A Devon-based family (in the UK) is hoping that its home-grown card game, ‘Canine Kleptomaniacs’, will capture hearts and minds around the world with its quirky doggy theme and family-friendly gameplay.
What began two years ago as a wet summer holiday ‘distraction from screens’, has turned into a project involving the whole family, and the prospect of launching the game world-wide through a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign.
The game is inspired by the family’s 5-year-old Sprocker spaniel, Amber (also known as ‘Ginty’) whose thieving antics border on the criminal.
“Her stealing obsession is hilarious” says Matt Jones, the game’s co-creator.
“Socks, pants, slippers, t-shirts, cycling shorts – you name it, she thieves it”.
Matt Jones, who is married to Jo, with three kids, explains how the whole family has been involved in the project:
“It was never our intention to make a game for other people, it was just a bit of a giggle and a way of us keeping the kids off screens! It has been amazing to see the creativity and how everyone has chipped in ideas”.
Eldest son Ollie (18) has spent hundreds of hours creating quirky illustrations for the cards, making video trailers, setting up websites and managing social media.
“What started out as scribbled drawings on scraps of paper in our caravan has turned into this potentially huge thing”, says mum Jo.
“It’s all a bit scary, really, but the kids have led the way, and they’re so determined to see the game made that they have encouraged us to keep going”.
Now the family has set up a small company, named Golden Ginty Games (in reference to the family pup who has inspired it all), and they hope to raise enough money to produce the game.
“Now we’ve got this far, we have this amazing opportunity to use it for something really positive, and that’s something the kids are into” – says Jo. “Once we decided to go for it, we agreed as a family, that if we were successful, we would give something back”.
The family has decided that a share of any future profits* will go to charities who seek to bring dogs into vulnerable people’s lives, supporting them through providing therapy and companionship.
“The strongly doggy theme makes these causes a natural fit, and we have a particular heart for helping young people and the homeless” adds Matt.
It is still early days for the fledgling family venture as they gear up for a crowdfunding campaign on the website Kickstarter which starts on Tuesday 16th July at 7pm (GMT).
About Golden Ginty Games Ltd:
Golden Ginty Games Ltd. is a family-owned start up business established to share a card game entitled ‘Canine Kleptomaniacs’ – a game which we (the Jones family) invented initially for our own amusement, but which we subsequently decided to share with other the wider, fun-loving, dog-loving, game-playing public.
The ‘Ginty’ in Golden Ginty Games Ltd. is the nickname for our faithful family hound who inspired the creation of the game through her own exploits, mishaps and tendency towards Kleptomania.
Kickstarter: Our campaign started at 7pm (GMT) on Tuesday 16th July and runs for 30 days.
*Kickstarter does not allow creators to raise funds directly for charity. Accordingly, we need to be clear that our commitment to share a proportion of future profits is in no way connected with money raised through this Kickstarter. Our profit-share commitment is a longer-term business goal, which will start after the Kickstarter campaign has run and all the proceeds have been used to fulfil backer rewards, and re-invest the necessary capital into the business to ensure it can continue to create and distribute new games and editions in the future.
Our page can be found here: www.kickstarter.com
About Canine Kleptomaniacs:
Like the average, faithful family hound, Canine Kleptomaniacs is unashamedly simple. It doesn’t employ any sophisticated gameplay or in-depth strategy. Put simply, it’s all about collecting Pooch Points.
You get Pooch Points by doing what comes naturally to all Canine Kleptomaniacs – thieving and hiding underwear, socks, slippers and anything else that takes your fancy.
Choosing what to collect, when to hide and whether and what to trade with other players (as well as having luck along the way) will ultimately determine your fortunes in this silly, fun, fast-paced, simple-to-learn, family-and-dog-friendly card game.
The winner is the hound who has pilfered, plundered and hoarded the most Pooch Points.
Canine Kleptomaniacs is a card game for 2 to 5 players, and anyone aged 7 or over should enjoy its silly doggy antics.
To see a trailer for the game, visit: www.caninekleptomaniacs.com
For press enquiries:
We would be very delighted if you could run some form of editorial to cover our story. To help in this, we can provide you with various images relating to our dog Amber (Ginty) who is the inspiration for the game, as well as original artwork of the game components (e.g. box cover, card designs).
Contact:
Matt and Jo Jones
Email: info@caninekleptomaniacs.com
Visit our social media pages (Instagram, Facebook) @K9kleptomaniacs
