Tommy Day is what you might consider a movie buff.
It doesn’t matter what genre or which actor or actress is playing the main role, if there is a good plot, the Seymour native can sit down and watch.
“I’ve been a movie fan my whole life,” Day said.
Now living in Indianapolis, Day has taken his love for film to a new level by creating a movie-pitching party game called “Buy the Rights,” which he hopes to get mass produced and on store shelves soon.
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“One day, after playing a party game, I realized that you could break movies down into four cards, and then it would be pretty fun to mix those cards up and see what kind of movies you came up with,” he said. “A few months later, I took the time to sit down and write about 20 cards from each deck to see if it actually worked as a game, and it did.”
“Buy the Rights” is a storytelling card game where players create their own movies and then pitch their ideas to the Producer. Four decks of cards are used: Genre, Hero, Hero Descriptor and Plot, allowing players to use their creativity and humor to win the game.
One player each round is the Producer, while the other players are the screenwriters. The Producer has a budget of $20 million to spend on his or her favorite movies. The player at the end of the game with the most money is the winner.
From 4 to 6 p.m. today, the public is invited to try out the game and find out more about efforts to manufacture it at Rails Craft Brew and Eatery in downtown Seymour.
Knowing he couldn’t bring his idea for “Buy the Rights” real without help and support, he recruited his wife, Riley Ratliff Day, who also is from Seymour, and their friends, Michelle Davenport Yadon, another Seymour native, and her husband, Chad Yadon.
There are different ways to get a game published and on the market, Tommy Day said.
“You can either submit game ideas to publishers and take a small percent of each game’s sale or you can self-publish like we are trying to do,” he said.
The team has created a Kickstarter campaign online to help fund their project. Kickstarter is a crowd-funding website that allows anyone to invest in a proposal to help bring a project to fruition.
In order to get “Buy the Rights” manufactured, Day said they needed to be able to order a minimum of 1,000 games.
“Companies that print board games overseas generally have pretty high minimum orders, and unless you have a lot of extra money or investors, it just makes the most sense to crowd fund,” he said. “It also gives you a chance to gauge interest in your product and get a lot of really good feedback before you get it manufactured. We knew we had to be able to order 1,000 copies of the game to make it happen, and Kickstarter is our best bet for making that happen.”
The goal is to raise $15,000 to cover the costs of manufacturing, Kickstarter fees, shipping and other miscellaneous expenses.
“We have tried to keep the goal as low as possible to increase the chances that we can reach it,” he said.
Other costs, including commissioning art for the game, printing prototypes and registering trademarks, the team has paid for out of their own pockets.
Taking prototypes to various conventions and events, Tommy Day said the game is popular with people of all ages because it’s easy to play and it’s fun.
There aren’t a lot of rules to learn, and you don’t have to be a huge movie buff to understand or enjoy the game, either, he said.
“The response we’ve gotten from people who have played has been amazing,” he said.
Over the summer, the game was selected to be featured in the 2015 Boston Festival of Indie Games, where it was played with more than 100 people in just one day.
“Everyone there thought our game was already published, and that one event really motivated us to get the ball rolling,” Tommy Day said. “We have also participated in or hosted a lot of events in Indianapolis, and it has been great watching people enjoy the game.”
The Kickstarter campaign was launched Nov. 9, and in a week’s time had already raised half of their goal. The campaign will end Dec. 11.
“The second half will be a lot harder to reach, but I’m confident that we can make it,” Tommy Day said.
He said it’s his ultimate goal to get “Buy the Rights” on shelves at major distributors like Target, Walmart and other stores where games and toys are sold.
“We’re focused on making sure we hit our Kickstarter goal, and if we do, the game will take three months to manufacture,” he said. “So hopefully, “Buy the Rights” will be on shelves by March or April of 2016.”
Copies of “Buy the Rights” can be pre-ordered on Kickstarter for $25. There also are other pledge levels with extra rewards available.
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What: Buy the Rights game demonstration party
Where: Rails Craft Brew and Eatery, 114 St. Louis Ave., in downtown Seymour
When: 4 to 6 p.m. today
Online: For information about the game, visit buytherightsgame.com. To help back the game through Kickstarter, visit buytherights.net.
Where to get it: Copies of Buy the Rights can be pre-ordered on Kickstarter for $25. There also are other pledge levels with extra rewards available.
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