Local Family Launches Global Board Game With High Hopes!
The gaming world has a new treasure and it was created right here in Long Beach. Best of all you don’t even have to be an archeologist to find it! Tracy and Brian Farr are releasing their new strategy game “Treasure Hogs” this October and they’re hoping it’s a national hit.
Treasure Hogs is played with 2-5 players ages 10 and up. The objective is to gain more treasure than other players, using a variety of resource and strategy cards. Depending upon one’s character assignment, the cards in hand, the way others are playing, and the different requirements to gain treasure, the game can unfold under endless scenarios. Treasure Hogs is a lot of fun and can get fairly competitive. Take that seriously from the guy writing this…who borrowed the game to “get a feel for it” and then played so much he never gave it back.
The game plays short (roughly 30 minutes), it’s fun and interactive, and yes, it gets a little competitive. After all, it is every hog for him or herself! But though quick to play, Treasure Hogs wasn’t exactly an overnight process to invent.
In fact, the masterpiece in release this October took roughly seven years of painstaking trial, error, and reworking.
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Brian Farr is no stranger to the gaming world. The bookcase in his after-work den is actually a board game case stacked to the brim with the products he enjoys. Professionally, Brian writes music and manages sound effects for major video games. Basically, the guy knows games.
When modern board gaming took off circa 2012, Brian Farr began dabbling in his own creations.
It wasn’t his aim to create a real complicated strategy game like some of the ones he and other enthusiasts love. Brian wanted a shorter, more universal game that families (like the Farrs) could play together, say before bedtime on a school night.
Easier said than done. It’s hard to make a complicated strategy game simple and fun. No doubt that’s why there are not more of them.
In fact, Brian had ample time and reason to give up on his dream of creating a modern family game worthy of selling in big box stores. However, what he also had was a secret weapon who helped him never give up on the dream. Wife Tracy!
It was Tracy in the end who motivated this project of Brian’s from a pipedream to reality. The game now being featured at major gaming conventions around the world is turning the heads of global game personalities.
So what did Tracy say to motivate Brian? She said nothing. She simply drew.
Utilizing her artistic background, Tracy took over the creative aspects of their blossoming venture and turned the imagery of Treasure Hogs into something that truly had the legs (or hooves should we say?) to grow.
That’s right, all the images you see on the board, cards, and box are hand drawn and digitized by Tracy.
While Brian worked to perfect the strategies, probabilities, and overall playability of the game, Tracy created a visual world in which people would actually want to play!
Beautiful and humorous imagery and backstories around the various “hogs” make the game well rounded and fun. There are puns around the names such as Napigleon (Napoleon) and Laura Slop (Lara Croft from Tomb Raider). The characters are drawn with clever intricacy and various themes. For example, none of the hogs hold weapon but instead vegetables.
The complement between Tracy’s creativity and Brian’s gaming algorithms work perfectly, making Treasure Hogs good clean fun for people of all ages and interests.
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The way games get released these days is through a Kickstarter website. Brian and Tracy, having finally perfected this game after seven years of work, are hoping to meet their goal via pre-order. Accomplishing this would provide the funding to continue the game, sell it in bigger markets, and release later versions and add-ons to the game.
The Farrs are asking their Long Beach community to consider purchasing Treasure Hogs via their Kickstarter, treasurehogs.com. The game is family-friendly, great for teens and young people, and so far a hit with young adults as well.
If you are interested in learning more or supporting this hometown venture, please head to www.treasurehogs.com. It’s great fun and makes a great gift too!
