IT'S OUR TURN TO PLAY (AGAIN)
In April 2022, my wife and I sold the ok2win brand and began a new chapter; but, as luck would have it, the cards had other plans for us. As of December 2023, the company again belongs to us (more on that later). But, first! Here's the background on how the company began!
THE EARLY DAYS OF OK2WIN
I spent the first few years of my career in public accounting and advisory services. Things were going great! I enjoyed the people I worked with, was fortunate to have some amazing experiences working on fun projects, and I was definitely staying busy.
And just like that, it was time to create my first product (which ultimately became 3UP 3DOWN). Over the course of the next nine months, I spent all my time working on game play, box and card design, finding a printer, etc. Thankfully, I was surrounded by amazing people!However, after four or so years of that, I decided to do whatever every good millennial should do - quit my job, sell my house, move into my parents' basement, and start a business!
With the help of a talented graphic artist friend - and lots of family and friends play testing and giving feedback - the game started to take shape. I sent my designs to a printer, and a few weeks later received some of the ugliest and poorest-quality pieces of paper the world has ever seen.
There may be a bit of hyperbole in there, but it definitely wasn't very funny to me in the moment!
I eventually found a printer that used some incredible paper imported from Germany - a 310 GSM black-core paper with a linen finish that feels great in your hands; it has incredible "snap", and really just is the best. Once I touched that paper, I decided that I would always provide my customers with the highest quality materials, even though that approach is significantly more expensive for me. It just didn't make sense to spend all that time and money designing something I love to then print it on cheap paper.
Our very first efforts to design the cards for 3UP 3DOWN. Line 1 and Line 3 have some key elements of what became the final design!
THE FIRST PRINT RUN
Once I had the paper issue resolved, I decided to go big and print 10,000 decks. I literally said to myself (and others), "Well, I guess I'll just have to figure out how to sell all these games! What's the worst thing that could happen? Just lose all my money?" Ha. I think it takes a certain amount of stupidity and naivety to take that kind of risk - and I had plenty of at least one of those to spare!
Sidebar: At this point, Marcy (my wife) and I hadn't started dating, so the initial risk of the company was all mine. Over the years, though, we've worked together to build the business, and I'm so grateful for her incredible insights and support.
SELLING THE BUSINESS (AND GETTING IT BACK!)
Now, I'll skip ahead to April 2022. After about six and a half years of developing and running the business, Marcy and I decided it was time to sell the brand (which then totaled six SKUs with about 200,000 total games sold). It was awesome to find a team that believed in the brand and was excited to own it. Through some bad luck and some circumstances beyond their control, their holding company quickly faced some troubles that proved to be insurmountable. Unfortunately, they weren't able to pay their final payment that was due to us, and through some twists and turns, the brand ended up in our hands again in December 2023.
Now, the challenge and the exciting opportunity is to rebuild the brand that we once built. I've spent just about every waking hour over the past couple of months trying to put the pieces back together - from rebuilding the website, to working with distributors, to pulling my hair out with support teams at various companies as I try to get all of the accounts back in my name (which is still a painful, ongoing process).
And yet, as we've sold some games over the past month, we've been able to reconnect with customers again and feel the incredible joy we used to feel - the joy of knowing that something we have created is bringing happiness and laughter to families and friends all over the world. We hope you know how humbling that feeling is; it's incredibly special to us.
So, thank you for all of your support over the years. If you're just learning about the brand, thank you for giving our games a try. Marcy and I are so grateful to again manage these products, and we plan to own them far into the future.
So, thank you for all of your support over the years. If you're just learning about the brand, thank you for giving our games a try. Marcy and I are so grateful to again manage these products, and we plan to own them far into the future.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
If you want to help us out, please share our games with your friends and family, and follow @ok2win on social media. The more we see #ok2win out there in the wild, the greater the likelihood of success for our little brand. It will take us a while to get the business running like it was before, but we hope to again create new games and products for you in the coming years. We believe that good things are in store, and we're excited that you're joining us on our journey.Thanks!
Jake & Marcy
