Thedford Ont. – After 18 years of development Bump N Run the Stock Car Racing Board Game is race ready. “It hasn’t been easy “said Wilcox. “It’s been a trial and error process to make the mechanics of the game easy enough so an eight year old can understand it, and an adult would find it entertaining”.
Over that 18 year span Chad shelved the game 3 times because of obstacles involving the game play as well as having difficulties finding the resources to help push it forward. He started the project long before the internet, so the art, legal, and manufacturing help was all pulled out of the yellow pages. There really weren’t many options for such a project at the time. The company he hired was well recommended and had experience with this type of work. After 6 months, they suddenly closed. Three months later he was contacted by the artist that had been working on his game and she offered to complete it. Unfortunately, all of the preliminary work, as well as Chad’s original handmade prototype were gone. Left with few real options he agreed. This he soon learned was a mistake. She may have been a good artist but she did not share his vision of how the game should look. She made unauthorized changes and seemed to work on it in her spare time which dragged out over another 18 months. The prototype that was made was disappointing. He felt the art was lousy, and the game play was too slow. Soured from the whole experience he shelved it. The prototype that resulted from this though, was a platform to allow him to improve the mechanics of the game play. It was dragged out again in 2002, but with no head way.
In 2009 he began to play it again with his young family and close friends, making significant changes as he went. After months of test playing he made a couple clever changes that made a huge difference in the game play. He invited his cousin, and a group of friends that had never played any previous versions of the game over to his home to play, they played for hours. The testing went on for several months till he was satisfied. The game was ready for the next step.
The internet listed dozens of capable artist but Chad contracted a freelance graphic artist in Sarnia who he knew named Ryan Giddings. Ryan exceeded all of Chad’s expectations. After spending 3 months and countless hours on the internet Chad settled on Ningbo Industries from China to manufacture it. “My sleep schedule was turned upside down for a while but now that the finished product is in my hands it was worth it, I couldn’t be happier” he said.
For more information about the game go to www.bumpnrunboardgames.com. To contact Chad Wilcox for an interview call 519-296-4222, or e-mail bump.n.run.boardgames@gmail.com. It is available at 6 retail outlets in and around London.
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