand-eye coordination in order to flip small dinosaur icons onto the game board.

        To produce it in any quantity and make it marketable, he figures he'd need to borrow a bundle of cash. In almost the same breath, he says he wouldn't want to put other people's money at risk.

        Likewise, he has no grand plans for Courtside College Basketball. He'll not spend a dime on advertising, which he says would be a waste of money.

        “I'm not a businessman. Never have been. I like money, but I don't sit around plotting how to get a whole bunch of it.”

        He'd rather spend time plotting game strategy.

        “It's an enjoyable hobby. It's sort of oddball, but what the heck.”

       

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